President Trump was holding a roundtable event with conservative influencers about antifa Wednesday when Secretary of State Marco Rubio, standing in the back of the White House's Blue Room, caught his eye. He had news for Trump, he said, but it would have to wait until after the media left. Then Rubio passed the president a note. News photographers in the room zoomed in on the handwriting on White House stationery that read, "You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first," the AP reports. The note suggested negotiators were nearing a Gaza peace deal, with the words "very close" underlined, reports the New York Times. It prompted Trump to proclaim, "We're very close to a deal in the Middle East."
The note's urgent tone came as Trump's top Middle East adviser, the prime minister of Qatar, and other senior officials joined a third day of peace talks between Israel and Hamas at an Egyptian resort Wednesday—a sign that negotiators aim to dive deeply into the toughest issues of an American plan to end the war in Gaza.
- Trump had kicked off the influencer event by telling assembled journalists that he planned to travel to the Middle East "toward the end of the week" and would "make the rounds" in the region to Egypt and possibly the Gaza Strip. He said he might leave on Sunday, then corrected himself to say Saturday evening, the Times reports.
- After Rubio passed Trump the note, Trump continued to talk to the influencers and take questions from the media as Rubio appeared visibly anxious. After several more minutes, the president wrapped by saying: "We're gonna get peace in the Middle East. That's what we want to do." He left without further elaborating.
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