overnight. she s been thinking about this for quite some time. no, it does not. that s an interesting point you make about the body language there, and jim, how he is sort of leading or the president has been leading. this is the final stop in their tour of westminster abbey. the president and first lady, they will sign the abbey s distinguished visitors book. prior presidents have also visited westminster abbey. barack obama, 2011. george w. bush in 2003. a long list of illustrious names in that book there, as they finish their tour of the abbey. christiane, as you re watching this in the uk, how is the british public reacting? is there are there a lot of folks lining, whether protesters or supporters, lining the roadways where the president s limousine is traveling? are they paying a great deal of attention to this? well, it is, you know,
joining us, the president and first lady at westminster abbey. an official visit. they just laid a wreath at the grave of the unknown warrior. remembering all who died in the first world war. we have dominic thomas with us in addition to christiane amanpour. we mentioned a couple times on this broadcast how trump is only the third u.s. president to receive the honor of a state visit to the uk. of course, there have been a lot of u.s. presidents with very close relationships with the uk going back decades. why? why is he only the third to receive this honor? well, that s an interesting question. i think at this particular moment in history, as soon as prime minister may took over from david cameron in the aftermath of the 2016 brexit referendum, she realized that
meaningful this is to him. absolutely. abby phillip, thank you. max foster, we appreciate it. with us now, christiane amanpour, and our european affairs correspondent, dominic. building on what abby said about the pomp and circumstance and the respect for the queen, et cetera, i remember when the president talked. he told the times of london, i think it was, about a year or so ago, about how much his mother loved the queen and had great respect for the queen. clearly, he is enjoying this visit. only the third president under this queen, the third u.s. president to have this official uk state visit. what stands out to you? well, look. first and foremost, this is the second time in two years that the president has got such wonderful pomp and circumstance from the queen. i think that is really remarkable. i don t recall any other world leader who has had these two visits, two summers running, of such incredible detail, attention to detail. and real britain showing its
peace deal in northern ireland, then they re mistaken. we will not. this is a massively important thing for the united states of america. and for the congress. you remember it was president clinton, george mitchell, the congress that were very, very keenly behind getting the good friday agreement together. so those issues are very important. and you know, let s wait and see what politics comes out of this, probably will know more about that tomorrow after political day. folks watching brexit from afar might not know that it s not just about eu, which is big. it s about the possibility of reunification in ireland, the breaking of the good friday agreement, about the possible withdrawal of scotland from the united kingdom. you have all these carry-on effects possible looking forward. christiane, you mentioned the intelligence sharing agreement. i don t think it could be underestimated what a blow that would be. it s hard to imagine a closer intelligence sharing relationship than that b
the british people feel as if they have not had the opportunity, three years after the brexit referendum, to weigh in on these political issues. and the debates will continue to highlight the tremendous divisions that are there in british society. many of them, president trump has alluded to in arriving in the uk by expressing his explicit support for some of the individuals that have proved to be the greatest attractors in this brexit process, and this is something that we re going to be watching for the weeks to come. so this is the sort of preparation for that. and that next moment, that next phase. christiane, in your assessment, today is day one. what is and we re looking at the u.s. president walking out live here of westminster abbey before he does go to tea with prince charles and the duchess of cornwall, but christiane, what is the most important part