Rep. Waltz: Negotiations to release Hamas hostages are underway

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., said negotiations for a deal to free the hostages in the Hamas-Israel war “are literally happening as we speak.”

“Let's allow our hostages to be set free. I want to see them walking across the tarmac, or at a minimum, some type of agreement before inauguration because President Trump is serious,” Waltz told ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday. “Any deal will only get worse for Hamas, and there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East if we continue to have this kind of hostage diplomacy.”

Officials close to ceasefire negotiations told ABC News on Sunday that a high-level Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad has already arrived in Doha for a critical round of talks. Egyptian and U.S. officials are participating in the conversations, including Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser Steven Witkoff and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser Brett McGurk.

On U.S. relations with Russia, Karl asked Waltz about plans for Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet.

Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would welcome a meeting with Trump, but that it would most likely happen after he takes office. When asked about a potential meeting with the Russian president while attending a dinner with Republican governors, Trump said, “He wants to meet, and we're going to, we're setting it up."

Waltz told Karl that "preparations are underway” for that meeting and that from Trump’s perspective, “you can't enter a deal if you don't have some type of relationship and dialogue with the other side, and we will absolutely establish that in the coming months.”

Concerning Ukraine, Waltz said the Trump administration will be asking about its military manpower, noting that it "could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers" if it lowered its draft age.

“They certainly have taken a very noble and tough stand, but we need to see those manpower shortages addressed,” Waltz said. “This isn't just about munitions, ammunition or writing more checks. It's about seeing the front lines stabilized so that we can enter into some type of deal.”

Trump has also repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal, even not ruling out using the U.S. military to do so if he saw fit.

Asked if Trump was serious about using military power, Waltz said, “What he's very serious about is the threats that we're facing in the Arctic -- the threats that we're facing in the Western Hemisphere.”

“Enough is enough for having our adversaries coming into our Western Hemisphere threaten our, you know, our national security and President Trump is ready to take big, bold steps to ensure the United States is well-defended,” he said.

Further pressed by Karl on whether Trump would use military force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, Waltz said the president-elect “is never going to take an option off the table, unlike, frankly, his predecessor, so when it comes to our national defense, that is paramount to the commander in chief.”

ABC News’ Jordana Miller contributed to this report.

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