Steve Witkoff has gone from spotting Trump cash at a deli to helping him navigate Ukraine and Gaza

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday for high-level talks aimed at ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the latest high-profile assignment for the real estate magnate turned White House foreign policy fixer.

Witkoff, a longtime pal of President Donald Trump, is also a key player in the Republican administration's efforts to end the war in Gaza. More immediately, he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a U.S. official who also confirmed Witkoff's arrival in Russia for the sensitive engagement. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of the anonymity.

The visit to Moscow comes after Ukraine on Tuesday agreed to a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia. The U.S. administration hopes the Kremlin will quickly sign on as well.

Witkoff, who turns 68 on Saturday, is at the forefront of complex negotiations on Gaza and Ukraine from a perch that did not require Senate confirmation.

Some things to know about Witkoff:

Witkoff flew to Russia for talks last month that led to a prisoner swap that freed Marc Fogel, an American history teacher the U.S. had deemed wrongfully detained.

Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and was serving a 14-year prison sentence. His family and supporters said he had been traveling with medically prescribed marijuana. Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cryptocurrency expert who faced Bitcoin fraud charges in the United States, was released to Russia in the prisoner swap.

Witkoff developed a rapport with his Russian interlocutor, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, during those successful negotiations, according to retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

In perhaps a sign of diplomatic polish, Witkoff gave much credit to an important Trump ally, Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, for bringing Fogel home.

“He was a cheerleader for this rapprochement where the two leaders would come together, and that’s what happened, so thank God,” Witkoff said. “Sometimes you don’t get a good result. Here we got a very good result. Mark Fogel is the evidence of that.”

Just weeks after his victory over Kamala Harris in November and before he was inaugurated, Trump dispatched Witkoff to the Mideast to begin work with Joe Biden's team on winning a hostage and temporary ceasefire deal.

Trump praised Witkoff, who shuttled between Tel Aviv and Doha, for helping seal the agreement that's led to a weekslong ceasefire and 33 hostages being freed from Hamas captivity in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Witkoff, in turn, deflected praise to Trump, suggesting that the deal would have never come to fruition without him coming to power.

The way to freeing the remaining 59 hostages, of whom Israel has declared 35 to be dead, could be an even tougher negotiation.

The first phase of the negotiated ceasefire ended last month with no clarity on what comes next since the agreement’s second phase has not yet been hammered out. A fragile truce holds for the moment.

Israel is now pushing what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to as the “Witkoff proposal." It would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.

Israel has made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners — a key component of the first phase.

Witkoff, who runs a real estate development and investment firm, is a longtime friend and golf partner of Trump. He played a less visible role during Trump's first term, serving on the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Witkoff first met Trump in the 1980s, when he worked for a real estate law firm that handled a deal for Trump, himself a real estate developer, according to testimony Witkoff gave in the president's civil fraud trial in 2023.

Witkoff testified that a few years later, he ran into Trump at a deli. Trump didn't have money with him and asked Witkoff to order him a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich. Years later when they met again, Trump remembered the sandwich and the two became friends, Witkoff said.

He's been more than a friend. Witkoff has donated millions to Trump's political causes over the years. He also partnered with Trump on the president's family cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial.

Witkoff started off as a real estate attorney who went on to found a management company that focused on residential buildings in New York City. In 1997, he founded his namesake real estate firm, Witkoff, where he currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer. He's now Florida-based, like Trump, and has golfed with him there.

Witkoff was on the golf course with Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September during the second attempt on Trump’s life last year. He spoke to Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity afterward, relaying some details about how it unfolded and how Secret Service agents pounced on Trump to protect him.

He was among Trump's handpicked speakers at the Republican National Convention in July, along with his son Zach Witkoff, who works at the family real estate firm.

The elder Witkoff spent much of his RNC speech describing the comfort that Trump has provided him and his family as they've grieved the death of his adult son Andrew, who died of an opioid overdose in 2011.

Witkoff last month told hostage families that the loss of Andrew has helped him understand the importance of bringing home the dead hostages still being held by Hamas so their family and friends can properly grieve them.

“I am a member of that club that's buried a child,” Witkoff said. “It's a bad club.”

Witkoff addressed the Madison Square Garden rally Trump held in October and spoke about how New York had changed since he grew up. He argued Trump could fix it.

Witkoff let Trump use his private plane at times during the campaign and he helped Trump make peace with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after a bitter divide stemming from the Republican governor's failed 2024 presidential campaign. Witkoff helped set up a meeting between Trump and DeSantis at his Shell Bay Club in Hollywood, Florida.

After Trump won the election, he named Witkoff as one of the two co-chairs of his inaugural committee, along with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who is now leading the Small Business Administration.

Trump then gave Witkoff a much bigger job, naming him as his special envoy to the Middle East. His weighty job portfolio has since become even bigger.

FILE - Steve Witkoff arrives at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks to businessman Steve Witkoff, who lost his son Andrew to a prescription drug overdose, during the White House Opioid Summit in the East Room of the White House, March 1, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Steve Witkoff arrives at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy, center, accompanied by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

FILE - U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attends and interview after participating in a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. national aecurity adviser Mike Waltz, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attend an interview after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Steve Witkoff watches as Secretary of State Marco Rubio applauds as President Donald Trump, accompanied by Marc Fogel, speak in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Steve Witkoff, special envoy, watches as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

A federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his home using a battering ram and arrested him.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson’s Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure.

“To arrest him, Respondents forcibly entered Garrison G.’s home without his consent and without a judicial warrant,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security has been ramping up immigration arrests in Minnesota in what the department has called its largest enforcement operation. DHS says its officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29.

Marc Prokosch, Gibson’s attorney, said he was “thrilled” by the judge's order. He had filed a habeas corpus petition, used by courts to determine if an imprisonment is legal, and called the arrest a “blatant constitutional violation" since the agents did not have a proper warrant.

Gibson’s wife was inside their Minneapolis home with the couple’s 9-year-old child during the raid. Prokosch said she was deeply shaken by the arrest.

Gibson, 37, was being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea after being held at a large camp on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, according to ICE’s detainee locator.

DHS did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment on the order and has not responded to a prior email with follow-up questions about Gibson’s case.

Gibson, who fled the Liberian civil war as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. He had remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.

Only days before his arrest, Gibson had checked in with immigration authorities at regional immigration offices — the same building where agents have been staging enforcement raids in recent weeks.

Bryan said in his Thursday order that he agrees with Gibson's assertions that since he had already been released on an order of supervision, officials “violated applicable regulations” by not giving him enough notice that it had been revoked and the reasoning, as well as not providing him an interview right after he was detained.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, had said that Gibson has “a lengthy rap sheet (that) includes robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, malicious destruction and theft.” She did not indicate if those were arrests, charges or convictions.

Court records indicate Gibson’s legal history shows only the one felony in 2008, along with a few traffic violations, minor drug arrests and an arrest for riding public transportation without paying the fare.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — has been wracked by fear and anger in the aftermath of the killing of Renee Good, who was shot Jan. 7 during a confrontation with agents. On Wednesday, a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle.

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)