Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have spent the year trying to negotiate with both Iran and Russia over wars with no end in sight.

The Bulwark's Cathy Young is is calling them both clowns in her recent piece.

While things were going well at the start of the Iran negotiations, President Donald Trump's decision to start bombing ended it all, The New Yorker recalled in an extensive piece on Kushner. It has been downhill from there. But Iran isn't the only war.

Young recalled the 2024 campaign promise that he'd end the war with Russia and Ukraine "on day one." In fact, Trump said he could probably end the war before he officially took office. It has been 17 months, and Trump continues to fail.

Kushner and Witkoff don't have any experience as diplomats or negotiators, and the inexperience has shown, Young explained.

"It’s safe to say that in the entire known history of diplomacy, there has never been a more clownish team of envoys than Witkoff and Kushner," the column said. "It’s hard to find as much unanimity on anything in the Ukrainian media and among the independent Russian punditry as there is on this pair."

She cited a "widely circulating sobriquet Vityok i zyatyok," the nickname is "a pun involving a Russian nickname for 'Victor' and a diminutive for 'son-in-law.'" It's difficult to translate, but the sentiment, she said, is like calling the men "the Two Stooges."

Witkoff, Young explained, embodies a "cluelessness and obsequiousness with Putin," and it goes back long enough to be "legendary."

“When we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all,” Witkoff told a Kremlin autocrat.

The most recent iteration of "negotiations" involved both men, whom Young called "Tweedledum and Tweedledumber," accomplishing nothing with their recent trip to Moscow. They had the same “peace proposals” and used the same recycled comments about “constructive” and “candid” conversations.

"However, most Russian-speaking observers noticed one richly symbolic detail. At one point on their visit to Moscow, the envoys had dinner with Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev at a Moscow restaurant whose exterior featured the large slogan, 'EVERYTHING FOR VICTORY!' It doesn’t seem especially suggestive of a desire for peace," wrote Young.

The men also went to Ukraine. But after the trips, a new report by CNN revealed that Cosmos 2573, an elite spy satellite for Russia, was one of 14 Russian spacecraft tracking anyone flying over Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, days before a major Iranian attack there. It appears Russia has picked its side in the U.S.'s war with Iran, and it isn't Trump, or his close friends the Saudis. Instead, it seems Russia is the one feeding intelligence to Iran.

In a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, journalist and television host Dmytro Gordon asked Witkoff about the meetings with Putin. He didn't hold back.

"Don’t you think Putin has been lying to you all along?" asked Gordon. "Don’t you think that Putin, the Russians, and Russia understand only one language — the language of strength? And finally, aren’t you disgusted to sit at the same table with an international war criminal, a butcher of the Ukrainian people who is personally responsible for Ukraine’s tragedy?"

Witkoff gave a non-answer.

Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats thinks that the reason the administration is going back to the Ukraine/Russia war stems from their failure in Iran.

"Trump desperately wants to score some points somewhere before the midterms," Young said.

Finally, Young explained that CIA Director John Ratcliffe may take over negotiations since Kushner and Witkoff have failed in every respect. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin’s confidence over the war may not be based in reality. In fact, Young said, his theories about eventual victory may rest on exaggerated battlefield reports. Recent Ukrainian counterattacks near Lyman are an example.

Young closes by saying that Ukraine faces a difficult winter, but Russia’s assumed momentum and Trump’s diplomacy are far less formidable than they appear.

President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has triggered several prominent Republicans with his groveling and absurd praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks in St. Petersburg.

Witkoff called Putin a “humanitarian while thanking him for releasing Stephen Hubbard, who is a 74-year-old accused of fighting for Ukraine and has spent more than four years behind bars.

"You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you," he said of Putin, who started a war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022 that has led to approximately 500,000 deaths.

Many Republicans lashed out at Witkoff following the shocking remarks.

"No. Putin is a stone cold killer," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote on social media, responding to a clip of Witkoff speaking.

Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, called the exchange "another embarrassment" for the United States.

Even Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a Trump ally, put Witkoff on blast, writing, "What a ridiculous statement. Maybe we should ask the hundreds of dead civilians in Bucha what they think of Putin’s humanitarian instincts?"

Hubbard is a retired teacher from Michigan who was detained in 2022. His family disputed Russia’s claims that the then-70-year-old had served as a mercenary. The United States also described him as wrongfully detained, and Trump said he personally requested his release.

Witkoff's compliment coincides with the Kremlin portraying the decision as a humanitarian gesture.

Putin is an accused international war criminal with a warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court. His war on Ukraine has reportedly killed 125,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 15,000 civilians. The conflict also led to a Ukrainian refugee crisis, with millions displaced due to their homes being destroyed or to flee the bombing.

Witkoff is not the only one in the Trump administration to flatter Putin. Trump himself has heaped praise on the Russian leader. In 2022, he called him "genius" and "savvy" for occupying two eastern regions of Ukraine before the full-scale invasion.

His praise of the dictator also goes back many years. At the 2018 summit in Helsinki, Trump seemingly accepted Putin's denial of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, going against the conclusion of the U.S. intelligence agencies.

"President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump declared.

The personal compliments continued during Trump's second term. In February 2025, he called Putin "a very smart guy" and "a very cunning person" during discussions to end the war.

After their August 2025 summit in Alaska, Trump again called Putin "a very smart guy" and described their interaction as a "very warm meeting."

Trump has recently faced accusations of appeasing Putin following his bipartisan-panned diesel deal.

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume put President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on blast after he praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "humanitarian" during peace talks in St. Petersburg.

When asked about how he felt about the interaction, Hume did not hold back, calling Witkoff’s comment extravagant before adding: "The guy's a war criminal, for God's sake, and he's rained down bombs on civilians without regard to human life."

Hume, speaking with host John Roberts on Wednesday's edition of America Reports, called the Putin praise "absurd," pointing to Russia's war with Ukraine and the high civilian casualty count, with millions more displaced.

Witkoff gave the compliment after Putin announced the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who had spent more than four years in Russian custody.

"You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again," Witkoff told Putin during their meeting.

Hubbard, a retired teacher from Michigan, was detained by Russian forces in Ukraine in 2022. Russian authorities accused the then-70-year-old of being a mercenary for Ukraine. He denied the allegations, and the United States determined that he was illegally detained.

Roberts excused Witkoff’s comments as diplomatic flattery, and Hume acknowledged that possibility, while seemingly taking a dig at Trump’s diesel deal with Russia

Hume then discussed Donald Trump’s reason for putting a pause on the Russia sanctions in Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill.

The Fox News star said the president told reporters on the South Lawn that you don’t punish people you’re trying to strike a deal with.

“When you’re trying to get a guy out of what has been locked up for four years illegally, you don’t insult the guy,” Hume said. “Maybe you flatter him.”

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis called the praise "embarrassing and outrageous," mentioning how the comment is insulting to the families of Ukrainian children killed or made homeless by the war.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn offered a rebuke, calling Putin a "stone-cold killer."

The criticism comes as Trump faces criticism for what many believe is capitulating to Putin’s demands and turning his back on Ukraine.

During the Fox News discussion, Hume also addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's willingness to freeze current battle lines as a potential starting point for peace talks.

Hume said the proposal now requires a response from Putin, who has rejected previous proposals to put the brakes on the fighting. He also noted that it challenges Trump, who has repeatedly blamed Zelensky for the lack of progress toward ending the war that Russia started.

Serving as both secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio has a variety of functions in the second Trump administration. But one thing Rubio is staying away from, according to Financial Times' Edward Luce, is Jared Kushner and U.S. envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff's attempts at a Russia/Ukraine deal.

"There is a reason why Marco Rubio runs from the sound of gunfire," Luce writes in Financial Times. "Though he is America's secretary of state and national security adviser — the first to combine those roles since Henry Kissinger — Rubio can sense a losing bet or three. Whether that is trying to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine, nuclear talks with Iran or fixing Gaza, he lacks the real estate background that President Donald Trump wants in his negotiators. Politicians typically crave the limelight. That Rubio is unbothered by being out of it tells us quite a lot."

Luce continues, "Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff do know real estate — and they are both billionaires who mix business with politics. This gives them credibility in speaking for Trump. That is partly why both (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and (Ukrainian President) Volodymyr Zelensky treated them with such respect on their fruitless trip to Moscow and Kyiv last weekend. They come with tote bags of promised 'win-win' investment booms that will flow from any deal. But their eyes might be bigger than their stomachs. Hammering out a deal that will stick is hard enough. If their true goal is dessert, however, they are likely to mess up the main course."

A "core Kushner-Witkoff tactic," according to Luce, is "to seduce their interlocutors with the lure of post-war bonanzas."

"Why should Ukrainians and Russians keep killing each other when they could be partnering with the U.S. to dig up critical minerals and build AI data centers?" Luce argues. "This misreads both men. Though estimates vary, Putin is worth a lot more than either of Trump's envoys, as well as Trump himself. Putin wants something that imagined post-ceasefire deals cannot buy, which is to reabsorb Ukraine into his cherished Russian motherland, in full or in part. Dessert is also not at the forefront of Zelensky's mind. His job is to defend Ukraine from Russia."

Luce adds, "In practice, business prospects keep Trump and his envoys in the game, not the other way round. Fixation on downstream benefits pushes them further from El Dorado."

Two of U.S. President Donald Trump's close allies, special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, have been key players in negotiations with Iran during a war that has lasted for six and one-half months. But a former White House official, according to The New Yorker, is highly critical off their performance, saying they are committing "total malpractice."

In The New Yorker, reporter Derek Filkins explains, "In the waning hours before the U.S. went to war with Iran, this February, Jared Kushner held a meeting with Iranian negotiators in Geneva — one last chance to avoid a conflict that would plunge the region into chaos and shock the world economy. Afterward, Kushner dismissed his counterparts as unworthy of his time. 'Lots of tricks,' he told reporters. 'They're basically playing games with us all over the place, and it's very, very slippery.'"

Filkins continues, "Kushner, the boyish-looking son-in-law of Donald Trump, has been given an extraordinary brief in recent years. Along with Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, he has been charged with ending wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and just about anywhere else they might break out. Kushner, who is 45, has little regard for the craft of diplomacy."

According to New Yorker sources, Kushner and Witkoff dropped the ball badly when it came to negotiations with Iran.

Filkins reports, "A former diplomat briefed on the talks with Iran told me that, when the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, began offering concessions, the two Americans failed to grasp precisely what was on the table. They sought advice from Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, but Grossi was attending the talks as a neutral party. A former White House official who worked on the Iranian nuclear issue was aghast at the lack of preparation: 'The Iranians come to you with a proposal. What does it actually mean? How much does it actually set them back — two months or two years? What are the work-arounds? For them not to have technical advisers there is just total malpractice."

Filkins reports that at another press conference, Kushner "argued that the Iranians were merely stalling."

According to the reporter, "'They were just trying to buy time in order to preserve whatever they could, to get past the term of President Trump,' he said. Another former White House official I spoke to largely shared that assessment. 'It was the same old game,' he said. 'The Iranian position is: We get a s–– ton of sanctions relief, and we do nothing to dismantle our nuclear infrastructure.' But some experts who followed the talks thought that Araghchi’s proposals were made in earnest. Among other things, the Iranians were offering to suspend nuclear enrichment entirely, which they had not done before, and to dilute the enriched uranium that they still retained."

Virginia Canter, a former White House counsel, is also highly critical of Kushner's handling of Iran negotiations.

Canter told The New Yorker, "Kushner is plagued with conflicts of interest. He is supposed to be working for the American people, but in fact, he has tremendous financial incentives to further the interests of his investors."

Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer sent a blistering message directed at President Donald Trump's approach to Russia after his special envoy praised Vladimir Putin as a humanitarian, saying he would choose death over hearing such praise from someone acting on his behalf.

“All I can say is, if I'm ever captured by Vladimir Putin, I'd rather die in a prison in Russia than have somebody on my behalf refer to Vladimir Putin as a humanitarian,” the North Dakota Republican said in a statement.

Cramer's remarks appear to be an indirect message to Trump, as Steve Witkoff, Trump's longtime friend and special envoy, represented the president when he praised Putin, and Trump later defended his remarks.

The moment that led to bipartisan backlash was when Witkoff went to Russia to secure the release of American Stephen Hubbard, 74, who had been held in prison for more than four years.

Witkoff thanked the Russian leader for freeing Hubbard and called him a humanitarian, even as Russia continued to wage war against Ukraine, targeting civilian infrastructure.

“You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,” Witkoff told Putin.

Trump later defended the compliment when reporters questioned him about Witkoff’s highly criticized description of the Russian leader.

“I guess you could say for that particular purpose,” Trump said, referring to Putin's decision to release Hubbard, who the US says was held illegally.

Cramer also said of Witkoff’s comments, “Humanitarian wouldn’t be one of the first ten million words I’d think of to describe Vladimir Putin. He is anything but a humanitarian.”

The GOP senator also noted Witkoff has a “different job” as a diplomat than he does, seemingly noticing the need for diplomacy, and added that Putin is “as bad as it gets.”

He, however, praised the release of the American prisoner as a “big deal.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., slammed Witkoff's choice of words, saying: “What an embarrassing and outrageous thing to say,” Tillis wrote on social media.

The controversy comes as Trump’s relationship with Russia has come under scrutiny with the Russian diesel deal and allegations that the US government slowed Starlink, leaving Ukraine’s airspace vulnerable to attacks.

Trump claims his administration had not given anything in exchange for Hubbard's release and suggested that the sanctions could have derailed the negotiations.

The president has blamed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the ongoing war, claiming that he refuses to make a deal to end the bloodshed.

Vladimir Putin might be President Donald Trump's favorite dictator, but according to a new piece from The i Paper, the Russian leader is "making a fool of Trump again," and this time, it is primed to help him and the GOP crumble in the midterms.

Longtime Washington, D.C., correspondent Simon Marks published a new analysis for the outlet on Sunday, detailing how overboard Trump's special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff went with his "gushing" praise of Putin during a recent visit.

"Thank you so much for having us," Witkoff said, placing a hand to his heart. "When we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all."

Later in the visit, Putin said that the "situation is difficult," which Marks said could have potentially referred to either his war with Ukraine, which Witkoff and Jared Kushner were ostensibly there to help negotiate an end to, or to the upcoming U.S. midterms, which are widely expected to go poorly for Trump and the GOP.

"Perhaps the Russian leader meant both, knowing that he and America’s voters are equally likely to give Trump short shrift in the days and weeks ahead," Marks wrote, later adding, "Nothing emerged publicly from Saturday’s meeting to suggest any kind of breakthrough, even though the White House described the talks with Putin as making 'substantive plans for next steps' that will only be revealed in 'coming weeks.' That suggests no effort by Putin to provide Trump with the immediate lifeboat he is seeking to end the Ukraine war in time for America’s midterms. With the US war on Iran also unresolved, Trump and his fellow Republicans remain set to traverse the election campaign without any significant achievements to trumpet regarding either conflict."

Putin, he explained further, has been playing Trump, Witkoff and Kushner "like a violin" throughout these negotiations, "raising hopes of some kind of possible breakthrough, and then gleefully dashing them sometimes hours later." Trump claimed on the 2024 campaign trail that, if reelected, he would be able to bring an end to the war in Ukraine within a matter of days, citing his good relationship with Putin, but the reality has been wildly different since then. The Russian leader has proven unwilling to give any edge to his enemies through diplomatic compromises, continuing to demand the surrender of Ukrainian territories to Russia in order to cease the conflict.

Between this quagmire and the one in Iran, Trump and the GOP have been left with little or nothing to tout to voters on his promise to end costly foreign wars.

"'Incredible stories and incredible memories' will indeed abound," Marks concluded. "But most of them may be told by the Russians, as they explain to their friends and loved ones how they toyed with Trump and his representatives like a cat with a mouse, and kept slaughtering Ukrainians with impunity."

President Donald Trump has long mixed his family in with his administration, from his sons scoring a big mining deal in Kazakhstan while their father is in office to his son-in-law negotiating on his behalf on matters relating to Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's invasion of Gaza.

"For the last decade, MAGA made President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, a national avatar for nepotism," reported The Bulwark's Amanda Carpenter on Sunday. "They railed against the cushy jobs he secured, objected to the expensive amateur artwork he sold, and fixated on a laptop that allegedly contained evidence of illicit foreign influence peddling—a saga that culminated in a gun and tax convictions for which his father pardoned him."

Carpenter added, "But now the very thing that MAGA spent years treating as a five-alarm scandal involving one president’s son has become the business model for multiple powerful fathers and sons simultaneously—and on a much larger scale."

She continued, "The nepotistic grift perpetrated by MAGA goes far deeper than the basic arrangement that anti-nepotism laws are designed to prevent. It’s not just a case of ‘father gives undeserving son a fancy job.’ And it’s not just the Trumps, either. It’s the Lutnicks. It’s the Witkoffs. We need a word that describes their sprawling, overlapping system of patriarchal influence and enrichment."

Carpenter dubbed the term "neporuption" and defined it as being when "the sons obtain major stakes and positions in companies with huge business before the government. Happily for them, their fathers hold positions that influence policy and determine contracts and loans that move these industries."

She elaborated, "The billion-dollar interests the children have involved themselves in stretch across consequential industries, like cryptocurrency; critical minerals, including rare earths and the ‘war metal’ tungsten; and defense technology—among plenty of other sectors. These interests often intersect with our country’s national security and foreign affairs. And, sometimes, the sons’ companies invest alongside one another, literally dealing one another into the grift."

Carpenter concluded, "Forget what you thought political nepotism looked like. This is bigger, brasher, and much harder to trace. And since it involves private equity and foreign capital, it often moves outside public view."

This trend includes not just Trump and his family but also the families of Trump's close aide Steve Witkoff, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick's family and many others. When nepotism flourishes like this, it harms both democracy and the economy's free nature.

"The vast wealth inherited by centuries-old billionaire families is staggering. While these heirs and their billions go undertaxed, enormous sums are squandered on lavish mansions, private jets, and vanity projects instead of funding crucial public investments," Americans for Tax Fairness executive director David Kass said in a 2024 statement. "In 2024, these billionaire families used their enormous wealth to make record-breaking political contributions to secure a GOP trifecta."

Kass added, "Now, Trump and his allies in Congress are doing their donors' bidding by rigging the system in their favor and pushing a $4 trillion giveaway to wealthy elites and giant corporations—all while advocating for cuts to vital programs that working and middle-class Americans depend on."