GOP fundraiser Eric Levine called for President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to be fired over the diplomat’s recent comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing the president’s close friend was “duped” by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during hostage negotiations.
Levine, who previously raised money for Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) short-lived 2024 presidential campaign, wrote in a Wednesday email reviewed by The Hill that Witkoff is an “embarrassment to country and the President he serves.”
“He should do the honorable thing and resign. Failing that, he should be summarily fired,” Levine said in the email to his network.
Levine, who is a board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), was speaking in his personal capacity.
Witkoff, a wealthy real estate investor who has emerged as a force in the president’s foreign policy apparatus, has received criticism from foreign policy experts and some Ukrainian members of parliament over his characterization of Putin during his appearance on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s podcast.
Trump’s envoy said he “liked” Putin and did not see the Russian leader as a “bad guy.” He also suggested on the podcast that Russia had the right to the four regions in Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — that the Kremlin’s military partially occupies and claimed to annex during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, because they were majority Russian-speaking.
“They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” Witkoff told Carlson during the podcast episode that aired Friday.
Other comments Witkoff has gotten backlash for include him saying that he does not believe Hamas is ideologically “intractable” and that the Palestinian militant group needs to “demilitarize” and “then maybe they could stay there a little bit … be involved politically.”
“Anyone this naïve and who is willing to rely on the word of a nihilistic Nazi death cult which has been clear about its contempt for Western Civilization, and its intentions to exterminate the Jews, destroy Israel, and which launched the October 7 attack, is simply not qualified to represent the United States in such critical state craft,” Levine wrote in the email. “He clearly does not understand who he is dealing with or how to effectively negotiate with them.”
Levine went after Witkoff for agreeing to sit down with Carlson, calling the former Fox News host’s podcast a “malign and malevolent platform for revisionist history.”
“For guests with whom he disagrees or from whom he senses weakness, he [Carlson] browbeats and attempts to humiliate them until they either agree with him or are derisively prevented from finishing their point,” Levine said, adding that “perhaps we should just be grateful that he did not also congratulate Kim Jong Un on his last electoral landslide.”
Vice President Vance defended Witkoff, who has become a key negotiator in forging a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, praising him as a “great guy doing an incredible job.”
“The people sniping at him are mad that he is succeeding where they failed for 40 years,” Vance wrote in a Monday post on the social platform X. “Turns out a lot of diplomacy boils down to a simple skill: don’t be an idiot.”
Levine, a New York-based donor who cohosted a fundraiser for Scott in December 2023, wrote in the lengthy email that regardless of whether the public thinks U.S.-led peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are the “right policy … it is not necessary to rewrite history and make statements about Putin that the American people know are patently false.”
“Defending the indefensible or pretending the indefensible has not happened, is no way to win over the American people nor does it make peace between the two warring nations any more likely,” Levine said.
Levine said Secretary of State Marco Rubio should assume Witkoff’s role and lead both the negotiations in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
“These efforts should be led by Marco Rubio. He has proven he has the judgment, perspective and knowledge, to take the lead in any negotiations involving Ukraine and/or Gaza,” Levine said. “He will serve his country with honor and distinction. Most importantly, he can succeed where Witkoff cannot. Witkoff must go, and Rubio must take his place.”
RJC’s spokesperson Sam Markstein told The Hill that Levine “is speaking in his individual capacity” and that the RJC “has full confidence in Mr. Witkoff.”
Levine’s email was first reported by Jewish Insider.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
