In Gaza and Ukraine, Trump is again leaning on Jared Kushner for difficult diplomacy |
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the dawn rose on US President Donald Trump’s second term, one key figure from his first administration stood back, content to focus on his personal business interests and not retake a formal government role.
Now, nearly a year into Trump 2.0, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been drawn back into the foreign policy fold and is taking a greater role in delicate peace negotiations. Talks had initially been led almost solo by special envoy Steve Witkoff, a real estate mogul who had no government experience before this year.
The shift reflects a sense among Trump’s inner circle that Kushner, who has diplomatic experience, complements Witkoff’s negotiating style and can bridge seemingly intractable differences to close a deal, according to several current and former administration officials who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations.
Kushner, who like Witkoff is Jewish, played a key part in brokering the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries at the end of Trump’s first term. He was also at the center of other foreign policy initiatives.
In recent months, Kushner joined Witkoff in the later stages of negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which was inked in October. And Kushner’s second-term role was also on display this weekend as he and Witkoff took part in a blitz of diplomacy in Miami.
On Sunday, they concluded two days of talks with Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev in Miami on the latest proposals to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The talks with Dmitriev came after they met on Friday in Florida with the Ukrainian negotiating team, led by Rustem Umerov, as well as senior British, French and German national security officials. The Ukrainians and European officials stuck around Florida for more talks with US government officials facilitated by Trump’s envoys.
Witkoff and Kushner also squeezed in meetings on Friday with Turkish and Qatari officials to discuss the Gaza truce, as they look to implement the second phase of Trump’s ceasefire plan, which aims to establish longer-term security and governance structures for the territory.
Witkoff, a longtime pal of Trump’s, is seen by some inside the administration as an oversize character who has traveled the world for diplomatic negotiations on his private jet and does not miss an opportunity to publicly praise the president for his foreign policy acumen, the officials say.
Kushner has his own complicated business interests in the Middle East and a sometimes transactional outlook........