When President Trump sat down for a high-stakes meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, there were two men by his side: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

When Trump phoned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders from Air Force One after the meeting, it was Witkoff and Rubio sitting nearby in a photo released by the White House of the call.

They have emerged as the key players shaping foreign policy in the second Trump administration and have been at the center of efforts in recent weeks to pursue an end to the war in Ukraine.

The two bring differing backgrounds and experience: Rubio is a former senator and presidential candidate whose name has been floated as a potential GOP nominee in 2028. In a significant signal of his importance to the president, he also serves as national security adviser, making him only the second person in U.S. history to hold that dual-hatted role.

Witkoff is a businessman, personal friend and business partner to Trump. With no prior government experience, the president dispatched Witkoff early on as the point person in talks to free hostages held by Hamas and craft a ceasefire acceptable to Israel, and to meet face-to-face with Putin.

He is the only one of Trump’s special envoys to receive a swearing-in ceremony at the White House. Witkoff started out as Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, then special envoy for Russia, before taking on the more expanded title of special envoy for peace missions, a nod to his role in securing a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“I think that it’s good they come from different backgrounds and bring different expertise to the table,” said Leslie Shedd, a former spokesperson with the House Foreign Affairs Committee and president of Rising Communications. “I don’t necessarily think that’s why the president picked them, though. He selected them primarily because he trusts them and feels like they understand his vision and have been relentless in pursuing that.”

Critics of Trump, Rubio and Witkoff have emerged throughout the second Trump........

© The Hill