The Tucker Carlson Show
Steve Witkoff’s Critical Role in Negotiating Global Peace, and the Warmongers Trying to Stop Him
Fri, 21 Mar 2025
Steve Witkoff has no background in diplomacy but has turned out to be the most effective American diplomat in a generation. Here’s how he’s trying to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. (00:00) What Witkoff Has Learned as Trump’s Global Negotiator (04:10) Negotiating With Israel, Hamas, and Qatar (12:50) Will We Achieve Peace Between Israel and Hamas? (23:09) Why Corporate Media Hates Witkoff (33:55) Israel’s Goals (42:47) Trump’s Plan for Gaza Paid partnerships with: Identity Guard: Get a 30-day free trial and over 60% off when you sign up at https://IdentityGuard.com/Tucker iTrust Capital: Get $100 funding bonus at https://www.iTrustCapital.com/Tucker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is Steve Witkoff's role in global diplomacy?
Steve, thank you so much for coming. So I think you've had one of the most, maybe the most remarkable life trajectories of anyone I've ever met. And you wind up close to Trump, you campaigned with Trump, you're an intimate friend of the president's, and you could have had any job you don't want any job because you're doing your own thing. And then he taps you as a
as a diplomat as a negotiator on behalf of him and you wind up becoming you know probably the most effective negotiator in my lifetime and you have you know you speak for the president I think everyone acknowledges that you're honest and people like you personally so those are obviously the foundations of effective diplomacy but what have you learned about negotiating at a you know on behalf of a country in the last couple months
Chapter 2: How does Steve Witkoff negotiate with key Middle Eastern players?
Well, first of all, I think President Trump sets the table for all of us. He really does. This whole peace through strength thing, it's not just a slogan. It actually works. And so when he dispatches you to go to the Middle East, people are almost a little bit intimidated before you get there. And this goes for me and other people who are doing similar jobs.
So he sets the table in a pretty powerful way. But negotiating is being outcome oriented. I talk about this a lot. It's figuring out where you want to get to. That's Trump's game plan all the time. I sit with the president and we talk often about what the end game is. Where does he want to get to?
And once you decide where you want to get to, then it's all about tactically figuring out what that pathway is. With the Middle Eastern, you know, Tucker, when I first got in and I was talking to Brett McGurk, who was the envoy on behalf of Biden, he was a smart guy. Yes. He just didn't have a great boss giving him direction. So he couldn't really speak on behalf of Biden.
I was able to speak on behalf of Trump because we talked about it. We had a great conversation about it. He said to me, this is where I want to get to, Steve. And so when I went in there, I went in with the imprimatur of the president and it became a, you know, that's the difference maker.
But, I mean, clearly, and no one doubts that you speak for the president, that you know what the president wants because you know the president. You actually talk to him. You're not some guy he just hired. And that makes a huge difference. But it also seems like you think through where whoever you're negotiating with is coming from. Like, what do they want?
Well, there's no doubt I'm always trying to put myself in the shoes of the other person because a good deal has to work for everybody. But I want to just say this. When I say I speak for the president, it's not because I presume what he's thinking. It's because I ask what he's thinking. He is the president. I'm in my job only because of him.
And to me, I give him the respect of always asking the question, Where do you want to get to, Mr. President? And so that's critical. So now I know where he stands, and now it's about tactics. As you talk about from the other side's standpoint, it's important for me to know or to have a feeling of where the Israelis want to get to. What about the Qataris? They're the mediators at the table.
What do they want to accomplish here? What about Hamas? Where are they? Will they really demilitarize? Is that something they'll do? Will they take the Golden Bridge out of Gaza? All of these are considerations. But first, I have to find out where the boss wants to end up. And the boss is President Trump.
It almost feels forbidden for you to say what you just said. So what does Israel want? Obviously a critical, a Vicky question. But there are other players. And what do they want? And I don't know that I've heard anybody say that out loud ever. Any American say that out loud. And I think you've been criticized for saying that out loud.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does Steve Witkoff face in the media and diplomacy?
But to the extent that you understand it, and since you're one of the few people who seems willing to say it out loud, can you just describe the three players in the current conflict, the Middle East, the big ones? Can you go through and tell us what you think each one wants? What's their goal? So Israel? Yes.
Hamas?
Yes.
And? Qatar. And Qatar. So I think Qatar is a small nation, probably has the highest GDP per capita, per person, right, of anyone in the world. Huge, huge reserves. I think they want stability. I think they want a peace treaty from the United States. Why? Because, and all the Middle East, all the GCC countries want that, by the way. This is an interesting point.
Everybody thinks the peace treaty is about physical defense. What it's really about is the United States providing a security wrapper so that they're all financeable. Today, you can't borrow money in those countries. So if you want to go do a deal in Saudi Arabia, in the UAE, JP Morgan, if they are the hypothetical bank, has to underwrite war risk.
They have to underwrite, will the Houthis in Saudi Arabia fire in a hypersonic missile and destroy that AI data center that you just bought for $200 billion? That's a real problem. So a lot of these countries want defense treaties so that they're not just building out of their pocket, they're taking their oil money And they're actually leveraging it and creating a better economy long-term.
So I think the Qataris want stability. And they don't get enough credit for that motivation. It's a good motivation for their people.
Amen. But they're often accused... Why almost universally accused in the U.S. media of being agents of Iran?
Yeah, it's preposterous. Look, they're a Muslim nation. In the past, they've had some views that are a little bit more radical from an Islamist standpoint than they are today. But it's moderated quite a bit.
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Chapter 4: How does Israel's strategy influence Middle East peace talks?
There's no doubt that they're an ally of the United States. There's no doubt about that.
They have a huge air base there.
By the way, and they pay for every dollar of it. They don't have their hand out for a thing. There is nothing that the United States has to fund with regard to that air base. That's pretty unusual. That's amazing. So they fund everything. They don't ask for much. I think I had a conversation with General Carrillo, Eric Carrillo, who runs CENTCOM, an amazing man.
And I said to him, what do you think of the Qataris? He says, they're special people. So the people in the know know that they're good, decent people. What does Hamas want? Well, I think they want to stay there until the end of time and they want to rule Gaza.
Yes.
And that's unacceptable. So we have to know that. We had to know what they wanted. What they want is unacceptable. What's acceptable to us is they need to demilitarize. Then maybe they could stay there a little bit, right? Be involved politically. But they can't be involved. We can't have a terrorist organization running.
running uh uh gaza because that won't be acceptable to israel then we'll just have the same exact experiences every every 5 10 15 years we're going to have an october 27th yes october 7th pardon me so that's what hamas wants that's not possible what do they like to deal with I've never really, I've never been in the same room as them, which is a little bit weird, wouldn't you say?
Like a negotiation where you don't have the other party. Like you don't even know if the guy behind the wall is the Wizard of Oz or he's not the Wizard of Oz, right?
So how do you, I mean, without, you know, giving away anything you can.
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Chapter 5: What is Donald Trump's plan for Gaza?
I think we trust the Qataris. If I didn't trust the Qataris, then that would be really problematic, not meeting with Hamas. And of course, you know, we read... So you can communicate with Hamas through the Qataris. Right. And Sheikh Mohammed, the prime minister of Qatar, is a good man. He's really... He certainly is a good man. He's a special guy. He really is. And he cares.
And I've spent a lot of time with him and broken bread with him. And he's just a good, decent human being who wants what's best for his people. But also, like... what you were alluding to before, he's able to put himself in the shoes of the Israelis, of the United States, and I think explain to the Qataris, excuse me, explain to Hamas where they're going to have to get to to make a deal.
And I mean, from an American perspective, it's just hard to even understand what Hamas is thinking. But it's essential to understand. I mean, just as a procedural matter, we need to know.
Correct.
So is it hard for you to understand? Do you feel like you can effectively communicate with them, even through proxy, and understand what they want and what their red lines are or whatever? Can you negotiate with them?
Well, it's hard. You know, I'll give you an example of what makes it hard. I went to Gaza and then I had this fabulous lunch with CENTCOM people, military guys.
Yeah, yeah.
I shook hands with everybody I met because who doesn't want to shake the hand of these guys who are out in the field? You know, they protect our country. I'm talking about our military guys.
Yeah.
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Chapter 6: How do personal experiences shape Steve Witkoff's diplomacy?
Oh, absolutely. I've had a couple of experiences where first I was attacked as being a pro-Qatari sympathizer. By the way, Qatar is a mediator here. They're not a party to the conflict. They're a mediator. And by the way, they've mediated all over the world. No different than the Swiss and the Norwegians. They've mediated in Russia. They've mediated in Afghanistan. God bless them.
I know.
And they've done an effective job. They're good at it. how could I not collaborate with the mediator? And B, if I'm not collaborating with the mediator, I'm bound to be ineffective. It's not even possible that I could do the job. I had to know everything that they knew. So that means collaboration. And that's how President Trump operates too. I learned the business from him.
I went into the business because of him, the real estate business. And this is his ethos. This is how he operates. And so I'm really following him in a certain respect.
I didn't realize you went into, that's so, I didn't know. I knew you'd known him forever.
I didn't know that.
Oh, no, I wanted to be him.
By the way, everybody wanted to be him. He'd come to 101 Park Avenue where I was a lawyer. He had this swashbuckling style. I used to see him come in and I used to say, God, I want to be him. I don't want to be the lawyer. I don't want to be the Scrivener. I want to be that man. Yeah, I can remember saying that. Yeah, he was like the Michael Jordan to me, you know, of the real estate business.
It's incredible the turns your life has taken. It's just incredible. When you have a chance to sort it out, when all this is over, I think you're going to look at your own life and say, well, that was amazing.
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of Qatar's role in Middle East negotiations?
And I talked to the president about this. I had hostage families in the Oval Office the other day The president was tired, and he said to me, he knew they were at my office, and he said, bring them up. Let me at least say hello to them and get connected to them, but let them know I only have a couple of minutes because it was a hectic day.
He spent an hour and a half with them, talked to every one of them. gave them his challenge coin, every one of them, listened to their stories. People who talked about children who might not come home, many of these people were captives themselves, hostages. You know, it's a very real experience when you sit there and you listen to what it was like.
Some of these people lived in cages, were chained 24 hours a day. You know, we talked about what it was like to find a bathroom, right? Or what it was like to live in the dark or to be starving to death, you know, as some of them were, or to have watched people be murdered. And the president... As a president, he doesn't have to do that if he doesn't want to.
He could sort of get the information just from me. But it's up close and personal for him. And that way of doing things guides people like me who work for him. Now I want to get up close and personal. That's why I went to Gaza. I was the first U.S. official to go to Gaza in 22 years. But how would you implement a peace deal if you didn't go to the place...
where the peace deal was being implemented. I mean, it's curious, right? It is curious. Who would try to get a peace deal done? It's all in the implementation. So what the contract says, what the writing says, now we have to figure out the battlefield conditions. Nobody had been there.
It's kind of crazy. Well, it is crazy. And it's connected to what you've been saying for the last 20 minutes, which is you have to understand all sides if you want to affect the outcome that you've decided you want. Correct. Yes. But again, that's a revolutionary development in American diplomacy. And I just am thrilled to see it.
So finally, the biggest player in all of this, of course, is the government of Israel. What do they want? What is the government of Israel? Leaving aside the population of Israel, I have no idea. But what does the government making these decisions want?
Well, I think that's complicated. I think they're well-motivated. I think there are things that they're trying to get done. You know, as an example, we would not be as effective in what we're doing there if Bibi did not get Nasrallah out of the picture in Lebanon. If he did not decapitate – because he's effectively decapitated Hezbollah –
If he did not do what he did with Hamas, he's decapitated Hamas. Hamas is nowhere close to the terrorist organization that they were beforehand. Both of those events inform on his relationship with Iran and Iran continuing to use proxies and so forth. They're less prone to do those sorts of things today, right?
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Chapter 8: What are the future prospects for peace in the Middle East?
Yeah.
And this being driven by this, being driven by what's happening in Syria, which, of course, Turkey participated in. Erdogan is seen by some in his country as a tool of Israel or... I mean, if you had real problems in Turkey, that would be like a global disaster, of course, because they've got this massive military.
Is there a lot of concern about that? Well, I think there was, but I think the president had a great conversation with Erdogan a couple of days ago. Really transformational, I would describe it. I mean, I think it's been underreported, to tell you the truth. And I think it's underreported because of the hoodies, because of...
What happened with Israel and because of what's going on with Russia, Ukraine, it's not really, you know, a headline. But I think Tom Barrack, who's the ambassador there, has done and will do an exceptional job. I think the president has a relationship with Erdogan and that's going to be important. And I think that there's some good coming.
There's some just a lot of good positive news coming out of Turkey right now as a result of that conversation. So I think you'll see that in the reporting in the coming days.
Good. So if you don't mind, I'd love to. So here's the timeline as I understand it as an observer. So you go over, you deliver the president's message. There is a ceasefire in Gaza, which as you've said five times is a prerequisite to a lot of other things. Like it's hard to do anything with this open wound.
So you do that and the president says, wow, Steve Witkoff, my friend from the real estate business, like you're really good at this. Sends you to Russia. Is that fair? It's not so far from the truth. It's like I'm watching this because I knew you before and I was like, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I'm cheering you, by the way. Where are we there with that conflict, would you say?
I think we've made more progress. Again, by the way, look, Tucker, I'm not just saying it. Every solution comes as a result of President Trump. And I don't get paid to say that. I say it because it is the absolute truth. Putin's got a huge respect for the president. And, you know, you saw what happened in the Oval Office with Zelensky and the president, right?
I mean, disrespecting him is not a healthy way to have... To have a good relationship.
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