Trump names golf partner, real estate executive Steve Witkoff as a special envoy to the Middle East [View all]
Source: Spectrum News NY1
PUBLISHED 6:06 PM ET Nov. 12, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has named Florida real estate investor Steven Witkoff, a close friend with no foreign policy experience, to be a special envoy to the Middle East, he announced on Tuesday night.
The pick comes the same day as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was announced as the president-elect’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel. Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel’s interests as it wages wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Trump’s transition team did not offer details about the Middle East envoy role, but unlike ambassadorships it will not require Senate confirmation. “Steve is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous. Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud,” Trump said in a statement.
Witkoff is the president-elect’s golf partner and was with Trump when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida in September. Over the weekend, Trump tapped Witkoff to help lead his inaugural committee alongside former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler. During Trump’s first term, Trump named him to the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
Read more: https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2024/11/12/trump-steve-witkoff-middle-east-special-envoy
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