‘This Week’ Transcript 5-18-25: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Ro Khanna

Politics

A rush transcript of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” airing on Sunday, May 18, 2022 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the “This Week” transcript archive.

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JONATHAN KARL, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: I’m joined now by the man at the center of negotiations with Iran, Russia, and more, President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Mr. Witkoff, good morning and thank you for joining us.

Let me start right with the news we reported, which is that President Trump plans to speak by phone tomorrow with Vladimir Putin. Do you expect this call will lead to direct negotiations between President Trump, President Putin and President Zelenskyy in person negotiations?

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: Look, Jon, we had some — we had direct negotiations in Istanbul. There were some good achievements made, including the release of hostages. We have to get to a ceasefire. That’s the — that’s the president’s position, and we all agree with that position. And most importantly, we have to get to a final peace deal. And the president has a — a forcive (ph) personality that is unmatched.

I think it’s important, his sensibilities are, that he’s got to get on the phone with President Putin, and that is going to clear up some of the logjam and get us to the place that we need to get to. And I think it’s going to be a very successful call.

KARL: What did you make of — of Putin’s not going to Istanbul? I mean, President Trump even offered to — to — to adjust his trip to be there himself. Why was it, do you think, that Putin decided not to go?

WITKOFF: Look, I — I don’t want to comment on his motivations. I think, in some respects, it may have something to do with the delegation that he had sent to the original Istanbul talks. But those were certain — those were different circumstances back then, as compared to today.

I want to leave it to — I want to be a bit more positive about this. I believe that the president is going to have a successful call with — with Vladimir Putin. They know each other. The president is determined to get something done here. And hopefully if — if he can’t do it, than nobody can.

So, I leave it to the two leaders to have that call.

KARL: Vice President Vance said recently that the Russians, quote, “are asking for too much.” Is that in your assessment of where we are right now? Is — is Putin asking for to much?

WITKOFF: My — my assessment is that this is a very complicated conflict that shouldn’t have happened. I — I — I completely agree with President Trump in that regard.

And, you know, you’ve got people who are at each other. There’s a lot of emotion, a lot of hatred, and the carnage has to end. And so, I think in a negotiation like this, people take positions. The — the — the art, the elegance of it, and the president is the master at this. I — I’ve said many times that I follow his tactics because they — they work. The — the — the art here is to narrow those — that — that, you know, wide berth between the parties.

And I think, to some extent, we’ve done that. To some extent, each party is — is, you know, staking out their positions. And I think Monday will go a long way towards identifying where we are and how we complete this negotiation.

KARL: OK, and then we have the other major set of negotiations with Iran. Can you give us — give us the sense of what is the outline of the deal that President Trump wants to get with Iran?

WITKOFF: Well, the president has been very clear, he wants to solve this — this conflict diplomatically and with dialogue. And he’s given — he’s given all the signals. He has directly sent letters to the supreme leader. I have been dispatched to deliver that message as well, and I’ve delivered it.

And, on the other hand, we have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability. We’ve delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses some of this without disrespecting them. And so, that’s important. We’re — we — we — we want to — we want to get to a solution here. And — and — and we think that we will be able to. But everything begins for our — from our standpoint, Jon, with a — a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that. Because enrichment enables weaponization. And we will not allow a bomb to — to get here.

But, short of that, there are all kinds of ways for us to achieve our goals in this negotiation. We think that we will be meeting sometime this week in Europe. And we hope that it will lead to some real positivity. And that’s — that’s — that’s where we are, sir.

KARL: And — and another thing that the president said on this trip, he was very direct in his statement about the people of Gaza, Palestinians in Gaza who he said are starving, and about getting aid and support. We have to help the Palestinians, he said. Is the president — are you pushing the Israelis to allow that aid to come in and — and to hold back on some of the — the offensive operations that continue to be ongoing in Gaza?

WITKOFF: The president, Jon, is a humanitarian. And I think that any — everyone is concerned about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

That said, it is a very complicated situation there. Logistically, we are — I don’t think there’s any daylight between President Trump’s position and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position. The issue now is — I think the issue now is, how do we logistically get all of those trucks into Gaza? How do we set up the aid stations? There are many things — initiatives that we are working on to address this. There — there are going to be mobile kitchens that are going to be sent in there. The flour — we have trucks with flour waiting at the border. The Israelis have indicated that they’re going to begin to allow a lot more of these trucks to get in.

But it is complicated. It is logistically complicated. And the conditions on the ground are dangerous. There are still many unexploded shells all over the place. So, we have to be mindful of that.

But that said, we do not want to see a humanitarian crisis, and we will not allow it to occur on President Trump’s watch.

KARL: And — and before you go, I’ve got to ask you about that 747 that the Qataris have offered as a gift to be used as a new Air Force One. Do you have any concerns about this? I mean what — what do the Qataris expect in return for a $400 million present, you know, essentially to the United States?

WITKOFF: Well, first of all, Jon, it’s a perfectly legal transaction. It’s been vetted by the White House counsel, by the Justice Department. There are outside law firms involved. So, it’s a perfectly legal, government to government, Department of Defense, to Department of Defense transaction that happens in the normal course and has been happening in the normal course throughout — throughout our existence. Governments exchange services. In this case, the president has done an incredible array, you’ve — you’ve witnessed it now in the Middle East, but it — it began when he was first inaugurated. He’s done an incredible array of wonderful deals, and created all kinds of opportunities for this country, for our economy, for the growth of our economy, and everything is always with the mind of doing something good for the American public, for the American taxpayer.

This is another example. They decided to donate something because of all the wonderful things that we’ve done for them in the past, and in addition to that, they then, on top of that, announced $1.2 trillion worth of investments into the United States of America, which will create jobs and do all kinds of wonderful things.

So, I don’t really — I’m not sure how anyone would see this as the Qataris looking to gain some sort of advantage. We — we have an advantage because of their largess (ph) and looking — and their — them looking to invest in our country. And I think that’s — all of that is to be commended.

KARL: All right, Steve Witkoff, the president’s —

WITKOFF: And again, Jon —

KARL: Yes.

WITKOFF: And again, Jon —

KARL: Yes. Yes.

WITKOFF: I just want to say, this is to the benefit of the United States of America that — that donation. So, it — it just has to be seen as that way.

KARL: All right, Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, thank you for your time.

WITKOFF: Thank you.

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