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Steve Witkoff’s Art of the Deal

Inside the State Department, Witkoff’s elevation has some wondering if the billionaire real estate investor and longtime Trump homie has become shadow secretary of state. “In terms of setting direction,” a State official says, “Witkoff outranks Rubio.”

Steve Witkoff marco rubio
Witkoff (left) shares Trump’s might-makes-right, realpolitik worldview to a degree that Rubio (right)—a more traditional foreign policy thinker, at least until recently—may not. Photo: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Tara Palmeri
February 21, 2025

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Earlier this week, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down with his Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia to discuss terms to end the war in Ukraine—excluding the Ukrainians from the summit, enraging Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermining longstanding European alliances—it didn’t escape the notice of anyone at the State Department that Steve Witkoff was also seated at the table. Witkoff, a billionaire real estate investor and longtime Trump pal, has gained extraordinary power over U.S. foreign policy since his anointment as special envoy to the Middle East—a title that understates the extent of his influence.