Behind Closed Doors: The Troubling Alliance of Steve Witkoff and Trump

United States Special Envoy to the Middle East

Part of a the Trump’s Circle Series

Rise to Influence

Steven Charles “Steve” Witkoff’s path from a modest New York upbringing to the upper echelons of real estate and politics has been defined by bold ambition and an instinct for deal-making. Born in 1957 to a middle-class Jewish family in the Bronx and raised in Long Island, Witkoff learned the value of hard work early from his father, a manufacturer of women’s coats (Who is Trump golfing buddy Steve Witkoff? – The Forward). He earned his B.A. at Hofstra University in 1980 and a J.D. at Hofstra Law in 1983 (Who is Trump golfing buddy Steve Witkoff? – The Forward), then plunged into Manhattan’s high-stakes real estate world as a young attorney. At the law firm Dreyer & Traub – a hotbed of 1980s property deals – Witkoff found himself representing the era’s “swashbuckling” real estate barons, including a brash developer named Donald J. Trump (Who is Trump golfing buddy Steve Witkoff? – The Forward). The apprentice lawyer was awed by these…