President Donald Trump has entrusted only a handful of his closest advisers to tackle his most important foreign policy priorities from Russia to the Middle East. Even as their portfolio expands – now including a possible strike on Venezuela – the group remains small.

It’s a mark of the president’s unyielding belief in his inner circle made up of old friends, family and confidants, and underscores his deep distrust of the broader national security and State Department apparatus that has served as the backbone of foreign relations for decades.

The unusually small group includes Trump’s long-time real estate friend Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and chief of staff Susie Wiles.

It was Witkoff who petitioned Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, to help negotiate an Israel-Hamas peace deal in part because of his role in shaping the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term, according to a White House official who like others in this story was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

Witkoff and Kushner, who Trump sees as his best dealmakers, worked together to craft the 28-point peace plan for Ukraine-Russia that was released last month, and ultimately rejected, a second White House official said. Vance and Rubio briefed the Hill as the plan came together, said a third White House official.

Trump calls this close coterie on a whim, meetings occur on an ad hoc basis and decisions are made fast, the first White House official said.

“It all is just up to the president” on which principal does what, the official added.

There’s little hierarchy, other than Trump at the top, and no restrictions on who gets access to the president.

“Trump wants peace deals and he wants the credit,” said one former administration official granted anonymity to discuss the dynamic. “The details he’s less worried about.”

Still, it has appeared at times that Trump’s team isn’t always on the same page, there has been no breakthrough with Russia, and there is growing fear that a conflict in Venezuela could spiral beyond the administration’s control.

“It’s really dangerous to have several people independently conduct a negotiation,” said Richard Haass, the former president of the Council on Foreign Relations who served as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell in the George W. Bush State Department. With Ukraine over the last several months, Trump has dispatched Witkoff and now Kushner to deal with Russia, after departing special Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg talked to Kyiv. Rubio, and to a lesser extent Vance, have also served as interlocutors with European allies as well as Ukraine and at times Russia.

“It’s much better to have one person who’s aware of everything being said to everybody, determines what is said to everybody, and manages the trade offs,” Haass said. With “so many cooks in the kitchen, there’s no way to ensure that what is being said to Ukraine as opposed to what is being said to Europe as opposed to what is being said to Russia fits together.”

The Trump administration argues that a smaller team is more nimble and less bureaucracy means fewer leaks. And, most importantly, the small team has the president’s trust.

Kushner, for example, was brought on to help discuss peace plans first with Israel and then Ukraine because of his “proven success in negotiating the Abraham Accords and the [Gulf Cooperation Conflict] conflict in the first term,” the first White House official said, noting that Kushner is also friends with Witkoff.

“When it came to the Israel-Gaza deal, Steve would call Jared and ask for input,” the official added, mentioning the informal nature of Kushner’s role. “And Jared, who, like Steve, like the president, doesn’t have to do this, has his own businesses and things going on, was willing to help. And I think he’d tell you that the president calls you to help with something like that and asks for your input. You’re not going to say ‘no,’ right?”

The set-up has allowed some foreign leaders and diplomats who have strong personal relationships with the president, including those from Israel and Gulf countries, or his top aides a remarkable level of access. But the absence of a traditional National Security Council has left others without reliable access points to the administration.

“We’ve been caught by surprise a lot,” said one Washington-based European diplomat. “That’s the nature of Trump. But when you don’t have a line to the White House, it’s harder to get information and also harder to make sure they’re aware of our point of view.”

The National Security Council’s communications team merged with the White House press shop this summer, limiting the information that was released from the administration. Hundreds of staffers were also cut this year as were some of the council’s committees.

More problematic, to some longtime foreign policy officials in Washington, is the subversion of the NSC’s traditional role of providing the president with a range of views.

“One thing the NSC does is convenes the range of stakeholders who say, ‘Have you considered x issue or y risk?’ They don’t want to know about those, it seems,” said one former senior NSC official who served in the last two Democratic administrations.

“For example, legal issues on the boat strikes would be hotly debated by NSC-convened meetings and then brought to the president,” the former official said. “The idea that Ukraine would never accept the 28-point plan is something experts would know immediately. They don’t care, since they want to just try to make Ukraine swallow it.”

Some longtime diplomats and foreign policy veterans have criticized Witkoff, a businessman with interests in other countries, for his lack of experience and knowledge when dealing with sensitive discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin – but the administration has stood firmly behind his strategy.

Witkoff “is a deal maker. He is a businessman like the president. He has been friends with the president for decades, and so he understands his thinking,” the first White House official said.

Witkoff, unlike a more traditional emissary with a background in diplomacy, has shown a willingness to outsource policy decisions to allies so long as they’re okay with letting the president take credit. The original 21-point “Trump Gaza peace plan” was authored in large part by Qatar with input from other Arab and Muslim stakeholders, as POLITICO previously reported. And the recent 28-point White House plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine was drawn up by Witkoff and Kremlin aide Kirill Dmitriev in Florida.

“No one should be surprised by the chaos that has enveloped the Trump approach to end the war in Ukraine,” said Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. “It’s what happens when there is no real process to develop policy, provide guidance, interact with foreign governments and set a clear direction.”

In the White House, it’s largely Rubio, Wiles and Vance who oversee foreign affairs before conferring with Trump. Hegseth also joins some top meetings dealing with the military, the first White House official said.

Rubio, who is also national security adviser, spends most of his time at the White House and has regular meetings on world conflicts and Venezuela. He has a close relationship with Vance, who has fielded conversations with the Senate on Ukraine negotiations.

Vance has “been involved in the talks and negotiations and briefing the president and briefing congressional members. So he’s been involved pretty extensively throughout this entire process,” the third White House official.

“Marco is handling some of the technical negotiations, and the vice president is briefing congressional members, making sure everyone’s aligned on that end,” the official added.

Witkoff, meanwhile, leads phone calls with European leaders, a Europe official said.