Trump defends envoy after leak shows him coaching Russian official

Donald Trump has once again shown us exactly why he is not fit to lead one of the most powerful countries in the world.

An unknown source leaked the recordings of two telephone conversations. One appears to show Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, advising Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s most senior foreign policy aide, on how to appeal to the president.

And of course, Trump has defended him. He said it was the “standard thing”.

According to the BBC, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he hadn’t heard the audio, but he was “doing what a dealmaker does” to sell his peace plan to both Russia and Ukraine.

The leak emerged after the US presented its 28-point draft peace plan.

The other leaked recording is a phone call between Mr Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, Mr Putin’s economic adviser. It seems to suggest that the Kremlin created the 28-point plan, which Trump then presented as his own.

Trump’s big 28 point surrender plan for Ukraine was drafted and written by Russia.

Treason pedo Trump was assigned with delivering it in another failed attempt to backstab Ukraine and Europe and prevent the release of the blackmail Russia has on the US “president”. pic.twitter.com/9nwVzKe9DV

— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) November 23, 2025

As the Telegraph reported, Mr Dmitriev allegedly said during the call:

I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal

And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.

The Telegraph then added that he suggested “talking to Steve about this paper” — which is an apparent reference to Witkoff.

Mr Dmitriev claimed the transcript was fake.

Trump—Quick to defend

Republicans called for Trump to remove Witkoff from the Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations. However, Trump was quick to defend him.

Russia has, of course, denied leaking the recording.

Russia has denied leaking a phone call between Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin’s senior adviser.
The leak, first reported by Bloomberg News, revealed details of a conversation that took place on Oct 14 in which Mr Witkoff advised Yuri Ushakov on how…

— Simo Saadi🇺🇸🇲🇦 (@Simo7809957085) November 26, 2025

An unknown source leaked the US-backed peace plan last week. It included giving Russia some Ukrainian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. It has been widely criticised for being too Russian-focused and has now been heavily edited. However, Zelensky still wants to negotiate with Trump on the territorial concessions. He has asked the president for a meeting “as soon as possible”

The US is arguing that the current trajectory of the war means that, eventually, Russia will take that land anyway.

From Trump’s refusal to criticise Putin during his 2016 election campaign, to surrounding himself with people known to be friends and business associates of Russia — it is clear that Trump’s relationship with Russia has always been a little too special. And now, it seems that Ukraine is going to pay the price of that friendship.

Featured image via HG