Trump’s Middle East envoy says he’s heading to Qatar as hostage deal nearing

NDTV. US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he understands the Russian feeling with NATO being on their doorstep.

“You know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years, long before (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin said, you could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. Now they’ve said … that’s been like written in stone. Somewhere along the line (US President, Joe) Biden said no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep and I could understand their feeling about that,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

“There were a lot of mistakes made in that negotiation. When I heard the way that Biden was negotiating, I said you’re going to end up in a war and it turned out to be a very bad war. That war could escalate to be much worse than it is right now,” he said in response to a question.

“My view is that it was always understood. In fact, I believe that they had a deal and then Biden broke it. They had a deal which would have been a satisfactory deal to Ukraine and everybody else. But Biden said, no, you have to be able to join NATO.

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+ Lindsay Graham On Record Eyes Ukraine’s Vast Mineral and Metal Store. “Senator Lindsey Graham has argued that Washington must support Ukraine because of its lucrative natural resources.

During a visit to Kiev in September, Graham published a video standing next to Ukrainian leader Zelensky, in which the US senator said, “They’re sitting on a trillion dollars worth of minerals that could be good to our economy”.

“They just need weapons”, Graham implored, calling for more arms shipments to Kiev.”

Trump’s Middle East envoy says he’s heading to Qatar as hostage deal nearing. January 7, 2024.

Incoming US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff says he will be traveling to Doha later this week in order to advance the ongoing hostage negotiations. He says that a deal is on the verge of completion and that US President-elect Donald Trump expects it to be finalized before his January 20 inauguration, or “all hell will break loose” in the region.

“We’re making a lot of progress, and I don’t want to say too much because I think they’re doing a really good job back in Doha. I’m leaving tomorrow to go back to Doha, but I think that we’ve had some really great progress, and I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural, we’ll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president,” Witkoff says, after Trump calls him up to provide an update on the negotiations, during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

“We’re working in tandem in a really good way, but it’s the president, his reputation, the things that he has said, that are driving this negotiation, and so hopefully it’ll all work out and we’ll save some lives,” Witkoff adds.

Pressed on what has been holding up the talks to date, Witkoff declines to get into specifics. “I believe we’ve been on the verge of [a deal]. I don’t want to discuss what’s delayed it — no point to be negative in any way.

Asked whether the parties are waiting to reach a deal until Trump is in office, Witkoff responds, “No, I think they heard him loud and clear. [This] better get done by the inaugural.”

He says he will leave for Qatar either tonight or tomorrow night.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar since the weekend…. Times of Israel