The White House has backed President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, after Bloomberg received a recording of a call he held with Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A transcript of the call, held on October 14, shows Witkoff and Ushakov discussing an upcoming phone call between Trump and Putin. Witkoff suggests that Putin should congratulate Trump on the Gaza ceasefire deal and discuss a “similar 20-point plan” for Ukraine.
“Hey Steve, I agree with you that he will congratulate, he will say that Mr. Trump is a real peace man and so and so,” Ushakov told Witkoff. Two days later, Putin and Trump spoke by phone, the day before Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
When asked for comment on the report, White House communications director Steven Cheung told Bloomberg, “This story proves one thing: Special Envoy Witkoff talks to officials in both Russia and Ukraine nearly every day to achieve peace, which is exactly what President Trump appointed him to do.”
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, known for his reporting on the Edward Snowden leaks that revealed extensive surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency (NSA), noted on X that it was likely that the Witkoff-Ushakov call was leaked by the NSA. Bloomberg also obtained a recording of a call between Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, another of Putin’s advisers.
“Who is eavesdropping on Steve Witkoff’s calls with Russian officials to end the war in Ukraine, then leaking them to Bloomberg?” Greenwald wrote on X. “It’s the same thing the NSA did to Michael Flynn when he was negotiating with Russian officials. It’s the most serious leaking crime in the US Code.”
In another post, Greenwald added that the NSA was “using its powers not for what they’re intended — spying on foreign adversaries — but instead spying on American citizens and American officials, then leaking their conversations to sabotage the elected President’s policies.”
