Ric Grenell calls to fire leaker of phone call between Putin aide and Steve Witkoff on Gaza-style peace plan for Ukraine

Ric Grenell, special envoy to President Trump, has called for the immediate firing of whoever leaked the private conversation between Vladimir Putin’s senior foreign policy adviser and billionaire developer Steve Witkoff regarding a proposed peace plan for Ukraine.

“Find the leaker and fire them immediately. No excuses,” Grenell posted on X on Wednesday. “The anonymous leaker is a national security risk.”

Bloomberg News recently published the transcript of the October 14 phone call between Witkoff and policy aide Yuri Ushakov, which included Witkoff coaching Russia on how it should approach negotiations with President Trump. The source of the leak has not been identified, raising concerns given the sensitive nature of the conversation and the high-level officials involved.

"We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace, and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you," Witkoff was quoted as saying.

The roughly five-minute call included Witkoff expressing deep respect for Putin and telling Ushakov that he had informed Trump he believed Russia always wanted peace with Ukraine. Witkoff suggested the Russian president congratulate Trump for the Gaza peace deal, say Russia supported it, and that he respected Trump’s efforts for peace.

"Here’s what I think would be amazing," Witkoff explained. "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."

Ushakov criticized the release of the call, calling it “unacceptable” and aimed at hindering discussions between the two countries. Trump, asked about the leak on Tuesday, said he had not listened to the audio.

"I haven't heard it. No, but it's a standard thing, you know, because he's going to sell this to Ukraine. He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what he's, that's what a dealmaker does. You got to say, look, they want this. You've got to convince him of this. You know, that's a very standard form of negotiation," Trump said.

"I haven't heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiations. And I would imagine he's saying the same thing to Ukraine because each party has to give and take," Trump added. 

Before the leak occurred, Human Events’ Jack Posobiec spoke to conservative commentator Liz Wheeler, where he predicted that sensitive national security information would be leaked from the Trump administration, particularly regarding Russia–Ukraine peace talks, in an effort to stir up another impeachment of President Trump. He suggested the scenario could become more likely if Democrats retake the House of Representatives after the 2026 election. Shortly after Posobiec’s prediction, the leak was published.