congress is not in session. when congress is back from in session after the midterms. they have republicans on the far right who say you have to pay for it and there won't be the votes and the democrats won't vote for it it's not coming. is he going to say it because of politics and it's not happening. five seconds is left. here comes "your world" with neil cavuto. have a great afternoon. >> neil: thank you, shepard. we expect to hear the president of the united states as that tape makes its way to us. corner of wall and broad on a crazy day here where we had stocks down 550 points. losses 126 points. a lot of the people saying melt down might have been a washing out process. way too early to say that the fact of the matter is there was a lot of concern built into the latest earning reports, still by and large coming in a lot better than expected that this trade thing is beginning to pinch. caterpillar the latest company to say you know what? the higher materials cost from us everything from effectsive tariffs on metal and loom hiking up the price of our goods. if that sounds familiar to you, obviously, it's something we have heard out of auto companies and the like but the president having none of it saying right now the underlying economy is doing still very, very well. so if i could just sort of posit here as bad as it looked at the corner of wall and broad down 126 points. it had been a lot worse. we are going to be going to the white house shortly where the president is commenten on these developments here. the signature issue that he might raise is that he plans to meet with vladimir putin on november 11th, just nine days later, of course, he is going to sit down with the leader of china for the g-20 summit. those are two very big developments. also keep in mind with putin he wanted to scrap that 1987 missile deal we had. that was scored by ronald reagan and mic call mick mikhail gorbachev. russians flagrantly cheating. time to do just that also expected to address the caravan. now the president. >> we may as being discussed right now. mike bolton as you know is in russia, talking about various things, including the whole nuclear situation where we were not treated well for many years. this should have been done a long time ago. and i think something good could come out of that i very well meet with -- i think we probably will. it hasn't been set up yet but it probably will be. >> if you could just settle some of the confusion over your comments about about what you mean you are a nationalist? >> i love our country. our country has taken second fiddle. if you look at the trade deals. i am knocking out some of the worse deals i have ever seen. we give them our wealth and they don't treat us properly. we are protecting very, very rich countries, including, by the way, a country that happens to be very much in the news, saudi arabia. and mentally wealthy. and we are taking care of their military for a fraction of the cost, not fair to us other countries also. immensely wealthy. countries. and we have to get reimbursed for that we should not be the world's police keeper and not get reimbursed. by the way, when i bring up to the heads of countries like japan, prime minister abe, a friend of mine, i bring it up, he looks at me. and he goes i understand. they understand it nobody has ever asked them. they said have you ever asked i said have you ever been asked like you have to be like help out? nobody has ever asked. so, that's a pretty unfair thing. i will get back to you. wait, wait, wait. wait. i'm going to get back to you. >> can i ask my follow up question? >> no, not now. i will get back to you i said. you can't take the whole thing. we have a number of other fine reporters. go ahead, yes. i'm behind you, please. >> mr. president, have you heard back or first of all, can you tell us what you think about what the turkish president said today. >> what president erdogan said? >> yes, sir. >> he was pretty rough on saudi arabia, i would say. i haven't gotten a full recap as you know i have people in tuckery, and i have people in saudi arabia and other places. and they are all coming back as we speak, they are heading back. i will know, i think, everything in a very short period of time. it's a bad situation. ened but, certainly president erdogan was not complimentary of what happened. that was a terrible thing that happened. okay? yes, ma'am, go ahead. >> i was going to ask do you believe him, do you believe the saudi arabiaen leadership. >> i want to seat facts first. saab has been a really great ally. one of the biggest investors, maybe the biggest investor in our country. they are doing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of investments and, you know, so many jobs. some jobs. thousands and thousands of jobs. and if you look at the other side, iran, you look at what they have done to people, vicious, horrible, and that's no excuse for what happened with saudi arabia. no excuse whatsoever. but you take a look, it's a rough part of the world. it's a nasty place. it's a nasty part of the world. but, if what happened happened, and if the facts check out, then it's something that's very bad. twament, they have been a very good ally of ours. they have been helping us a lot with respect to israel. they have been funding a lot of things. i will tell that you russia and china would love to have that military order. and can i say it to my democrat friends, too. they would love this is $110 billion worth of military. and russia would pick that up very quickly and china would pick it up very quickly and france would pick it up very quickly. france makes a lot of military equipment. very competitive market. great job. that's why i went to saudi arabia first. i went to saudi arabia on the basis that they would buy hundreds of billions, many billions of dollars worth of things. and the ultimate number is around $450 billion. 110 for military. 450 billion. over a million jobs. so, we do that the, we are just hurting ourselves. we are just hurting ourselves. i know that from a certain standpoint, you can also say, well, it doesn't matter. it is a terrible thing. we would be really hurting ourselves. we would be hurting our companies. we would be hurting our jobs. we will see what happens. i should have a pretty good -- couple of seconds. i should have a pretty good report very soon. >> just to follow up on your comments about being a nationalist. there is a concern that you are sending coded languages wage or a dog whistle to some americans out there that what you really mean is that you are a white nationalist. >> i have never even heard that i cannot imagine that. i'm a nationalist. no, i never heard that theory about being a nationalist. i have heard them all. i'm somebody that loves our country. when i say a nationalist. i don't like it when germany is paying 1% of g.d.p. for nato and we are paying 4.3%. i don't like that. that's not fair. i don't like it when as an example we're protecting europe and we are paying for almost the entire cost of nato. very substantial portion. far greater than what it should be. we have great respect for this countries. on top of that i don't like it when they put up barriers to our farmers, where our farmer cannot sale. trade barriers, better than anybody. trade barriers that are as severe as china's trade barriers, which are coming down. they want to make a deal very badly. they will be coming down. but i am very proud of our country. we cannot continue to allow what's happened to our country to continue. we can't let it happen. i'm proud. i'm proud of our country. >> and i am a nationalist. it's a word that hasn't been used too much. people use it. but i'm very proud. i think it should be brought back. i'm somebody who wants to help other countries of the world. but i also have to take care of our country. we cannot continue to allow ourselves to be duped on military and also duped on trade. with the european union as an example. last year on trade, $151 billion on top of that. we lost hundreds of billions of dollars on protection so we protect and we get killed. we do the trading and get killed. can't do it. i want it to be fair. so i want them to open their borders. i want them to make it fair for. medical equipment and prescriptions on year and a half ago. medical equipment can't get into europe. even though it's better than what they have. so they have to treat us -- all i want our country is to be treated well to be treated with respect. for many years, other countries that are allies of ours. all of us. they have not treated our country fairly. so in that sense i'm absolutely a nationalist. and i'm proud of it. yes. >> you said this weekend and yesterday that you were planning a tax -- >> yes, we will do a resolution. >> very simple. >> how this is going to work? >> if you speak to kevin brady. put in a tax reduction of 10%, which i think will be a net neutral because we are doing other things, which i don't have to explain now. middle class. it's going to be a tax reduction middle class. and this will be on top of the tax reduction that the middle class has already gotten. and we're putting in a resolution, probably this week. i think you folks know about it. kevin brady has been working on it very hard really for a couple of months. put that in and start the work after some time after the midterms. >> mr. president, why the decision now to send two u.s. navy warships to taiwan? >> i will leave that decision to myself and my generals and my admirals. okay? not for you. >> are you worried about any negative reaction -- >> -- i'm not worried about anything. i don't worry about things. >> on the tax cut proposal, when you say that you want a middle class tax cut is that an acknowledgment that the original g.o.p. tax cut was too heavily tilted in favor of wealthier americans and corporations. >> no. it really wasn't. >> why bring it out now. >> it's been great. the tax cut that we had -- even if you look at estate taxes and what it's done for the small farmers and small businesses, if you look at the past -- i'm talking about the one that was passed, we're very proud of it and what it did more than anything else, it brought jobs. tremendous numbers of jobs. that's why our job numbers you hear it all the time when i speak. literally we have ever had. african-american unemployment lowest ever. asian american, hispanic american, no matter what category you look at. women 65 years. lowest in 65 years. a lot of that was done by regulation cutting and a lot of it done by the tax plan. and that all to the middle class. in addition, they paid less. they walk around with $2,000. $1,000. $4,000. a lot of money. this is in addition to that. but, on this one, we are not going to do any business. we think the business is very incentivized. on this one we are doing a pure 10% tax cut for the middle class, in addition to what they have already gotten in the first place. >> shouldn't the middle class have gotten a bigger tax cut. >> i didn't think we could get any more than we got. we have gotten the max. now that the economy has done so well we feel we could give um some more. i couldn't have gotten that extra 10% when we originally passed the plan. we maxed out and we had to take care of jobs. jobs are very important. we gave the middle class a lot. now as you obviously have seen, businesses have done so well. we have brought in hundreds -- many hundreds of millions of dollars from offshore because of the tax plan. and that all went to creating -- apple as an example, i was with them. they are going to be spending $350 billion on building new facilities in the united states which is something, as you know, from a long time ago, i have been saying it from the beginning. i want apple to build their plants here. they are going to spend 350 billion. they are bringing in 230 billion offshore because of our this helps everybody. this will be a 10% -- going to be a resolution, probably introduced this week, the end of the week or early next week. and kevin brady has been drawing. working on it very hard for a very long period of time. okay? >> mr. president. >> jeff, go ahead, finish up. >> be with else, sir. >> yes. >> mr. president, you said yesterday that you expected investigators today on the saudi -- is that still the case? >> they are heading back. a couple of them are heading back. gina as an example went to turkey. >> have you heard anything preliminary. >> talk about it when everybody is back here. i think they will be back tonight and early tomorrow. almost all of them. ahead of your meeting with paris with european leaders. have you spoken with them about the saudis? >> we have. and mike pompeo has and john bolton is actually over there now. we have spoken to many of them. they are -- nobody -- nobody likes what happened. let me put it that way. there is nobody that said wonderful. angry about it and very upset about it. >> relationship going forward. >> that's a good question. i think what i'm going to be doing is maybe a little bit what i did with respect to the fbi investigations. justice kavanaugh when they were asked for more time by the democrats. i said look, i'm going to leave it up to the senators that were doing the job. and i think here i'm going to leave it up to congress. congress has very strong ideas. both ways. i have been told by -- at the same time they are not going to do something there has to be some kind of retribution there has to be. no matter what you do. i have been told by others that they don't want investment of had $50 billion. i think that's foolish. i will leave it very much in terms of what we ultimately do, i'm going to leave it very much, in conjunction with me, up to congress. and that means congress both republicans and democrats. i want to have the folks in congress come back and make recommendations to me i would like that to be a part by saturday recommendation. differentially than i do. that's a terrible thing. >> mr. president, why do you think something like this could have happened? do you think that there was a failure of leadership on the world stage? concern about -- >> -- they had a very bad original concept it was carried out poorly and the coverup was one of the worst in the history of coverups. it's very simple. bad deal, should have never been thought of. somebody really messed up. and they had the worst coverup, ever. and where it should have stopped is at the deal standpoint when they thought about it whoever thought of that idea, i think is in big trouble. and they should be in big trouble. okay? yes? anybody else? >> mr. president, one more thing on the caravan. you had said that there were middle easterners in the vary can. can you explain that? are you saying there are terrorists. >> i have very good information. >> are you sure? >> i have very good information. if you look at honduras and statements made by honduras and even a phone call that our vice president had today, which i think -- do you want to mention that mike? is that okay? >> certainly. >> go ahead, please. >> at the president's direction i spoke to president hernandez of honduras. he told me that the caravan is now making its way through mexico headed for the southern border was organized by leftist organizations and financed by venezuela. and we -- as we have said. >> and the democrats, maybe? >> well,. [laughter] >> sounds like teasing about that where is the proof that democrats are paying for this caravan two weeks before. >> you will find out. maybe they made a bad mistake, too. we will find out about that. what else did they say, mike, about isis? did they say something. >> just that it's been organized by leftist groups. they have made their way north. once they crossed into guatemala, now crossed into mexico, there is some estimates north of 7,000 migrants i and the group is growing of the united states of america intervenes and prevents 10 terrorists or suspected terrorists from coming into our country every day. so it's -- it's inconceivable that there would not be individuals from the middle east as a part of this growing caravan. what the president is determined to do is put the safety and security of the american people first and i know the president will be addressing this in the coming days about ways we need to close the loopholes that human traffickers and other dangerous individuals used to entice vulnerable families to make the long and dangerous trek north. mr. . >> mr. vice president are you saying that you have evidence that there are terrorists in the caravan right now? >> what i can say to you is. >> you are saying statistically there has been a number over the years not the same. a lot of middle easterners live in the united states. americans middle eastern dissent who find that kind of rhetoric appalling. >> isn't that true, mr. president? >> let me just say this. i spoke with border patrol this morning. i spoke to him last evening. and i spoke to them the day before. i speak to them all the time. and they say this and you know this as well as anybody, over the course of the year, over the course of a number ever years, they have intercepted many people from the middle east. they have intercepted isis. they have intercepted all sorts of people. they have intercepted good ones and bad ones. they have have intercepted wonderful people from the middle east and they have intercepted bad ones. they have intercepted wonderful people from south america and from other parts further south. they have intercepted a lot of different people. but, among the people they have intercepted, very recently, are people from the middle east, okay? so, you can't be surprised when you hear it. you have heard that before. it happens all the time. and i spoke to literally last night i spoke to another one this morning, very good relationship with border patrol. and ice. and they say it happens all the time from the middle east. not even saying bad or good but some real bad ones. but, they intercept. >> are they in the caravan. >> they very well could be. >> but there is no proof. >> there is no proof of anything. there is no proof of anything, but they could very well be. if you look at what that was building, they were talking about 5,000 or 6,000 people. i'm pretty good at estimating crowd size as you tend to figure out. you tend to get it a little bit off. the real number last night as an example. that as record-setting stuff, wasn't it? they don't want to talk about that. i will tell you, let me just tell you, i really believe, that was pretty big. that was pretty i didn't mean progressive by any standard. these are great people. and by the way, the vote as we just heard the vote is -- and this could be -- good bad or indifferent for democrats or republicans. but the amount of voting is at a level that they have never seen before for the midterms. have you heard that i mean, i don't know whether i'm supposed to say that's good or bad but i will tell you the amount of people voting is at a level, sarah, that have you never seen at midterms. a record level by a lot. so i think very -- i think there is a very good chance, honestly, that you have people in there i also think there is a very good chance over the course of a period of time you have. or they don't necessarily have to be in that group. but certainly you have people coming up through the southern border, from the middle east and other places that are not appropriate for our country. and i'm not letting them. in they are not coming in, all right? they're not coming. in we are going to do whatever we have to, they are not coming, in okay? >> you are counting on this to try to stoke fear. >> no not at all. >> and cause alarm? >> i'm a very nonpolitical person and that's why i got elected president. >> can you [inaudible] financed by venezuela that you said, mr. vice president, [inaudible] >> president hernandez, when pump asked me to call, the president of honduras when this caravan was initiated he told me had been organized by leftist groupings in honduras that were being financed in part by venezuela. and organized by human traffickers who have no regard for human life. organized by dangerous gang members. moving people north. when i spoke to president morales, in guatemala, he informed me that they were already busing people in the caravan back who had been left behind. left by the side of the road. elderly, vulnerable families, simply left behind by this caravan. people need to understand the people that are driving this caravan north, to challenge our sovereignty, to challenge our borders, are doing so without any regard for human life. and doing it to advance some political statement or in the case of human traffickers strictly for financial profit. and the president is absolutely determined to use all means at his disposal to organize efforts to have mexico turn this caravan around and work with congress to close the loopholes that human traffickers use every day to entice vulnerable families to make this dangerous trip north. >> i really think though that what this really shows is that we have to change the laws. i say this having very highly respected democrat senators behind me. but we have to do something that we all agree with make them much different. they are very soft. and it's a different time. it's truly a different time. maybe there was a time where that could have been appropriate. but we have to have immigration laws now that are suitable for this time and at work. that work. the ones we have now don't work. they don't come close to working. we need protection. we have to have a wall. we have been building a wall. we started the wall. san diego has almost completed the whole area. the whole area of california. we want to do it quickly. we don't want to take years to do it. but, i really believe that, and i think that -- i don't see anything, that kind of an asset when you look at what is happening. when you look at headach heartae on both sides. when you look at 10,000 people. i don't believe it's 5,000. i think there was much more than 5,000 people. when you look at that massive group of people on the bridge when you saw it on the bridge, the group. i really think that it probably spells out to us and congress something has to be done. you can't have this happen. something has to be done. in that way, i think maybe it's going to be a good thing we are going to see. we are counting on our military. we have to call up our military if we need. to say we can't let this happen. we cannot allow our country to be violated like this. it's very unfair. people are waiting in line that went through a legal system of immigration and they have been going through it for many years. and they have worked hard. they have done everything they are supposed to do. then people just come running across the border. it's really unfair to the millions of people that are waiting in line to come in legally in our country. it's very unfair. go ahead, jeff. >> do you see any argument, mr. president, for time to improve conditions in those countries by not decreasing aid but perhaps maintaining or increasing? >> i have heard that argument before, but it hasn't worked for a long time. i want to improve the conditions in our country. i want to improve the conditions here. now, part of that condition and improving the condition is we are doing so well, so many companies are coming in. i spoke with prime minister abe very recently and he informed me that we have five major car companies coming back. i said you have to do something. you have to balance it out. because it's like a one a way street. the trade imbalances are so different as an example japan, just one, japan and the united states. we have fox come coming. in they make the phones for apple. they do a lot of work for apple. they do a lot of work for everybody. they are opening up in this country. we have a lot of companies coming. in we need at 3.7, it's the lowest in many years. many decades. we need great people coming. in i want great people to come in. i want them to come in through the merit system. i look at the people we are talking about. i really watch all of the networks, i have to be honest with you. all of them. and you have to see that. had you some beautiful shots. some very good people i really think there is a lot of talent in that group. a lot of talent. weave need people because have companies coming in to the united states, they have to be able to get workers. our great three or four years ago. operate this big plants and factories open across the united states. system. and i think a lot of people are going to be happy. i want to build our country. i don't want to go to other countries to rebuild. that's what we have done. we have been trying to rebuild the world and police the world. it's now time to rebuild the united states and to properly police the united states. and that's what we're going to do. at the same time, we're going to help other countries all over the world, but we have focus on our country for a change and that's what we're going to do. okay? thank you all very much. thank you: thank you very much. >> neil: all right. we have been following this give and take the president has had with reporters in the oval office. it ended off on this caravan who is who in the caravan. the president generated controversy when he said there were definitely ms-13 and other elements, isis elements within the 7,000 he says as much as 10,000, as many as 10,000 migrants who are making their way here to the united state united states,a honduras and el salvador. there is simply no way. we have seen no way to verify the fact that there were ms-13 elements or anything approaching that the president said there is no proof of anything which seemed to remove any of the doubts there might have been about the veracity of that statement. we have simply not heard separate confirmation of any such thing that there were elements like that within the 7,000 to 10,000 migrants who are making their way to the united states. much has been said about the make jump of this caravan and who is in it, who is not in it. i told you about the three countries in question, that they are largely those three, some mexicans could be added. there is obligation the president says to make sure there is due process there he did say that we allow many into this country 1 pulp 6 million the legal way. this is not the way to go about it. these are cases that would be taken on an individual basis. the legal requirements are once those seeking asylum status come into the united states, their paperwork is processed. the rap you hear from critics of this system that that ultimately they are given a date to come back and return to court and state their asylum case. but, by that time, they have long skipped town and they are in the united states. now, another idea that's been ban teed about that the president didn't touch on it here or one idea approached that maybe the mexicans hold them until they are cleared or their court dates are cleared. i want to stress here, there has been no independent confirmation of some of these migrants being terrorists or certainly parts of ms-13 or any other nefarious element. there is simply no way to prove that the suspicions not with standing, suspicions isn't good enough. the president said and i thought this was the take away. there is no proof of anything, which is not exactly a reassuring comment to make when you make a charge like that. having said that whether there are such elements within that group or not. the question is and becomes such a large group coming to our border and how we deal with that that is a problem right walid. >> it is a problem, of course, the sight of it and what to do about it, this is not individuals coming through our borders and then we need to do some vetting that alone is a headache. this is a super headache. why? because in security assessment, it's not the judicial clearing. the judicial clearing, yes, did you have any evidence that this person is ms-13 or ms-13 hezbollah or al qaeda, no securities assessment look at the friend. multiple trends here. all these gangs across the central america area plus, in addition to the cartels have tried before for many, many years. and we have established our hearings in congress so the trend is there number two, the vice president said something very important. he said we have information from our allies in central america that the venezuelan regime, with whom we are in conflict right now over many, many things has been participating in pushing for this demonstration. that, i will stop and say wait a minute, venezuelan regime that is not assessment. this is information we have spoken about. and venezuela has an alliance with iran. has an alliance with hezbollah. this is how the security assessment would say we need to make sure that we are secure. >> neil: just getting it on a whisper and qt from allies doesn't make it so. this is not a new thing where caravans of people have tried to come in using shear numbers to try to walk through to think they have to be inspired or brought on by nefarious elements. while that might be the case we still don't have the proof of that, do we? >> i don't think i'm in the position to say we have the proof or not, our intelligence agencies, counter intelligence agencies are the ones who should be actually inside the demonstration. that's why you felt hesitation on behalf of the president and vice president to go in details. in their security assessment, i imagine they have asked the question to our intelligence community. i imagine that some answers were made available. >> neil: all right. walid, in the meantime, you might be of the impression hearing all of this, that we are shutting down the borders of this country, when in fact, we have been averaging anywhere from 1.1 to 1.2 million legal immigrants into this country going through the legal methods per year every year. and this has continued under the trump administration. so actually accelerated a little bit. sometimes there is the misnomer out there that we are shutting down the border. i'm wondering from your vantage point, does this give an image that we are just trying to police people we don't want or people who are doing it the wrong way? what do you think? >> look, my friend, i have been a legal immigrant. that's how i came to the united states. i was not born here. thousands and thousands of people like me came and come every day to the united states that's a normal thing. what we are looking at here is an organized movement which basically is not heeding the advice or instruction of let us do the right thing, the vetting. let us clear out things they want to get to the border and cross the border and prove ideological point. that is suspicious. had this movement, for example, accept you had the notion of u.n. sponsored human zone north of guatemala or south of mexico. many recommendations were made in that direction. the organizers refused. so they don't have. >> neil: caravans themselves groups of people with the same goal of getting to the united states or into mexico in this case is not new. obviously a little bit that is not a new development. we have seen it before, right? >> we have seen aitems by groupings of people to cross the border wall lead i'm sorry i'm interrupting you here. we are following up on the state department taking questions on the developments and maybe some of the things the president just brought up. >> truck packed with explosives into the marine baraks in beirut, lebanon, killing 241 marines, sailors, and soldiers. we will never get that -- terrorism heroes who came in peace and gave their lives that day. the president just spoke as many of you know five topics i want to address today president said. first, we are encouraged by the high voter turnout in the afghan parliamentary elections this past weekend. we defend the afghan security and defense forces in their efforts to incredible elections. there were some technical issues but despite that we remain committed to assisting the election commissions, especially in their work for the presidential election that will come in april of 2019. second, the migrant caravan is violating mexico's sovereignty laws, and immigration procedures. president trump will not stand for this to happen to the united states. to those who say this is a hard-hearted stance, let's not forget that the united states is historically generous nation when it comes to immigration 1 million people per year granted permanent legal status here in the united states over 33 million people total are currently here who have immigrated to this country legally. to those who want to come here, come here legally, legal immigration is the surest way to obtain the better life you are looking for here in the united states of america. from a security standpoint, there is no proper accounting of who these individuals in the caravan are. and this poses an unacceptable security risk to the united states. moreover, many of these people are right targets are -- many who would exploit them. we don't want that to happen. i have spoken twice in the last two days to my counter part, foreign secretary we trust mexico's leaders know best steps and we urge timely action on their part. the united states also has a message for those who are currently part of this caravan or any caravan which follows. you will not be successful at getting into the united states illegally. no matter what. i repeat the caravan will not cross our southern border illegally under any circumstances if you seek so-to-come here, go through the normal refugee process. if you apply for refugee status, a permanent solution is possible in mexico or in a third country. but i can tell with you certainty we are determined that illegal entry into the united states from this caravan will not be possible. third, the state department will continue to seek all relevant facts, consult with congress and work with other nations and work to hold accountable those responsible for the killing of jamal khashoggi. the administration is also taking appropriate actions now, given the information currently available to the united states. we have identified at least some of the individuals responsible, including those in the intelligence serviceed royal court, the foreign ministry and other saudi ministries who we suspect to have been involved in mr. khashoggi's death. we are taking appropriate actions which include revoking visas, entering visa lookouts and other measures. we are also working with the treasury department to reveal the applicability of global sanctions to those individuals. these penalties will not be the last word on this matter from the united states. we will continue to explore additional measures to hold those responsible accountable. we're making very clear that the united states does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to see you lens mr. khashoggi, a journalist through violence. we continue to maintain a strong partnership with the kingdom of saudi arabia, neither the president nor i am happy with this situation. our shared strategic interests with saudi arabia remain, we continue to view as achievable the twin impairives of protecting america and holding accountable those held accountable for the killing of mr. khashoggi. fourth, last week, a delegates of cuban diplomats through childish temper tantrum at u.n. sponsored gathering at the u.n. it was a meeting highlighting the cuban regime's intolerance of political opposition in the plight of political prisoners. in response i have written a letter to u.n. secretary general antonio requesting what measures the u.n. will take to respond to these actions and make sure they do not happen again. and finally, it's my honor to tell that you ambassador dan smith will become the new director of the foreign service institute, something which i intend to devote a significant piece of my time and attention to as the secretary of state. this is a very important institution here for our service officers. dan will lead the state department institution responsible for all of our team's training and continued professional development dan shares my vision. i knew him when he was head of inr and i was in my previous role. dan shares my vision of having the best trained and most professional diplomat i can core in the world. is he impeccably qualified for this role and i look forward to him taking the hymn at smi. i'm now happy to take a few questions. >> we just have a few minutes for questions today. we are running late for a meeting. my apologies. >> thanks, heather. thanks, mr. secretary. the president, i don't know if you can add color to the president's comments. he just called the -- what the saudi operation or the attempt to conceal the worst coverup in the history of coverups. i'm wondering, one, if you agree with that characterization, and, second, if you could be a little bit more specific the actions taken with regard to the vista revocations how many are we talking about roughly here. and then on the migrants, what will you say to people who would criticize your comments just now as being a bit disingenuous to apply for refugee status when this administration has slashed the numbers of refugee -- the number of refugees that it will admit? >> i said i would take a few questions. you just asked three. i assume everyone in the room would be disappointed in you for taking all the questions. so let me take the last one first. this is a nation that is historically generous with respect to accepting refugees and persons from all around the world. there is no mistaking that it will continue to be so and so those who want to come here legally have every means available to do it. people can also file to be refugees in other countries other than the united states of america. so, what we know is this we're a nation built on laws. we have an obligation, the president has an obligation to protect american sovereignty and to secure our borders to make sure that we know who is coming in and out of our country not only appropriate but is a do you have to the united states government. we will continue to make sure that we execute that with great energy and vigor and professionalism. second, i will get you the numbers. we have them but i want to make sure i get them to you. make sure everybody gets the chance to see the numbers. there is not a lot more can i say about except this is certainly not the last step is that we will take. we will continue to do our own efforts, our own fact-finding to make sure that decisions that the united states makes are based on real facts and real data that we can confirm ourselves. we will certainly take information that comes from other sources, the turkish intelligence services, the saudis, we will evaluate that information, validate that information and form our own judgments about the facts and then hold those responsible accountable based on the facts that we determine are appropriate. we will work with congress. i have spoken to our allies around the world. we want to make sure that everyone understands that the united states doesn't believe that the killing of jamal khashoggi was anything other than a horrific act. and we hope that we can work together both with congress and our allies to hold those responsible accountable. >> [inaudible] afghanistan. >> thank you very much. >> mr. secretary, thank you very much. talk about afghanistan election. it was really unique. we are very happy for that but, unfortunately, pakistan is still do something wrong. you know, incident that the general has been killed. >> neil: we are going to continue monitoring this press conference that the secretary of state. suffice it to say that mike pompeo is moving and says the state department is moving on meeting out some punishment on the saudi yption role in the death of jamal khashoggi. saying he would revoke some saudi officials visas. he didn't specify exactly which ones. probably among those 18 detained right now by the saudi government including former top attache communication directors and even military advisors for the crown prince who so far is staying in his job. the read on this with stanley mccrystal new book out readers myth and reality. fascinating look at those who inspire and those who intimidate and what keeps their base loyal to them. and these are not all wonderful characters. but the general is and he joins us right now. thank you for coming. >> thanks for having me, neil. >> neil: first off, before we get into the book. how we handle this saudi situation here. the kingdom is royaled over this announcing trade deals and the rest sort of remind the world we are important to you economically. president trump said as much. what do you think? >> these are very difficult and regardless of what the saudis did or didn't do. this is a test for us. it's sort of like if you have got a close friend or relative who does something pretty bad, you have got that relationship and you probably are going to have that relationship for years to come. like we will with the kingdom. but it's a moment where we have to decide what our values are. and we can't pretend that those values don't apply now just because we weren't involved in the apparent killing. what we have got to do is send a clear message to the world and to ourselves what's important to our children. what's important, what are our values. so we need to take a living room view of that i think that being firm is going to be key because it's not just the saudis who are watching. it's the whole world. >> neil: you talk about obviously what's keeping that world together is the royal family. certainly amongst the royal family until the counsel crown e came along and imprisoned in a hotel fellow relatives and princes and the like that. should have been the tipping point as he was extracting billions from them that he wasn't everything that he appeared. why do we have to stay loyal to someone like that? >> well, it's one of these decisions you can on one hand saynot our business to go into other country and change their form of government. on the other hand it's not our business to necessarily endorse it and prop it up. there are cases where we have to be very clear-eyed with countries, have relationships but have the kind of relationship where we say we don't think what you are doing is acceptable we're not going to do regime change. >> neil: what if the crown prince stays, general, to your point we really can't change that a lot of people are wincing at the idea we stick with the saudis because there is so much money involved. >> i think that would be a mistake. i actually think the saudis need the united states much more than we need the saudis, we should understand particularly in the oil markets. >> neil: when the president says if we abandon them they will give contracts to someone else the russians and chinese. >> i think that's a pretty short-term concern. you know a few contract. they are not going to equal the kind of money that the president says think they are. >> neil: 110 billion is much less. >> absolutely. we shouldn't think that wait a minute our value is worth more than that and credibility around the world is priceless. >> neil: let's talk a little bit about the book. a lot of it comes to mind here. i was thinking of the president, sir. not you. politics very wise. but you talk about loyalty of what keeps people loyal. even bosses who can be pretty nasty. obviously, you go back to robert e. lee, the confederate general. casualty counts from the like those who worked with him or briefly lived with him under his leadership. all the way to people like walt disney the great entertainer who was not good at sharing credit and certainly not good at making a nice working environment for those around him. they all wanted to be part of that and be around the glow of that. many argue the president has that same mystic, the controversy notwithstanding that there is an excitement, a buzz to be with him even with all the discord that's been written about. what do you think? >> i would say we have a crisis in leadership in the united states it's not the president of the united states or any single person, it's leadership at large. and as i studied this and we spent a lot of time. a lifetime of practicing leadership. when i come to conclusion leadership isn't what we think it is and it never has been. when we go back and look at the historical characters in this book. like harriet tubman or martin luther king jr. or margaret thatcher, what we find are complex characters and in many cases they don't produce the results we think they will. they sometimes take us into pretty difficult places. and it's really incumbent upon followers, leadership is not something that someone directs at us and effects us. leaderships is a relationship between leaders and followers. we have agency. we have responsibility. if we go a bad place with a leader who shouldn't have taken us there, we are equally responsible for all responses to that. i would say that there is a magnetism or almost like moths to a flame around charismatic or celebrity or very zealot like leaders because they just burn a white hot flame and we're attracted to that but the reality is, sometimes that can be very dangerous. sometimes it can be very positive. >> neil: is president trump flame dangerous. >> i think president trump's flame burns very bright. sometimes when you stare into a bright flame, it's hard to focus your eyes and you look at certain things and choose to ignore other things. you go back in history when other very populist leaders have taken a group or a nation in a direction there is often regret afterward. many cases here we need to put a tougher lens on all our leaders, not just president trump. but all of them he is the leader that gets the attention now you apply those to people you think are champions, i was surprised -- the leader who was among -- nicholas burg. we all remember that that he was part of that passion at that you know, why what did you mean by that why is that included here. weighs not a nice guy. >> no, enforce not. two and a half years fighting him and ultimately killed him. stood over his body after we killed him with sort of mixed feelings i was glad he was dead. respect for him. grew up with nothing. in a tough town jordan. as a young man he got involved in crime and whatnot. got tattoos on his body then he became ideologically committed when he went to afghanistan. then during five years in jordanian prison. he tried to remove the tattoos with bleach. he took a razor blade and cut one off very openly to all the other inmates what he was showing was i am committed i'm ideologically pure and very strong this guy is a nut. guy so submitted, some willing to give for the cause. >> neil: even if it meant taking on usama bin laden? >> he took on usama bin laden and then he committed these horrific murders beheading of nicholas burg. >> they were to make a point. >> that's right. he showed people you included them for what reason? as much as we disagree with them. he was a very effective leader. if you step back what makes him wrong and us right. there was a lot of blood spilled on both sides. i am glad we defeeted him when you here is a guy. >> we have to understanding, gone again and again. walt disney example. he was a quite a tough task master. wasn't good at tweeting his people well i but they wanted to be a part of that. and martin luther king. they all had what in common? weren't nestry popular people but could extract huge loyalties. >> very different ways. sat in room and wrote speeches. zarqawi went out and killed people. walt disney created a team an merits and pushed them to create the break through picture snow white. >> neil: they knew they were part of something bigger than themselves, right? >> managed to create the idea they were part of something special. people would stand like human mannequins for cocoa channel for hours. she was a bit abusive. >> a bit abusive. i didn't know how much. >> i didn't know she existed. >> neil: cocoa, he is really renaissance. >> really worried about me. >> right, right. think would stand there but not lead the organization. they wanted cocoa channel created something special you wanted to be a are the path. like martin luther king jr. did with the civil rights. he was never elected or appointed. >> neil: a flawed human being but that didn't matter. robert e. leah flawed human being. you took his picture down in your office. you start out the book with him. and i'm wondering would that a post charlottesville issue for you? my only criticism i could say this now because you are sitting at a bit of a distance is that that -- we all knew about that. we knew about the slavery. we knew about that why after ghirg military skills, leadership skills. obvious gravitas, why did you continue on him? >> this was the toughest for me to do and toughest for me to right. after charlottesville i had this picture my wife had given me 40 years before and i hung it never set of quarters we had lived. in sh i think that picture may be communicating something to visitors that you don't think it is. i said no he is just a general is he apolitical. she said visitors may not feel that way. they may see the symbol that groups had taken after the civil war and use robert e. lee for. it was a fair point. so i didn't want to be associated with that i took it down. >> neil: not the same room you write about cocoa? >> no. [laughter] >> neil: go ahead, i'm sorry. >> s we started to study robert e. lee i started to hugely be supportive pend ultimate military leader. courageous, decisive, all of these things. the problem is critical moment. when he had been in the army for 32 years after graduating from west point. and he got the opportunity to make this decision and whewhat he decided to do was violate the oath that i took on a plane at west point later to go against the nation that he had been sworn to and that his role model, george washington had, in fact, helped create. kneel theology that was a torture you had decision, same as the tortured decision that he owed his obligation to the people with whom he was surrounded. >> and he did it to support the institution of slavery. which wasn't a hidden issue you knew that prior. >> i did. like many people i sort of compartmented it. i said this is lee the general. they would say lee the slave owner. lee the opponent to the united states. i sort of put it away and said yeah, that doesn't matter. he is a general. but everything we do matters, it makes human and complex. >> neil: part of what you look at the general you see warts and all. the only one that got a pass in your book good guys struck me was albert einstein. as just a human being besides being brilliant. he just seemed like a nice guy. >> he looks like your uncle. he was unfaithful to his wife. sort of serially. he did some amazing things. but i think einstein's great genius was his approachability. he took something that none of us can understanding physics and his persona in willingness to help other young fizz cysts. he created an atmosphere in which science could move forward he became symbol and advocate for it even though really almost all of his contributions happened before 1920. >> neil: 30 years before his death. what is your sense, general, about. >> call me stanley. >> neil: can you call me mr. cavuto. lafayette. in all seriousness, what is your lesson for leaders today. president trump, a lot of it goes back and forth. you again try to seat politics, i use these examples that describe their base, what keeps people with them. the president generates huge crowds among the base that believes every word he says. will not question the very controversial comments he has made about ms-13. elements isis. elements within this caravan. might or might not be. so i have seen and done some reporting on this, sir. i have seen nothing to verify or confirm that. if and when i do i will be happy to pass on. i can't, i don't. but it plays on a perception that many have who follow him that he is right. and they will never downtown him. what do you think ohim -- doubt. i think that's dangerous for any leader. i think leadership is very contextual. and a leader who is good at connecting with followers and finding out a reason nation. >> neil: he is very good at that. >> is he brilliant at it but followers have a responsibility as well if we step back and look that mirror and say what do we want from our leaders? and we say we want integrity, we want values, we want divisiveness and you could have a list of those things and if we look. >> neil: of all the great leaders you look at. many of them don't have those. >> they don't have those. if we look at that's what we want. we as followers have a part of the responsibility to help pull that or demand that in our leaders. we will never find perfect leaders. there aren't any. >> neil: there are a lot of people making the assumption this caravan coming here, general, it's all these nefarious elements. some might not be. can't prove it. isn't that misleading people? >> when i used to counsel young military leaders, i said there is something called cheap leadership tricks. one of them is when you take commands of a organization, demonize higher headquarters. the idiots up there don't understanding. temporarily what it does is brings the team together around you. you feel popular. what happens over time is they understand that higher headquarters is not all screwed up and your credibility starts to drop. it's the same thing with abusing your clients or your allies or your nip have you relationships with. in a very short-term you can do an awful lot of things in the long term look at mexico today. mexico is not interested in helping us with the migrant caravan. why would they? if we had a closer relationship. more respectfu respectful relatp think might process that slightly differently. when i commanded in afghanistan. access nation coalition. most of them were there because we the united states asked them to be there. they didn't have interest in afghanistan. they thought the relationship to us mattered. i would argue of the more we failed to maintain that, the more we failed to respect that over time when you call, it won't be 46 nations. it may be four. some day we may call and it may be none. we can say that's fine, i don't think so. >> the president loyalists might call you some names based on what you just said. >> i have been called names before. i think what we have to be do is be honest. i think we have to really decide what he matters to us. >> this book does that i don't care whether you are on the right or left. makes you think i has some unusual pairings. martin luther king one. walt disney one. some that make you think and step back what breed, what makes leaders, they are not necessarily saints. they have a unique skill set