As Hamas officials prepare to respond to a ceasefire proposal from President Donald Trump, a new report from The New York Times details potential conflicts of interest involving the administration’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his family’s business dealings in the region.
The White House has indicated that Hamas has a three-to-four-day window to agree to the deal, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stating that any announcements would come directly from Trump or Witkoff. When questioned about the appropriateness of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also being involved in Middle East negotiations despite his own financial ties, Leavitt praised the plan, which she noted Kushner helped formulate.
The Times investigation, titled “As Witkoff Pitched Mideast Peace, His Son Pitched Mideast Investors,” reveals that while Steve Witkoff was engaged in sensitive ceasefire talks, his son, Alex Witkoff, was simultaneously seeking billions of dollars in investments from some of the same governments involved in the negotiations.
Steve Witkoff, a long-time New York real estate developer and friend of President Trump, founded the Witkoff Group, a successful development company specializing in turning distressed properties into profitable luxury apartments and condos. Upon his appointment as special envoy, he transitioned leadership of the company to Alex. However, financial disclosures show that the elder Witkoff has not yet fully divested from the company, having sold a portion of his stake for $120 million earlier this year.
At a real estate forum in May, both father and son addressed the apparent conflict. Alex Witkoff described their capital-raising efforts as “business as usual,” based on decades-long relationships with financial institutions. When questioned about a recent deal involving the Park Lane Hotel and Qatari investors, he argued that their long-standing business ties in the Middle East were precisely what enabled his father’s diplomatic success.
Steve Witkoff clarified the specifics of that deal, stating they were never direct partners with the Qatar Investment Authority. He did, however, acknowledge a close friendship with the prime minister of Qatar, who attended his son Alex’s wedding last year. According to Debra Kamin, the Times reporter behind the investigation, such overlaps blur the line between business and diplomacy. While these relationships may have aided Witkoff’s diplomatic role, Kamin notes that it is crucial to expose where officials may be personally profiting from their public service. Reporting suggests Gulf states were motivated to invest in Witkoff properties to cultivate influence with a politically connected family.
The family’s business ventures extend beyond real estate. Steve Witkoff and his other son, Zach, have partnered with the Trump family on a cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial. This firm has reportedly secured billions of dollars in investments from the United Arab Emirates, further entangling the family’s financial interests with their political access in the region.
Critics see a broader pattern within the administration, where the children of high-ranking officials appear to be leveraging their fathers’ positions for financial gain, drawing parallels to the business activities of the Trump sons and Jared Kushner. Kamin observed that such arrangements, once considered scandalous, are becoming normalized, potentially compromising U.S. global diplomacy.
In a separate investigation, Kamin also reported on the dismissal of two civil rights lawyers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The attorneys were fired after they raised concerns to Congress that policy changes under the Trump administration had made it nearly impossible to enforce the Fair Housing Act, a landmark law prohibiting discrimination in housing. The whistleblowers provided internal documents to the Times showing how enforcement efforts were being stymied. Days after the story was published, they were escorted from their offices.
The HUD website is currently offline, with a message blaming the shutdown on the “extreme radical left.” Kamin’s reporting suggests that the agency’s crucial, non-partisan enforcement work is being conflated with the administration’s broader push against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, undermining legal protections for Americans facing housing discrimination.
