The son of a top Trump envoy rushed to his father’s defense after the administration’s latest meeting with Russia got brutally mocked online.
Zach Witkoff, 33, the son of President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, defended his dad after a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin drew flak on X.
Witkoff, 69, landed in Saint Petersburg early Wednesday morning to meet with Putin, 74. Hours later, Putin said he agreed to release retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard from prison, citing a request from Trump.
Mario Nawfal, a political commentator who posts news updates on his X account, reported on Witkoff’s landing in Russia with a pointed remark.
“Witkoff has been to Russia so many times he should be collecting air miles,” he said. “Whether this trip finally lands a deal is another story.”
Zach, a businessman and co-founder of the Trump-linked crypto empire World Liberty Financial, didn’t let the comment slide.
“This is disgusting and intellectually dishonest,” he wrote in response. “Robert Gillman, Marc Fogel, and now Stephen Hubbard; all US citizens who President Trump, this admin and my father worked tirelessly to bring home. Why don’t you ask them or their families whether my dad was collecting air miles’ traveling to Russia. Keep trying to get more clicks though…”
Though Nawfal snubbed Zach, former Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor chimed in with a dig at Witkoff’s remarks about Putin.
After Hubbard’s release, Witkoff fawned over the Russian dictator with eyebrow-raising praise.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” he told Putin. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.”
Vietor said the comment “is one of the most humiliating things I have ever seen in politics.”
“Keep crying about random tweets while Ukrainian kids get slaughtered,” he wrote to Zach. “Cash those corrupt crypto bucks!”
Witkoff’s son hit back with a reference to Vietor’s time in the Obama administration.
“You saying ‘Dude, this was like 2 years ago’ when [Fox News star] @BretBaier asked you if you remembered changing the wording of the Benghazi terror attacks from ‘attacks’ to ‘demonstrations’ in the President’s talking points is one of the most humiliating things I’ve ever seen in politics,” he said.
Trump, meanwhile, used Hubbard’s release to defend an executive order he signed that waived new sanctions and tariffs on Russia under a law named after the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“Numerous people, who requested that sanctions be immediately imposed on Russia, have called to apologize to President Trump in that they didn’t know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard, a truly big and important deal for the U.S.,” he claimed in a Truth Social post. “If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt.”
Just minutes before he published that post, however, Trump said “the United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return” for Hubbard’s release.
“There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin. Stephen is on his way back home,” he said.
