‘Embarrassing and Outrageous’: Witkoff’s ‘Humanitarian’ Praise for Putin Draws Bipartisan Rebuke
The U.S. envoy praised the Russian president while thanking him for releasing an American prisoner — and Republicans on Capitol Hill immediately pushed back.
WASHINGTON — Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy, faced sharp backlash Wednesday after he praised Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian” while in St. Petersburg, a comment that even members of the president's own party called embarrassing.
The remark came as Witkoff thanked Putin for releasing Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who had been imprisoned in Russia for four years and had been determined to be wrongfully detained. “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” Witkoff told Putin. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.”
The pushback was swift — and notably bipartisan in tone. “WTF, Steve?” wrote North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. “Look up the definition of 'humanitarian.' What an embarrassing and outrageous thing to say. You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a 'humanitarian.'”
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn responded to a video of the comments: “No. Putin is a stone cold killer.” Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska called it “another embarrassment,” and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, asked about the comment on the campaign trail, began: “I would describ[e]…” before declining to endorse it.
Asked later whether he would describe Putin the same way, Trump demurred: “Well, I guess you have to say for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life out. But I wouldn't say anything one way or the other.”
The visit was aimed at moving toward a resolution of the Ukraine war — the same war in which Russia has, over the past month, intensified strikes against civilian and energy infrastructure to try to cripple the power grid before the Ukrainian winter.
Reporting by CBS News. Read the original report: Witkoff faces backlash for calling Putin a “humanitarian”: “Embarrassing and outrageous”.
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