WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's chief interlocutor with the Russian government last month advised a senior aide to Vladimir Putin on how the Russian leader should go about pitching the U.S. president on a peace plan aimed at bringing an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, according to a transcript of the call published by Bloomberg News on Tuesday.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, according to a transcript of the Oct. 14 call published by the news service, advised Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him for the Gaza peace deal, say Russia had supported it and that he respects the president as a man of peace.
“From that, it’s going to be a really good call,” Witkoff said according to the transcript.
When asked by Russian state media to comment on Bloomberg's report, Ushakov did not question the recordings' authenticity but said that they had not been leaked by Moscow. He also said that the calls had likely been leaked to “hinder” U.S.-Russia ties. “It’s unlikely this is being done to improve relations,” he said.
Ushakov also said that he spoke with Witkoff by phone “quite often” but refused to discuss the content of the recording. “The essence of these conversations is that they are confidential. I won’t comment. No one should comment.”
The Bloomberg report came as Trump on Tuesday said a proposal to end Russia's war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and announced he’s sending Witkoff to meet with Putin.
The White House did not dispute the veracity of the transcript, and Trump described Witkoff's reported approach to the Russians in the call as “standard” negotiating procedure.
“He's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to his home in Florida on Tuesday night. “That's what a dealmaker does.”
But U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who has been critical of Trump's approach to Ukraine, said the transcript showed Witkoff favors the Russians. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired,” Bacon said on social media.
Bloomberg said it reviewed a recording of the call, but did not say how it obtained access to the recording. The Associated Press has not independently verified the transcript.
The Witkoff-Ushakov call happened a day after Trump made a triumphant visit to Israel and Egypt to celebrate sealing the Gaza ceasefire.
“Here’s what I think would be amazing,” Witkoff said to his counterpart during the call, according to Bloomberg. “Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things.”
Witkoff also suggested setting up a Trump-Putin call before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's White House visit later that week and suggested that Putin congratulate Trump on the Gaza agreement as an entry point into the call. Ushakov agreed that Putin “will congratulate” and will say “Mr. Trump is a real peace man."
Trump and Putin ended up speaking to each other a day before the U.S. president held White House talks with Zelenskyy. Shortly after that meeting with Zelenskyy on Oct. 17, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia should “stop where they are” on the battlefield — meaning Ukraine should concede territory Russia had seized from its neighbor.
On Oct. 29, Ushakov spoke by phone with Kirill Dmitriev — a close adviser to Putin on Ukraine — and debated how strongly Moscow should push for its demands in a prospective peace proposal, according to another recording reviewed by Bloomberg.
“I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own,” Dmitriev told Ushakov in the back and forth. "But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible.
The exchange happened soon after Dmitriev had traveled to Florida for talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and informal adviser, that centered on creating the framework for a 28-point peace plan.
The original plan, which became public last week, appeared heavily skewed toward Russian demands and included calls for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas region to Russia and dramatically reduce the size of its military. It also included an agreement from Europe that Ukraine will never be allowed to join the NATO military alliance.
“This story proves one thing: Special Envoy Witkoff talks to officials in both Russia and Ukraine nearly every day to achieve peace, which is exactly what President Trump appointed him to do,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Dmitriev said in a social media post that the transcript was “Fake” and said in a second post: “The closer we get to peace, the more desperate warmongers become.” The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted the proposal was authored by the United States, with input from both the Russians and Ukrainians, in response to bipartisan pushback in Washington that the leaked plan amounted to a Russian wish list. The State Department declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was sending Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials as Witkoff meets with Putin. Trump also suggested he could eventually meet with Putin and Zelenskyy, but not until further progress has been made in negotiations.
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff attend talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 11, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will “finish the job” in Iran soon as “core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” offering a full-throated defense of the war Wednesday night in his first national address since the conflict began more than a month ago.
He used his platform before a wide audience to tout the success of the U.S. operations and argue that all of Washington’s objectives have so far been met or exceeded, but said Iran would continue to face a barrage of attacks in the short term.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said. “We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
But Trump also spent much of an address that lasted just under 20 minutes repeating many things he had already said in recent weeks and providing few new details. The speech appeared unlikely to move the needle of public sentiment at a time when polling shows many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran and as gas and oil prices remain high.
The effect on global financial markets was more immediate, with oil rising more than 4% and Asian stocks falling after Trump's comments about the U.S. continuing to hit Iran hard.
“Tonight, I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” Trump said. He also acknowledged American service members who had been killed and added: “We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close.”
The president didn’t mention the possibility of sending U.S. ground troops into Iran. Nor did he reference NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance he has railed against for not helping the U.S. secure the critical Strait of Hormuz, where a chokehold by Iran has sent energy prices soaring.
He also didn't say anything about negotiations with Iran or bring up his April 6 deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway or face severe retaliation from the U.S.
Trump ticked through a timeline of past American involvement in conflicts and noted that the ongoing war in Iran had lasted just 32 days, seeming to appeal to the public for more time to achieve the mission.
“World War I lasted one year, seven months and five days,” he said. “World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days.” Trump also added references to Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.
He also noted that in “these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield.” He said U.S. military action had been “so powerful, so brilliant” that “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat” — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors early Thursday.
Trump also seemed to suggest he had ruled out going into Iran to get its enriched uranium.
“The nuclear sites that we obliterated with the B-2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months to get near the nuclear dust,” he said. "And we have it under intense satellite surveillance and control. If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we’ll hit them with missiles very hard again.”
The president encouraged countries reliant on oil through the Strait of Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”
Trump's comments in his address were more measured than some of his previous remarks, including earlier Wednesday at a White House Easter lunch.
Of Iran, he told his assembled guests: “We could just take their oil. But you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate.”
“Yeah, they want to see it end. If we stayed there, I prefer just to take the oil,” Trump said. “We could do it so easily. I would prefer that. But people in the country sort of say: ‘Just win. You’re winning so big. Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that, too, because we have a lot of oil between Venezuela and our oil.”
The media was not permitted to watch the president’s remarks at the lunch, but the White House uploaded video of the speech online before taking it down. The White House did not return requests for comment from The Associated Press on the video and why it was taken down.
In the lunch — unlike in the subsequent speech — the president also reiterated some of his complaints about NATO allies for their reluctance to get involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz while suggesting that Asian countries could also step up to reopen the waterway.
“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force -- let South Korea do it,” Trump said of efforts to reopen the strait. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”
In a social media post Wednesday morning, meanwhile, Trump also wrote that “Iran’s New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.
Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. citizens and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path. “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Thousands of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why. Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub.
Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of these scenarios.
Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war that has been pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington, Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
A rainbow forms over the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A young girl is comforted by her father and Israeli soldiers as they take cover in a bomb shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People inspect the site of an Israeli strike amid debris and damaged vehicles in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man feeds stray cats in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
