© Getty Images
Witkoff met with Putin, 72, last week while trying to advance peace talks with Moscow over their brutal war in neighboring Ukraine and the Russian leader described Trump as a personal friend.
"[Putin] told me a story, Tucker, about how when the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president," Witkoff told pundit Tucker Carlson during an interview posted Friday.
"Not because he could become the president of the United States, but because he has a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend."
Comment: Low class comment NY Post, regarding Putin's
Trump came within a quarter inch of death, turning his head just in time so that would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks' bullet struck his right ear.
At the time, a Russian spokesperson suggested that the "atmosphere around candidate Trump" created by his opponents led to the conditions that paved the way for the assassination attempt.
Putin, who is a Russian Orthodox Christian, also gave Witkoff a portrait of Trump to bring back home to the 47th president as the Kremlin seeks to flatter Washington amid delicate deliberations over Ukraine.
"President Putin had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump, from the leading Russian artist, and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump," Witkoff recounted.
When Witkoff debriefed Trump on Putin's overtures, the president "was clearly touched by it," the special envoy recalled.
Flight data had suggested that Witkoff was kept waiting hours before meeting with Putin, though Trump has denied that there was any "wait whatsoever."
Comment: There was no wait. Furthermore, Putin broke diplomatic protocol to meet with Witkoff.
Under normal circumstances, Witkoff would have met with a Russian official of his equivalent rank, not with the leader of the country. Putin extended him courtesies normally reserved for a president, giving Witkoff nearly two hours of his valuable time. Putin is doing everything he can to support Trump's drive to settle the Ukraine situation and Russia's larger security concerns for good.
"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy. That is a complicated situation, that war, and all the ingredients that led up to it," Witkoff explained to Carlson of the conflict.
© Chris McGrath / Gettyimages.ru
A top agenda item during Witkoff's meeting with Putin was to help broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Putin and Trump spoke over the phone. Russia rejected the Trump administration's blueprint for a 30-day ceasefire, something to which Ukraine agreed.
Instead, the Kremlin agreed to pause attacks on "energy and infrastructure" for 30 days. A readout from Moscow stated that Putin demanded the US cease military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine, but Trump has publicly denied that claim.
Zelensky later agreed to the scaled-down ceasefire the Russians proposed but warned that "nothing has changed" with the Russians, who launched a massive drone attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa Thursday.
Comment: NY Post neglects to mention the strike by Ukraine on an airbase in the Saratov region, which came first.
© Associated PressSteve Witkoff is technically the US special envoy to the Middle East, but his portfolio includes Russia as well.
One of his top foreign policy priorities has been to end the bloody war in Ukraine, which hit its three-year anniversary last month.
The 47th president has at times heaped praise on Putin, hailing him as a "strong leader" and a "genius," — though he has also clashed with him as well. Earlier this month Trump threatened to slap additional sanctions and tariffs against Russia.
Reader Comments
”As the Russian military invades Ukraine, many people are deeply worried over what this means for the tens of thousands of Jews who may come under his rule. Though Putin is undoubtedly the aggressor in this conflict, attacking ruthlessly to absorb Ukraine, once the dust settles, there is reason to believe his government will not be oppressively anti-Semitic.”
The Russian SMO didn’t begin until February 24th 2022. Perhaps the date assigned to the article is a typo?
What’s exciting is that so many more people are well informed than even 6-7 years ago. Covid and podcasts have really brought alternative news to the forefront despite the establishments most desperate efforts. Seeing Thomas Massie receive almost $250,000 in campaign donations less than 48 hours after Trump threatened to primary him shows us that many people do understand what the core threats to our country are.