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Steve Witkoff: “The Qataris were the interlocutors, directly talking to…”

Featuring: Steve Witkoff, Republican | U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East | National

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff's extended 60 Minutes interview

Published October 19, 2025 | Video Starts at 16:57

But you were dealing with the Israelis and the Qataris were dealing with Hamas and you were dealing with, with the Qataris. Yes and no. The Qataris were the interlocutors, directly talking to Hamas. But then we were on the phone with the Qataris, the Egyptians and the Turks, and the notion was to convince everybody that those 20 Israeli hostages who were alive were no longer assets for Hamas. (16:57–17:02)

CLAIM

Asserts that Qatar acted as intermediaries in talks with Hamas.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Steve Witkoff

“Hamas came out and said, you know, we accept the President's plan.”
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“We're working on Algeria and Morocco right now, our team. And there's going to be a peace deal there in the next, in my view, 60 days.”
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“President Trump is a very different sort of president to work for. He delegates.”
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“He gave us a lot of authority to negotiate.”
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“I've divested. Like Jared, I receive no salary and I pay all my own expenses.”
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“We don't think there was a conflict of interest [in our dealings with foreign leaders].”
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“The President, when we went to that UNGA meeting with the Arab leaders, came out of that with almost unanimity, a consensus support from…”
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“We were not talking to junior people or lieutenants over there. We were talking directly to the people who make the final decisions.”
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“We were sending these drafts back to the Qataris who were sitting in the room with [Hamas] in Doha.”
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“We came away thinking that we were awful close to a deal.”
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“We had lost the confidence of the Qataris. And so Hamas went underground and it was very, very difficult to get to them.”
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“The apology was pivotal. It was the linchpin that got us to the next place.”
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“Those 20 Israeli hostages who were alive were no longer assets for Hamas. They were a liability.”
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“We were hearing that Hamas was positive on the deal.”
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“We were getting briefings from the CIA three times a day.”
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“We both described it to the president as if we would have an opportunity to meet Hamas.”
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“When the Prime Minister invited us, both Jared and I knew that he endorsed the deal.”
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“We were there to help, to sell it to the Cabinet, to let that Cabinet know that we were going to stand behind all aspects of the deal.”
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“The estimates are in the $50 billion range. It might be a little bit less. Less. It might be a little bit more.”
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“We have a master plan already.”
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“There's a board of peace and we're going to be very, very focused and fastidious about having the best talent there.”
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“We're already talking to contractors from all of the Middle Eastern countries because we think there has to be support from them and they…”
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“Everything's transparent that we do.”
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“Highly unlikely. We're going to have a weapons buyback program. This is all linked to amnesty and disavowing violence.”
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“Half the half of Gaza committed to move back. You know, there are three phases of redeployment.”
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“Doing a peace deal is becoming infectious. People want to do them. People want to get to this place.”
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“We're there to, you know, hopefully have a long term diplomatic solution with us, Iran.”
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