Transcript: Steve Witkoff on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 16, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 16, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who joins us this morning from Miami Beach. Welcome back to “Face the Nation,” Ambassador.
SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST STEVE WITKOFF: Thank you. Thank you, Margaret. Thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you just heard Secretary of State Rubio talk about these efforts to broker a ceasefire. You were the man face-to-face with Vladimir Putin. I wonder what your answer to the question is, in regard to whether this is a delay tactic or whether Vladimir Putin is sincere in seeking a ceasefire?
STEVE WITKOFF: Well, I was there for quite some time, Margaret, and I agree with the Secretary’s assessment. We made a lot of progress in that meeting. It was a meeting that was- it could have been as long as four hours, but it was certainly at least three. We talked about a lot of specifics, and I point to the large gap that existed between Ukraine and Russia prior to the inauguration, and where we are today. We have narrowed the issues between both of these parties, making a lot of progress, in my opinion, and I think that meeting underscores that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So I heard you say on another program this morning that you do expect presidents Trump and Putin to speak this week. Is that a decision making call, or is this just next steps?
STEVE WITKOFF: Well, I would- I would assume that, you know, they have- they have a real- they have a real relationship from the president’s first term. They’ve talked already, after the first visit that- that I had with President Putin. And I think this is going to be a very positive and constructive call between the two men, between the two presidents.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And decisions will be made on whether to move forward with this 30-day ceasefire that the U.S. and Ukraine have agreed to, but Russia, at least publicly, has not?
STEVE WITKOFF: Well, President Trump is the ultimate decision maker, our decision maker. And President Putin, for the country of Russia, is their decision maker. I think it’s a very positive sign that the two of them will be talking at some point. I think that’s- that’s showing that there’s positive momentum, that there’s a- an inclination on- on the part of both countries, and by the way, this includes Ukraine as well, to get to a long term, durable peace here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, France’s President publicly said yesterday that, in his country’s view, Russia is not genuine in seeking peace. They’re intensifying the fighting. We saw Vladimir Putin on television this week dressed in military fatigues. He made public comments about wanting to resolve root causes of the war. How different was his message in private?
STEVE WITKOFF: Well, I- look, I don’t- I don’t know what President Macron said. I think it’s unfortunate when people make those sort of assessments, and they don’t have, necessarily, firsthand knowledge. But I’m not going to comment on what he said, because I don’t know what he said. I know what I heard, the body language I witnessed. I saw a constructive effort over a long period of time to- to discuss the specifics of what’s going on in the field. There’s a 2,000 kilometer border between these two countries, and they are facing- shooting each other and facing each other across that 2,000 mile border. That’s a very, very, complicated ceasefire, and yet everybody is committed to have that discussion. Here we are, in the throes of having that discussion, with the Russians talking about sending technical teams, the United States, sending technical teams, a meeting in Saudi Arabia with our National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, and Secretary of State Rubio that had a lot of positivity attached to it, my meeting, which I- I regard as promising. I think those are all very, very good trends, and hopefully inform on the possibility of a near term peace agreement.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So beyond the ceasefire, a peace agreement, you’re already talking about technicalities in terms of territory that would be given up?Ā
STEVE WITKOFF: Well, I- what I- what I’m saying, the technical- what I’m saying is that a ceasefire involves how to get people to not be fighting with each other over a 2,000 kilometer border. That’s- that’s 1,200 miles.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
STEVE WITKOFF: Nor does that include a main area of confrontation, which is Kursk. And so there’s different battlefield conditions. We’ve got to discuss that. There are regions that we all know the Russians are focused on. There is a nuclear reactor that supplies quite a bit of electricity to- to the country of Ukraine. That’s got to be dealt with. There’s access to ports. There’s the Black Sea potential agreement, there’s- there’s just- there’s so many elements, Margaret, to the implementation of a ceasefire here, and I compare it sometimes to Gaza. Gaza is a finite, defined, space, as compared to the- the battle- where the battle is being fought, in Ukraine, Russia. So this is a much more complicated situation, and yet no one is throwing their hands up in the air. What they are doing is, they are digging in, and everybody is committed, all stakeholders, including the Europeans, to doing everything we need to do to get to a successful resolution here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You mentioned Gaza. I want to ask you what specifics you are looking at when it comes to relocating the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza. In the past, you’ve mentioned Egypt, you’ve mentioned Jordan. Are you talking to other countries at this point about resettling?
STEVE WITKOFF: I mean, I think we’re exploring, Margaret, all alternatives and options that leads to a better life for Gazans. And, by the way, for the people of Israel. So we’re exploring all of those things. But right now, what’s right in front of us, is coming to some sort of resolution on this conflict. And the recent experience that we had at the Arab Summit, where we spent seven and a half hours with leaders of various Arab countries, the recent experience we had with Hamas’ response was not encouraging. Now to me, we put a very sensible proposal on the table that was intended as a bridge to get to a final discussion and final resolution here, that would have incorporated some sort of demilitarization of Hamas, which must happen. That’s a red line for the Israelis. And maybe could have led to a long term peace resolution here. And yet Hamas- Hamas came up with their own construct, essentially disavowed what we discussed, and to my mind, that was a pretty poor ending, and I- I hope they reconsider, because the alternative is not so good for them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. Ambassador Witkoff, thank you for your time today. We’ll be back with more “Face the Nation.”
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