A leaked phone call revealed a top aide of President Trump helped coach the Russians on how to win the commander in chief over with flattery while navigating negotiations on a Ukraine peace deal, according to a report.
The call between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Yuri Ushakov, the top foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Oct. 14, discussed the possibility of Putin and Trump hopping on a phone call to discuss a peace plan, according to the transcript of a recording obtained by Bloomberg.
On the five-minute call, Witkoff advised Ushakov to instruct Putin to congratulate Trump and open the conversation with some complimentary remarks.
“I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace, and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen,” Witkoff said.
“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. That he will say,” Ushakov said, appearing to take the suggestion.
Witkoff also laid out how he believed the peace deal would be accomplished, maintaining he thought that land concessions were necessary.
“Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere,” Witkoff told Ushakov.
“But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here,” he continued.
Witkoff, who helped broker the 20-point Gaza peace plan, suggested to Ushakov that Moscow and Washington emulate that deal.
“We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you,” Witkoff said.
The call came days before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House for discussions.
Witkoff urged Ushakov to get Putin and Trump on the phone before his sitdown with Zelensky.
“I will go to that meeting because they want me there, but I think if possible, we have the call with your boss before that Friday meeting,” he said.
Trump said he hadn’t heard the Witkoff recording, but maintained the call between the special envoy and Ushakov was a “standard form of negotiation.”
“That’s a standard thing. He’s got to sell this to Ukraine, he’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia, that’s what a dealmaker does. You got to say, look, you want this, you got to convince them of this,” the president told reporters Tuesday night.
“That’s a very standard form of negotiation. I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was a standard negotiation, and I would imagine he would say the same thing to Ukraine, cause each party has to give and take,” Trump continued.
The discussion between the top officials appeared to predict Witkoff’s approach to constructing Trump’s controversial 28-point peace plan to end the nearly four-year war between the nations.
The Russia-friendly plan, which called for Ukraine to give up the entire Donbas region, shrink its army by a third, and abandon its NATO ambition, was eventually slimmed down to a 19-point plan by senior Washington and Kyiv delegations.
The new plan would nix one of the most controversial provisions that Ukraine would have to give up territory in the Donbas that Russia has been unable to conquer in more than 11 years of war there.
Russia is set to reject the revised cease-fire proposal, suggesting the war will last until at least Christmas, sources told The Post.
