jordan. this is our first opportunity to get together. we took advantage of that for this conference. so today is a good time to update you describing basically where we're at, what has changed and the way ahead. president trump directed the department of defense to lead all departments in a review of the campaign. we submitted that report and after his review he then ordered an accelerated operation against isis. so what does that mean? two significant changes resulted from president trump's review of our findings. first, he delegated authority to the right level to aggressively and in a timely manner move against enemy vulnerabilities. secondly, he directed a teacticl ship from shoving isis out of

seas location in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate isis. the intent is to prevent the return home of escaped foreign fighters. i want to emphasize here there has been no change to our rules of engagement. and there has been no change to our continues extraordinary efforts to avoid innocent civilian saz y civilian casualties. despite needing to go into populated areas to break isis hold hold, despite isis endangering innocence lives and we continue all possible efforts to protect the innocent. you're all aware of the human costs isis has exacted, killed, wounded, refugees, merciless control over those regions they hold, the cost to turkey, jordan, and lebanon and syrian

iraqis have been displaced. in response to isis and unforgivable treatment, the world has responded. this is a coalition effort. since this began in 2014, the coalition has strengthened and expanded. the international team is fully committed at the political and military levels to the destruction of isis. a coalition of 68 members, 65 nations with more joining as we speak, plus i -- sharing intelligence, providing troops and funds for combat and no less importance for the post combat recovery. in late march or secretary of state gathered diplomatic colleagues in washington where they discussed how we would deal with the post combat aftermath. secretary tillerson, mr. mcgirt and the colleagues in the coalition rightly focused most of their effort on how that this

region can recover from isis after we free it. 26 of our coalition nations contribute militarily including more than 4,000 nonu.s. troops on the ground and in the air. our recent coalition meetings in brussels, copenhagen and elsewhere have a -- with the forces in iraq and the forces in syria. so what have we achieved? we have fought isis elements from southeast asia to africa. collaboration among many nations, intelligence services continues to complicate and blunt sis operations. even as isis continues to pursue and conduct attacks against the united states. and our allies through centralized directed plots but also through inspired attacks. from the philippines to europe and beyond while isis remains

dangerous, they are no longer carrying an air of strength. in afghanistan two weeks ago the president announced we had killed the leader of isis plus approximately two thirds of their strength been killed during very tough pragoperation. france has brilliantly led a two year ongoing campaign in the lake chad basin and west africa to throw isis off balance with 4,000 of their troops on the ground to support our african allies. in libya we struck a significant isis presence there in january of this year. our attack against their concentrated strength was highly effective and isis did not own any major territory any longer there. elsewhere, too, there have been successes. but in iraq and syria lies the core area of isis. recent attacks in istanbul,

paris and brussels were planned and coordinated out of isis so-called capital of raqqa. additional imminent threats to many nations require us to move with urgency against all strongholds still in their hands. east mosul has you know have fallen after tour fighting by the iraqi security forces with u.s. and coalition support. since january it is returning to normal with businesses reopening, cleanup under way and kids back in school. west mosul in accordance with tactics changed by president president trump is surrounded and are our iraqi partners are in a stiff fight. there is no escape for isis. even while we do all that is humanly possible to shepard the innocent out of harm's way. talafar is also surrounded and other pockets of isis exist

elsewhere. we will continue to fully support the iraqi security forces and the prime minister's government in isolating and destroying isis throughout iraq. in syria, we support syrian democratic forces that recently seized have taken tack ca and are currently attacking with great success to isolate raqqa. isis has additional strength scattered down the river valley to the iraq border. we will not stop until they, too, are destroyed. i want our chairman general dun zairs fo dunford and to provide more details to let me sum up. we are leading a comprehensive international campaign to crush isis claim of invisibility. to deny isis a geographic haven from have to hatch murder, eliminate isis ability to operate externally, and to irrad

indicate to finance terrorist operations. thanks to leadership and authorities provided by trump, thafrpgs thanks to the nations whose troops have gone toe-to-toe with this terrorist group. with the deepest sympathy for the families that have lost sons and daughters in this fight and with the greatest respect for the families caught up on the battle fields that we know are also humanitarian fields. we have retaken over 55% of isis territory there in the core. over 4 million people have been liberated and not 1 inch of territory seized from isis has been recaptured from them. excuse me, recaptured by them. let me turn it over to chairman dunford for more on our isis campaign. chairman. >> so there he is the secretary of defense james mattis. announcing a new trump

administration strategy in his words to annihilate isis. he said this was an accelerated operation designed to destroy isis. let's bring in our cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel sed brick leighton and retired admiral john kirby. bold words from the secretary of defense. the goal to annihilate isis. this is an accelerated operation. no longer simply going to surround isis strongholds. they're going to go in there and crush them. >> yeah. this was a different approach. what he said was actually they are going to surround the strongholds and then strangle them from outside and within. in other words, not letting them escape bombings and then to live another day. that is a different tactic than what has been previously done against isis. and he also spoke about more delegation of authority. and that the president has delegated it at the appropriate level so they can move faster or

a little bit more with more agility. he talked a little bit i think framed sort of what's different now than how it was done under the obama administration. >> cedric, is it going to make a difference? they've made steady progress over these last several months in this war against isis, but it's by no means over. >> that's right, wolf. the big issue here as john mentioned, what we're dealing with is actually destroying isis. what they're going to do is not only encircle them but the whole idea is to make it impossible for them to continue to exist as an effective fighting force, so that's going to require an increased concentration of troops. it's going to require an increased use of coalition forces. it's also going to require an increased and enhanced use of intelligence. and that is going to i think be one of the critical aspects of this operation. and what also sfrtruck me was tt was not just focussed on syria

or iraq but looking at this as more or less a global campaign or super regional campaign with africa being mentioned, libya, west africa and of course the places in the middle east. >> he said secretary mattis, this is a new strategy that the pentagon, the u.s. military has come up with. they present today to president trump. he approved it and now they are going to implement this new strategy. >> the way i took that was they looked at the strategy that had been in place, made some changes and the president approved those changes. what i didn't hear and maybe we'll get more, is talking about the ideology and the narrative. the other risk about isis isn't just their semi military forces on the ground in iraq and syria. it's the way they can inspire foreign fighters to leave the fight, go back home to places in europe and the west, and conduct attacks. also to inspire self radicalized v individuals to do that.

>> one of the things i think that was key to this is they were talking about that this whole business of surrounding them is really meant to keep them from going back home. and so when you're looking at the way they're doing this, they're actually going in and not only do they want to destroy isis as an effective fighting force but they want to make sure that it doesn't go back to reinfect areas like western europe or in france and belgium in particular or do anything else with, you know, any of these areas. so they want to make sure that they can destroy this effort on the part of sirs aisis and it's to be interesting to see how isis responds to this. >> it's a major operation. mosul, the second largest city in iraq, still has not been completely liberated. they've been trying for two years to do that. raqqa and syria, the capital, that's still under isis control. they've got a lot of work to do. thanks very much. coming up, take a look at.

this we're looking at some live pictures from the white house. later this hour president trump will depart for his first trip overseas after taking office. can he leave the controversies of this week behind him? that's coming up next. plus after being briefed comey's firing by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, one congressional member tweeted this. it renewed my confidence that we should have no confidence in this administration. we're going to discuss the meeting with someone who was there. a lot more coming up. we'll be right back. will you be ready when the moment turns romantic? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension,

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president trump leaves the white house this hour on his first foreign trip since taking office. he's hoping to turn the page from the turmoil here in washington. earlier the president tweeted this. quote, getting ready for my big foreign trip. we'll be strongly protecting american interests. that's what i like to do. the nine day trip begins in saudi arabia. from there it's to isreal and the west bank followed by vatican city and that continues on to global summits in both belgium a belgium. rod rosenstein made a return visit to capitol hill. he briefed house members behind

closed doors on the russia investigation and the comey firing. one lawmaker described it as frustratingly cautious. in a briefing yesterday senators say rosenstein reveal the decision to fire comey was made before he wrote a letter critical of the fbi director. president trump's first foreign trip comes at the end of the week for his administration. the administration is hoping i assume that this trip will provide a break from the entire russia investigation and the enormous fallout over the comey firing, but how likely is that? >> certainly these problems are not going away. there's now a special counsel overseeing the russia investigation. the president still has to choose a new fbi director. someone that is sure to be viewed skeptically by democrats. basically no matter who he names. but a number of donald trump's allies are encouraging him to sort of see this special counsel

as an opportunity to stop complaining about the russia investigation. stop declaring it a witch hunt. to move beyond that and to refocus on his priorities as president. they do feel encouraged as they head on this overseas trip that a number of the places they'll be stopping, saudi arabia and isreal, they're going to be meeting with world leaders who are excited to have the president there and who really want this trip to go well. they feel like that bodes well for the visit going smoothly. as we know, this is president trump, so certainly anything could happen. >> sunlen, the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, he was back up on capitol hill today. this time briefing house members on the russia investigation and the comey firing all behind closed doors. what are you learning about that briefing? >> there certainly was a sense of frustration coming from many lawmakers leaving that briefing today. they felt that rod rosenstein was not as forthcoming as they would like him to be. they called him cautious, guarded, and really wanted to defer it seemed many of the

tough questions to the new special counsel bob mueller. many of the questions as it was in the senate side yesterday really did seem to center around that now famous memo that rod rosenstein wrote that was held up as original justification by the white house the day that james comey was fired for the reason that he was let go. we understand that rosenstein defended the writing of that memo but many lawmakers coming out of that meeting saying he was pushed and asked many questions over who exactly told him to write that memo and he would not answer that. rosenstein did specifically get into this request as was recorded for resources coming from james comey, the fact that he was requesting and then denied more resources for the russia probe. ro rosenstein says that's not how he understands it. here's kevin mccarthy speaking about that. >> one of the questions where he said he's already said it, he has no evidence that comey asked

for any further resources, that all the resources were there. >> and according to rosenstein's opening statement which he gave on the senate side and the house side today which was o tanbtainy cnn, it does back up that statement. rosenstein said he consulted with his staff and consulted with the acting fbi director and that none of them knew of this additional request of resources. >> let me go back to sara at the white house. the president seemed to muddy the waters a bit again yesterday over his decision to fire james comey. listen to what he said during that news conference. compare it to what he said during an interview last week. >> 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. i was going to fire comey.

there's no good time to do it by the way. >> because in your letter you said i accepted their recommendation. >> well -- >> you had already made the decision. >> i was going to fire regardless of recommendation. >> all right. this is what the deputy attorney general said in remarks to the house and the senate and i'm quoting him now, rod rosenstein, on may 8th i learned that president trump intended to remove director comey and sought my advice and input. notwithstanding my personal affection for director comey, i thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader. i wrote a brief memorandum to the attorney general summarizing my longstanding concerns about director comey's public statements concerning the secretary clinton e-mail investigation. my memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for cause termination. sara, help us sort out these behind the scenes developments in leading up to the comey decision. >> well, look, wolf, i think it was pretty clear the president had already decided he was going to fire james comey. we know that he had been talking

about it to a small circle of aides for a little while. the president admitted it was his decision to fire james comey and he made that decision before he got the memo from rod rosenstein. i think you're seeing a little bit of the anger from the president come to the surface there. he certainly is not happy with rosenstein's decision to name a special counsel. he did not hide his feelings on that yesterday. when the president called the russia investigation a witch hunt. and when i was talking to an ally of the president's yesterday, this person was telling me look, this is why the president did not want jeff sessions to recuse himself from the russia investigation in the first place. he dridn't want it to get to ths point where a special counsel was being named to oversee the investigation. so i think what you are seeing is a little bit of the president's frustration boiling to the surface there. >> yes. sara murray, sunlen serfaty, thanks very much. let's discuss a bit more on the timeline of comey's firing. here with me is crystal.

you wrote several important articles on cnn.com. cnn politics and the last few days. you say the firing of comey in your words was political acrobatics. explain what you mean by that. >> you played the clip. in in some ways television is a better way to carry that message than what i wrote. you had the argument being made by the likes of white house counselor kellyanne conway, vice president mike pence, sean spicer. in the immediate aftermath, that wednesday, the immediate aftermath of comey being fired essentially saying this is rod rosenstein's memo. donald trump took it into consideration. and then he decided to act on it. well, then even donald trump several days later saying to lester holt no, that's not true, i was going to fire him. then you have donald trump yesterday in the meeting with the colombian president saying well, that memo really had a lot of effect. then you have rod rosenstein in the meetings with the -- in a private meeting with senators

saying i knew that trump was going to fire comey even before i started writing my memo. it feels a little bit like the gang who can't shoot straight. i think it's because they don't necessarily want to say the real reason that donald trump didn't want jim comey around which is frankly by everything i can tell, wolf, that he didn't like him. which honestly the president gets to make those picks. it would have been somewhat controversial. he would have i think done better to be more candid about it. look, this was an obama pick. i didn't like how he handled the whole clinton investigation. i want to move on. he didn't say that. instead we went through this of where we continue to not know exactly what the real or even the stated white house reason was for it. >> you wrote another piece, cnn politics.com, in which you said the president uttered yesterday four key words. >> yeah. >> explain. >> well, i could have been more brief and said the president uttered two key words because the four words i talked about

were in that same press briefing. donald trump is asked did you ever tell james comey in a private meeting to either end or curb or fore stall this investigation to mike flynn. donald trump's response is -- >> formary national security adviser. >> the president's response was no, no, next question. i think he did that because he was annoyed. he didn't think it was the right setting which is not really up to him candidly. what you essentially say is this is a full scale blanket denial. what jim comey is said to have stated is not accurate. if it winds up being he said, he said. trump says this happened. comey says this happened. trump will be okay politically in that regard. if something else comes out, though, it's potentially very troe treacherous for him politically. >> if he was lying. >> if his full blanket denial is

not covering the entirety of what we learned, whether it was the mueller investigation. >> thank you very much. coming up, president trump is to depart the white house any minute for a nine day trip. he's hoping to leave behind the extra baggage of washington after a week of controversies. we'll take a closer look at the challenges and the objectives of his trip and a whole lot more. that's coming up. i get back to business. ♪ ♪ when they thought they should westart saving for retirement.le then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this gap between when we should start saving and when we actually do is one of the reasons why too many of us aren't prepared for retirement. just start as early as you can. it's going to pay off in the future.

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president trump will make several stops, saudi arabia, isreal, the west bank, vatican city, brussels. he'll be heading over to nato meetings in sicily for the g7 as well. here to talk about that and more, the president's agenda, challenges, objectives, retired admiral john kirby and elise. give us three top challenges facing the president on this first overseas mission. >> he needs to stay strategic. this shouldn't just be about faith and religion. it should be about foreign policy. he has a chance to reset the national security policy in many different parts of the world. he should take full advantage of that and keep it at a high level. not be driecven by the headline that have been chasing him. stay on message. this is not a time to free lance. he should follow the speeches

and be careful about what he says in the press conferences too. yes, all the stuff that he's been facing this week are going to be traveling with him. but this is a chance to try to reorient the press attention on the issues in those parts of the world. number three, i think it's really important that he stays engaged. on this i mean two levels. one, it's a long trip. lots of stops. it's going to be easy to lose focus. it's going to be easy to get tired and irritable. he's got to stay engaged on a personal schedule bauszsis. but he has to stay engaged on commitments. there is a feeling that the united states has abdicated leadership. in europe where you have multi lateral nations, they want to hear him say he's committed. >> what do you see as the challenges facing the president? >> really staying close to his objectives. the first objective when he goes to saudi arabia, not just to

meet with the saudi allies, there has been this feeling that the u.s. has abandoned them under president obama, that they've been neglected. that's what this is about. there's going to be a huge saudi arms package. there was just a package announced for the uae. then he wants to really not just the sunni arrabs, but the rest of the islamic world against terrorism. he's going to be going to all the marria the major religions making the argument that we're all in this together. we need to fight terrorism as one civilized world. and then i think he wants to try and get some transaction on restarting the peace process. you're not going to see those kind of formal talks just yet, but you saw he's met with prime minister netanyahu. welcomed the president to the white house. his aides have been out there. i think he wants to see if there

is some momentum. he's really going to get a big education when he goes to bethlehem and sees, you know, all of this from the palestinian side. he's really only seen this from his whole life through the israeli lens. he's going to see the conflict up close. i think he's going to see what it really means to try and negotiate the ultimate deal. he said he doesn't think it's that hard. he's really in for an education. >> he's going to meet with the president of the palestinian authority on the west bank and prime minister netanyahu in jerusalem. those meetings will be very important. he's also apparently going to get an arms deal, the saudis are going to purchase an enormous amount of u.s. weapons, maybe $100 billion over the next year alone. that's a lot of weaponry the u.s. is going to be selling to the saudis. >> it is and i can guarantee they're looking forward to the announcement of this deal. elise is right about the importance of that.

they are a key ally and partner in the region when cit comes to counter terrorism. my only concern is what's going on in yemen. the obama administration was more reluctant to provide legal arms and ammunition towards the end of their term because of the war in yemen and the lack of precision by saudi forces in the air over there. so i think -- i know the importance of the package, but we ought not to let off the pressure on saudi arabia when it comes to combat operations in yemen being precise and carefully executed. >> he's hoping to get a commitment also from more than 50 representatives of muslim countries that will be meeting with him in saudi arabia to fight terrorism. >> this is not only about that. he'll be getting -- the saudis will get precision weapon to help with that. this is about american jobs. he's going to be touting this policy. this is $100 billion or 350 as you said over ten years in american defense contract that is going to help the american

economy. i think that's also something he can bring home to the american people. >> elise, john, thank you very much. coming up, a very guarded frustratingly cautious, that's how one member of congress is describing this morning's briefing by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein in the comey firing. democratic congressman of new york was inside that closed door room. there you see him. he's standing by to join us live. we will discuss when we come back. in the desert. at the mall. on the mountain. at school. at the beach. in the big easy. yeah. yeah. today i want to show you guys the next-gen chevy equinox. what do you think? that's pretty. pretty sexy. it's all-wheel drive. look at that. it looks aggressive. but not overbearing. it's not too big. not too small. it looks like it could go off-roading. but at the same time, it looks like a car you could take to a nice event. you can dress it up or dress it down. this part's awesome. the all-new equinox comes with built in 4g lte wi-fi. there's wi-fi? even a bird's-eye surround vision camera. wow, it shows the view from up above? how's it doing that? i really like the sunroof. what? woah! hello, world!

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. very goord -- guarded and cautious. that is how they are describing today's briefing by rod rosenstein. the briefing on russia and the firing of fbi director james comey.

democratic congressman is a member of the judiciary committee. also co chair of the democratic policy and communications committee. you were in that closed door meeting. what did you think? >> she was very guarded, wolf, when it comes to the circumstances surrounding the se termination of james comey and that's important because it's quite possible that the president of the united states fired james comey in order to obstruct a pending criminal investigation looking inthe int the possible collusion between the trump kpcampaign and russia. >> dow believe that? >> i think that's a possibility and we have to get to the bottom of what happened. several members of the house pressed the deputy attorney general as it relates to the exact timing of when he knew that the president was planning on firing comey, who exactly asked him to write the memo which at least initially seemed to be the basis for the justification. and he declined to go into details what was his excuse? >> his view was that the special

counsel may be looking into the circumstances surrounding the termination and/or whether the writing of the memo was appropriate and so he did not want to step on that jurisdictional area until the special counsel had had an opportunity to weigh in. >> special counsel robert mueller, the former fbi director. that sounds logical, right? that sounds like a good excuse. >> i think that if you're in a classified briefing and there's an opportunity to layout some facts concerning a potentially troubling development, the possibility that obstruction of justice occurred or that the trump administration, donald trump himself perhaps directed the writing of this memo in order to provide justification, pretext, if you will, for the termination, then members of the congress on behalf of the american people deserve some facts. >> when is comey going to show occupy capitol hill? i assume at some point. he's been invited by numerous committees including yours. >> that's unclear. the judiciary committee, we as democrats have been pressing for our chairman to assert some

authority to provide comey, frifor instance, the opportunity to testify before the american people and explain to the extent that he can the interactions that he had with the trump administration as it relates to the unfolding criminal investigation. we're very concerned that the fbi and the administration of justice has been politicized in ways that could complicate the ability for that agency and the american people to ultimately learn the truth as to what happened with russia's involvement in our election. >> some republican members in the senate, they've expressed concern now, now that robert mueller, former fbi director, the new special counsel, the prosecutor, is taking charge of this whole russia investigation and related matters. that he might say to members of congress like you and others, you know what, let me do this investigation because stuff that you do on the hill could compromise that investigation and slow it down. >> i think we'll show some degree of defr rennes.

i trust him i think it was the right appointment to make. there's a cloud of ill legitimacy and corruption hanging over 1600 pennsylvania avenue. the only way to remove is to have a fair investigation. the special counsel is likely to deliver that. so a balancing of interest that needs to occur. but the american people do deserve transparency about what took place. so at some point james comey should testify. >> you want it instead of congressional oversight, you want a special outside panel, a commission to take a look at all of this i assume. >> absolutely. we need an independent commission similar to what was done in the aftermath of september 11th so we can get to the facts as to what occurred, explain and communicate those facts to the american people, and most importantly, wolf, decide how do we prevent the type of interference from a foreign power from ever occurring again chl th. this was an attack on our democracy. >> thanks so much for coming in. up next, the former senate joe

lieberman topping donald trump's list for fbi director. why some democrats on capitol hill say he's not the right choice. that and more when we come back. termites, feasting on homes 24/7. we're on the move. roger. hey rick, all good? oh yeah, we're good. we're good. termites never stop trying to get in, we never stop working to keep them out. terminix. defenders of home.

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. the white house now says there won't be an announcement today in the president's choice for fbi director. there was some speculation that a nominee would be named before the president heads overseas. former democratic and independent senator joe lieberman has emerged as a front runner for the job. while some may think lieberman would be a slam dunk in the senate, there are some like senator dianne feinstein who told me lieberman would be the wrong choice. >> i don't think somebody should be a "d" or an "r," a democrat or a republican. i think that the political part of this is not the best part for the fbi. i think the fbi has to have someone that every member of that agency respects because they know they're law enforcement, they know they're not going to cave to political whims, and they know that they're talented in doing the

law enforcement job. >> congressional correspondent phil mattingly is up on capitol hill. if it isn't joe lieberman, how much pushback will he get from democrats and is it >> there's an element of that, wolf, no question about it. while i think some people respect joe lieberman, we heard last night talking to senators that they appreciate what he has done in public service. there's a split between those who just don't want a political or a politician to take that role and those who just flat out don't like joe lieberman. there's a lot of history here, as you know quite well. in 200 of, joe lieberman lost the democratic primary. perhaps most importantly, according to the most liberal members of the caucus that i was speaking to, it was his policy positions on medicare, health care. he was the one man, the person

who sank the proposal to bring medicare from 65 to 55 during the debate of the health care reform. democrats, there's no love lost there, wolf. the key element is while some republicans have said that perhaps joe lieberman is the perfect pick to get democrats on board, one senator told me that is a gross miscalculation. i'm not picking up any democrats right now who say they are willing to come on board with him let alone all 100 senators of the entire u.s. senate as number two republican john cornyn said yesterday on camera. >> phil mattingly, thanks very much for that update. right now, the last voters in line voting for their next president. it could have a significant outcome on foreign policy. we're going live to tehran, next. with this grade of protection... it's a fortress. and with this standard of luxury... it's an oasis.

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white house and also at live pictures from joint base andrews outside of washington, d.c.. air force one, the president and first lady will be boarding air force one to make their first overseas trip as president and first lady of the united states. destination, saudi arabia. we're going to bring you live coverage of their departure once it happens. stand by for that. meanwhile, it's the 12th presidential election in iran today. the stakes couldn't be higher. voting hours have already been extended due to very high voter turnout. the incumbent, hassan rouhani, signed the deal with the west in 2015 sees engagement with the west as a potential win for iran. his closest opponent, ebrah ebrahim raisi. our senior international correspondent fred pleitgen is joining us from tehran.

what does the significant turnout mean and what about the result, could that reshape iran's foreign policy? >> reporter: well, to a certain extent i think it really can and these people that are pouring in here, it really is remarkable. this polling station was supposed to close about 4 1/2 hours ago and now well into the night the entire area in front of it is still full with hundreds of people. it shows that the folks here really understand how important this election is going to be for the country's economic and also for the political and foreign policy future as well. because the two opponents that you were just mentioning, the incumbent rouhani and his opponent raisi really have contradictory plans to one another. on the one hand, rouhani wants to continue engagement with the west and open this country economically. he believes that will bring more foreign investment and that ultimately will bring more jobs

as well. and then you have ebrahim raisi who says we have the nuclear agreement but we have a hard line trump administration. we need to confront america and then also try to grow the economy and not rely on foreign investment. so it really is two open sits as far as economic policy and foreign policy is concerned. so the folks here that you see here, they really understand that this election is going to be very important for the kind of iran that america is going to be dealing with for the next four years and also the direction that their country will take on the foreign policy stage. but especially, and of course like in any other election in the world, the most important issue for the economy internally as well, wolf. >> i know you've been speaking to a lot of iranians on the street there. give us a sense, what do they think about the american president, president trump? >> reporter: well, i think most of the people here have quite a negative opinion of president trump. i think when you speak to people in the leadership here in this

country, before president trump took office, many of them told me that they believe that perhaps the president, donald trump, would be similar to the businessman donald trump, that he would be pragmatic, perhaps someone that iran could do deals with. they see president trump as somewhat erratic, someone who handles it very quickly and a real water shed moment was when iran conducted ballistic missile tests eig tests and the trump administration lashed out with additional sanctions. that is certainly something that has fostered a negative opinion among many of the leadership but also the sense that this is a president who is very, very difficult to figure out. of course, many, many people in this country, including the leadership, are going to be looking very closely at the next couple of days when president trump will be first in saudi arabia and then, of course, in israel to see what he's going to say about iran when he's there, wolf. >> and the president will be meeting with representatives in

saudi arabia, about 50 muslim majority countries. fred pleitgen on the scene for us live in tehran. fred, thank you very much. that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. here we go, top of the hour, i'm brooke baldwin and you're watching cnn. any moment now, air force one will leave for saudi arabia. president trump's first foreign trip since taking office and as he's looking back in his proverbial rearview mirror, the dark cloud hanging over washington. an investigation into whether there was improper contact between trump associates and russia spiralling into talk of obstruction of justice this week and even depending on who you ask,