The Dispute Index

Steve Witkoff

Portrait of Steve Witkoff
Freddie Everett / U.S. Department of StateSourcePublic domainOriginal framing retained; JPEG downloaded from the inspected exact source.

Steve Witkoff is an American diplomat, real estate investor and special envoy for President Donald Trump. He founded the Witkoff property investment and development firm after working as a real estate lawyer.

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What DI has documented

DI has documented statements by Steve Witkoff on Government Ethics, Government Transparency, and Israel. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.

Topics in this coverage

Statements by Steve Witkoff

Portrait of Steve Witkoff

Steve Witkoff

Role at the time: U.S. special envoy interviewed on 60 Minutes

Defended or excused

Statement summary

Witkoff endorsed Kushner's argument that their business relationships help diplomacy. He said they did not believe they had crossed ethical barriers.

“we call it experience”
Open the original interview (opens in a new tab)Witkoff defends business relationships as useful diplomatic experience - sourceOctober 19, 2025 full transcript, Witkoff's responses in the conflict-of-interest exchange following Stahl's question about Gulf business ties
Why we used this label

The reference point is the conflict between private business ties and diplomatic work. Witkoff rejects the conflict characterization and defends the relationships as useful experience.

Read statementDoes Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners conflict with his role in Middle East negotiations, as congressional Democrats and ethics groups say?

A participant is a subject of the case. A speaker has a statement documented in it. A commentator has an opinion or editorial documented in it.

Case

Does Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners conflict with his role in Middle East negotiations, as congressional Democrats and ethics groups say?

Relationship to this case: Speaker

Congressional Democrats and ethics groups say Jared Kushner's investment firm, Affinity Partners, conflicts with his role in Middle East negotiations. Kushner, his lawyers and the White House dispute that. CNN found no indication his diplomacy directly affected the investments it reviewed.

IsraelGovernment TransparencyUpdated