Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas News HQ 20170519 : vimarsa

FOXNEWSW Americas News HQ May 19, 2017

To have all of his focus on where hell be, which is abroad. But clearly his team back here another the white house will continue to be engaged there a number of major story lines including the search for a replacement for his ousted fbi director. Abroad the president will be talking about economic and security cooperation. But back here the search continues for someone to replace jim comey. Comey did not have the confidence of the president in particular after what happened with the Hillary Clinton server situation. And so now there are people out there saying, listen, in youre gonna replace the guy, did you lean on him . Did you get him to maybe not pursue the investigation in a proper way . The president obviously says that never happened. Comey says that never happened. So does the deputy ag Rod Rosenstein. Let me show you part of what he said in a closed briefing today. I want to emphasize my unshakeable commitment to keeping the integrity of every criminal investigation. There will never be any wrongdoing in the United States department of justice. There you have a trifecta. Three people saying never happened. There is a man set to be under consideration to replace comey. That is former connecticut senator joe lieberman. No decision will be made on the job today, but the president said this yesterday about the firing of comey being the right move. Director comey was very unpopular with most people. I actually thought when i made that decision and i also got a very very strong recommendation, as you know, from the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. When i made that decision, i actually thought that it would be a bipartisan decision. Reporter this is the education of a president. Bipartisan decisions on paper dont always turn out that way especially here in the belt way, jenna. A lesson the president knows all too well now. Jenna thank you very much. Back to the white house. We understand the president is still there before hes heading of course to get on air force one. The president overseas trip will begin in saudi arabia where the president will focus on combatting terrorism alongside one of americas most critical allies. The kingdom is pulling out all the stops to welcome mr. Trump. It is a complicated relationship. Benjamin hall continues our coverage. Ben . Reporter yeah. Good evening, jenna. You only have to look at the city of the saudi capital to see how significant this visit is going to be. They have rolled out all the stops. There are u. S. Flags up and down the avenues. There are images of donald trump alongside the king. They are rolling out the red carpet for him. They are saying to us how honored they are that he has picked saudi arabia to be his first foreign country to visit. Hes not only going to meet with the king and the crown prince, but hes giving a speech on islam to leaders of 50 countries around the world. That is going to be a key point that we are going to watch closely. We spoke to the foreign minister. He spoke about the optimism they felt about the u. S. saudi relationship Going Forward. Heres what he told us. President trump is a man with vision. Hes a man who has courage. Hes a man who does the right thing. Reporter youre absolutely right. This relationship has been strong. Under the Obama Presidency relations hit the low point. He cancelled arms deals at the end of 2016. Those are things which President Trump is looking at changing. They are similar to work on. We have the Counter Terrorism issues. Saudi arabia plays a major role in the antiisis coalition. Second largest partners in syria. Of course President Trump is going to sign significant deals when hes here. Were hearing over 100 billion will be signed in those deals. We also heard Jared Kushner reached out to the ceo of lockheed asking him to reduce a war head so it could become available for the saudis. Real key issues in the next couple days. Jenna joining us now on set, the author of super power. Three choices for americas role in the world. Lots of choice. Jenna lets talk ab this trip. What defines success . If he can avoid being distracted by the problems at home. The trips been set up to be successful. Almost every president goes to canada or mexico as their first stop, u. S. Ally. President has difficulties with the leaders of both of those states, nafta, immigration, the wall. Trudeau has a different lean politically than trump. But a saudi king and the israeli pm are the two allies that individually most wanted to see the back of president obama. Theyre delighted trump won. Theyre delighted trump is going to their countries. Theyre ready to make this a big deal. All the pomp and circumstance. Theyll treat him very well personally. Saudis have no choice. And netanyahu really likes him. Has a personal rapport with the whole family, as well as jared. That will go quite well, as long as he can avoid saying things off script and getting sucked back into the drama thats swirling around him in washington. Jenna as far as what you see as successful for america and the american people, beyond this perhaps being a successful personal trip for donald trump with the red carpet rolled out, how do you see that going . How do you think this will have actual impact on our Foreign Policy . Look. It is true that trump is very uninterested in having a more balanced middle east Foreign Policy towards iran and towards the traditional arab monarchies and israel. He opposed the iran deal. He hasnt ripped it up. The saudis and israelis didnt really want him to rip it up. Ultimately that was going to under mine the american position more than and the iranians were just going to end up developing oil. So i do think the fact that trump can go in and say were gonna work with you more closely with you on security. We dont care about human rights abuses in saudi arabia. All the sorts of things that make it easier for the saudis to do business with the u. S. I think that relationship of course, he did just bomb some syrians, supporting the Syrian Regime in the last 48 hours the russians today extremely aggravated about it. The saudis couldnt be happier, the fact that the u. S. Is doing more to show theyre willing to be on the saudi side. Jenna do you think the timing has anything to do with this trip . Sure. They understood that if they were going to have a window of opportunity to whack someone that the saudis would be happy with seeing whacked, this would be a good time to do it. Jenna saudi arabia being the first big stop. The speech has a lot of focus. Theres focus on the language that President Trump has used now and in the past regarding radical islamic terrorism. What are the risks or the opportunities in this speech . Look, i think that there are more opportunities than risks in the sense that the saudis are completely safe audience for this. The king, the deputy crown prince, they want trump to succeed. Its not like theyre going to be demonstrating against trump in a country like saudi arabia. Wont be allowed. So hes going there talking about radical islamic terrorism and the Saudi Arabians are saying we are on your side. There are two issues. First, god forbid Terrorists Attack while he is in islamic world. That would cause a lot of outcry, right . Second point is, to what extent do we see the saudis over time having bigger problems with the United States because of antiislamic policies . Their children go to school in the United States. Theyre getting less welcome. The tsa shakedowns. These things make the average saudi prince feel a little more personally nervous about who trump is and what he represents. The idea of a president like trump going into the islamic back yard and lecturing to them on islam feels a little bit as it would to us if the saudi king came to the u. S. And lectured us about separation of church and state. Its not a natural thing to be done. It will play well to trumps base. Theres no question. Id be surprised if were talking about the speech in a months time. Jenna really . You dont think so . I dont think so. Ultimately, its a speech to the ebb tent that trump does well with speeches, its when he doesnt go off script. As a consequence he looks president ial, like he did in the joint address to congress. But two weeks later we werent talking about it. Theres a bigger opportunity for him to be off script and cause trouble than there is for him to hit a home run with a speech. Jenna of course a lot of these relationships have multiple sides. If you look back on american Foreign Policy, spoke about donald trump looking president ial including the things were looking at at the screen as hes departing to get to joint base andrews and to go on this baying trip. I think its important to note the presence of his wife. His wife has not been a partner, necessarily, in the traditional sense, as their son has been attending school in new york city. We know some of that will change. Now were seeing air jed and ivanka jump as well. Jareds role being under scored. We expect an announcement of 100 billion arms deal to saudi arabia. This is one of the large est numbers weve seen. Injure Jared Kushner was an integral part of negotiating that deal, asking Lockheed Martin to drop their price so the saudis would be able to afford some of these items. We will get hopefully more specifics of the deal, what it means, why were making it now. Ian, im sure you have some thoughts on that. That deal being announced as we see the president traveling to saudi arabia. Whenever you see the headline numbers, whether its the chinese going to a country saying were doing infrastructure, saudis and americans working on a deal. You got to dig into it. Lot of the 110 billion is already stuff that was agreed to under the Obama Administration. It was pushed back. Lets see how how much of that turns out to get implicated as to just opposed to getting announced. The deal is always modalities. I have no doubt that the saudis are going to be spending more of American Military equipment and, by the way, less on thaf from other countries like china, the french over the course of the next year. And in part because trump is making his trip and reaching out. Jenna getting back to your point, you do see opportunity in this trip . Of course i do. I really do. Keep in mind if you look at what trump has done thats been successful, it was the joint speech, joint house and senate. And then it was the meeting with president xi. After setting up i have got big problems with this guy, this country. He shows up, acts in a very balanced way. He shows respect. He get respect. This is a set of easier meetings than china. Jenna thats very interesting. Valuable context. The problem is that, can he stay on script and also the timing has gotten bad with everything happening in washington. Jenna we didnt get to that. We have to run to commercial. Its important to mention that we will be covering that quite a bit on our show. How do those things interplay with each other. Thank you very much. Were awaiting the president. You saw him depart from the white house. Well bring you there live as it happens. Plus, what is at stake . What to watch for as the president meets World Leaders in the middle east and europe. Were gonna get rid of obamacare. Were gonna get this country economically headed in the right direction and make america secure and lead the world again. 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Jenna youre looking at the president who just arrived at joint base andrews where hes going to get on air force one and embark on his first major overseas trip that will last more than a week and visit a handful of very important countries to us as americans. Saudi arabia, israel, italy. Also belgium is in the itinerary. Takes him through major cities and major meetings with World Leaders. Accompanying him is his wife, as well as his daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner. Larry sabido, a familiar face on fox news, had this to say about the first trip. He said there has never been a president taking his first president ial trip be e being dogged by a scandal like this. That started with the firing of james comey. Now we have the appointment of a special counsel that will be doing this investigation. The question for the white house and one question well be asking on the show is whrorpb the president can turn the page, focus more on international affairs, focus more on some relationships as the president waves and enters wear force one. According to sources to operate air force one will cost about 200,000 per hour. The president will be on that plane that has a 4,000 square foot oval office to continue working as he goes about this work trip. Again, the itinerary rich and diverse. H. R. Mcmaster told us, this trip in the beginning part is to really make it symbolic gesture about uniting the worlds three largest religions. The president has been very outspoken about religion, particularly radical islam. He will be speaking about radical is lamb in saudi arabia where he will be making his first trip there. Standing by with us, Vice President of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise institute. I thought it was very interesting what you wrote. You said whats important about the president s trip is not only his itinerary but the opportunities that are available because of whats happening in the region, specifically the middle east. What did you mean by that . I think we really turned a corner in the region. The region has always been focused on things like the arab israeli conflict, what to do about that. What we are looking at now is an opportunity where the arab world, the sunni arab world is focused on countering iran. Theyre focused on putting into law things that preoccupied them behind them. Focused on modernization. Focused on economic change. It could be and i want to under score that, could be transfo transformative. Jenna you say there are potential traps. What are they and how does he avoid them . Its always a game between what you say and what you do. Thats the case in every foreign capital. So if what were doing is just gonna do business through arms sales. You announced the president has made clear were doing a 110 billion arms sale with saudi arabia. An arms sale is not a relationship. What we need to see is that these countries move forward. Not with gimmicks. Not with arm sales or arms purchase. Not with rhetoric. But actually with deeds. Stopping supporting islamic extremism, countering iran and iraq. Getting rid of alassad. Trying to find an exit strategy for yemen. All these things are potential traps where if they dont do them, well be stuck in the same game all over in the middle east. Jenna the interest is one focus. Second part of the trip will be a visit to europe. There are certain lawmakers in europe that have been expressing concern about donald trump in the fact of what he has experienced over the last week here at home as we watch the stairways being moved away from the 747. Well watch it take off. Im going to read from the computer, this is a quote from a member of the European Parliament and dutch member saying its disturbing talking about whats happening here in the United States. The vacuum may encourage people all over the world to seize the moment of an absent United States. What she was saying is theres a distraction at home and that creates an opportunity for those that are not on our side. How do you think these two stories interplay . The major trip abroad for the president , but also some turmoil here at home . Look, everything is up to donald trump. Thats the way it always has been. Theres strong agreement in washington that a lot of problems the president is confronting are problems of his own making. If he goes overseas and he is focused on the issues. If he is focused on turning the page in the middle east. If he is focused on uniting nato and fighting against terrorism then all that criticism will be set aside. The big difference between europe and the middle east is thaoeuz are a bunch of democratic countries. Theyre not just speaking to the United States. Theyre speaking to their own populations. They want to get reelected and donald trump just isnt that popular rover there. Thats part of their game. Jenna not only what were experiencing but the perspective, the Vantage Point from overseas. I just want to go through the itinerary. Saudi arabia being the first point of contact for the president. Then you have him visiting israel and the west bank. From there we go on to vatican city and to rome. Seusly, italy. Also have belgium as well. Thats part of the trip thats going to be the european World Leaders. If you could put a list of priorities, and this is a long trip, what would you put at the top of the list of priorities . I think the fight against isis and al qaeda is absolutely at the top of the list. But its not just the conflict. Its not just how do we kill the most bad guys in the fastest possible time and reduce the threat to the united stits how agreement about a system Going Forward so that we dont have to keep going back to the middle east fighting new wars every two years. Weve got to be focus

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