Murdoch Paper Shreds Trump Goon Over Putin ‘Smooch’
“You are a humanitarian,” Steve Witkoff told the man leading a systematic murder campaign.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal has shredded President Donald Trump’s developer-turned-diplomat Steve Witkoff for his astounding Vladimir Putin suck-up.
Witkoff became the president’s envoy to the Middle East and later his top Russia-Ukraine negotiator, despite having no prior diplomatic experience. Trump, himself a real estate tycoon, liked the billionaire property developer’s ability to make deals, so he tapped him ahead of an actual diplomat and possible future Republican presidential nominee, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
To his credit, Witkoff did carve out a backchannel that led to negotiations with Vladimir Putin. However, the Kremlin dictator will be rubbing his hands together as to how the relationship has played out.
Putin and Witkoff during a meeting at the Constantine Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday.
Kristina Solovyova/via REUTERS
In short, Trump has let him back in. He struck a deal with the dictator to allow him to sell oil to the U.S. and global markets, eschewing sanctions that had crippled his war machine.
This will fund his murderous plans in Ukraine. Even still, Witkoff thinks he’s a “humanitarian.”
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That’s because he released an American, Stephen Hubbard, from a Russian jail. Sentenced to nearly seven years in a Russian penal colony in 2024, the teacher was captured in 2022 shortly after the full-scale invasion while allegedly serving in a defense unit in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s people are still living under bombs sent by “humanitarian” Putin.
Yan Dobronosov/REUTERS
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian—you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you,” Witkoff said afterward, lavishing praise on Putin.
This was tantamount to a “smooch,” the WSJ’s Editorial Board surmised in a critical column.
The board wrote that Trump’s chief negotiator with Russia “offered this rhetorical smooch” with the fawning comment.
It then turned fire on Trump, calling the 80-year-old “a one-man Putin rehabilitation committee.”
They noted that it is, of course, a positive that Mr. Hubbard is home, but added that Putin “loses nothing by granting Mr. Trump the favor of releasing Mr. Hubbard to much fanfare on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections.”
It added, “As welcome as Mr. Hubbard’s release is, it shouldn’t obscure the larger strategic and human stakes of U.S. policy toward Russia. Mr. Putin is raining death in missiles and jet drones from the air on women and children on a nightly basis. He is helping Iran target and kill Americans in the Middle East. He wants to help China break U.S. alliances in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific.”
The White House has been approached for comment.
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