fmy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard - calms the angry gut. we've now got two major bomb shells, the president of the united states joking with the russian ambassador. >> the white house is not denying this report which is notable. this has moved from what was a distraction to the young trump presidency to completely consuming it. >> it is the kind of cartoon, villain language you would not expect any president of the united states to say.

>> it does seem very close to confession of obstruction of justice. >> not proof, not charges, but evidence has to be put together in a mosaic. >> this is who the american public elected, they elected someone who is outrageous. >> you have to wonder what is going on inside the head of donald trump. >> there's nothing there to impeach. this is the democrats getting ahead of themselves. good morning to you at 8:00 on a saturday. i am christi paul. i know we look different today. >> good morning, martin savidge, in for victor blackwell. great to be with you. breaking news this morning, president trump receiving royal welcome in riyadh. saudi arabia rolling out the red carpet as it hopes for a reset with the new administration. >> this is all coming as the white house is dogged by crises, they're hoping to reset. this morning, the president and

saudi king are holding bilateral meetings. this was earlier, the first lady and his staff sitting down with top saudi leaders at the welcoming ceremony. king salman presented him with a gold medal, considered the kingdom's highest honor. there he goes. the president's lavish welcome began a few hours ago when he stepped off air force one to the red carpet, military band, and jet fly over. this morning, we have our team of correspondents following the president in saudi arabia. first we want to get to ryan nobles in washington. there's a new storm cloud that continues to brew over the white house and the russian investigation. ryan, what are you learning this morning? >> christi, good morning to you. you talk about the cloud. even though the president may be out of town, surrounding the investigation into russia's attempt to intervene in the election. the white house wasn't necessarily thrilled with the special counsel being named,

there were some that hoped it would reign in the drip drip drip of reports and accusations. if the last 24 hours are any indication, the leaks will continue. >> reporter: "new york times" is reporting president trump bragged to russian foreign minister and russian ambassador in the oval office about his firing of fbi director james comey saying it relieved great pressure from the russia investigation. the report also says mr. trump called comey, quote, crazy, a real nut job. the white house is not denying the times story which is raising new questions about president trump's intent in firing comey. democratic senator patrick leahy shared a link to the report on twitter, saying in his own words, quote, this is what obstruction looks like. republican congressman scott taylor isn't so sure. >> of course, there is context with text, and we don't know the context of the meeting itself and what he was trying to do. we don't know that, of course. >> reporter: meanwhile, sources

tell cnn that russian officials bragged they cultivated a strong relationship with former trump adviser, retired general michael flynn and believed they could use him to influence donald trump and his team. officials caution, however, that the russians exaggerated the interaction with trump's team. trump's lawyer declined to comment. in a statement, the white house said we are confident when the inquiries are complete, there will be no evidence to support any collusion between the campaign and russia. a member of the house intelligence committee is questioning why president trump remained loyal to flynn. >> why in god's name did the white house keep this guy on for 18 days after sally yates went to the white house and said this guy is a national security risk. it is one of many weird and unanswered questions in the investigation. >> reporter: after days of in send degree headlines, white house lawyers are looking at what a possible trump

impeachment may look like. >> all of this relates to official white house operations, so the white house counsel's office will handle some of it, but some of it involves donald trump personally and he needs a lawyer. >> reporter: sources tell cnn impeachment is a distant possibility at this point. white house officials believe the president has backing of republican allies in congress and democratic establishment remains cautious about calling for impeachment. >> as for the former fbi director james comey, he agreed to testify in an open hearing for the senate intelligence committee. that will take place sometime after memorial day. meanwhile, a source familiar with his thinking has told cnn that comey personally believes that the president was attempting to influence his judgment on the russian investigation. whether or not that rises to the level of obstruction of justice is an open question. christi? >> ryan, thank you so much. always appreciate it. cnn senior white house correspondent jim acosta is live in riyadh. we're talking about the president's visit here, jim.

it certainly looked like he got a very warm welcome and that warmth continues. >> reporter: absolutely, martin. that's right. the president is here in saudi arabia meeting with the king of saudi arabia, and they did as you said a few moments ago roll out the red carpet for the president and first lady, the president's first family and just about every top official from the trump administration here on the ground in saudi arabia. we want to call attention to viewers something interesting that occurred during some of the interactions between the president and the king. the king was at one point caught on camera making some remarks about the civil war in syria to president trump. at one point he said syria, too, used to be one of the most advanced countries, we used to get our professors from syria, they served our kingdom. unfortunately they brought destruction to their own country. you can destroy a country in mere seconds but it takes a lot of effort.

just goes to show you in these interactions the cameras are rolling. not exactly a tremendous gap there on the part of the saudi king, but one of those impromptu candid moments that can be caught on camera. you can hear that the president and saudi king were talking about the situation in syria, just in the first interactions after the president landed on the ground in riyadh. of course, the president is preparing to give a big speech to muslim and arab world from here in riyadh. the president expected to call on the muslim world to do more on the fight against terrorism. as we have been talking about, the president did craft the speech along with top speech writer steven miller who was very instrumental in crafting that travel ban that caused so much controversy at the beginning of this administration that was tied up in the courts because it was felt it was discriminatory toward muslims trying to come to the united states. at the same time, should point out some of the color we have seen so far on the ground here,

some interesting side notes. first lady melania trump and daughter ivanka did not wear head scarves. that's interesting because back in 2015, president trump criticized first lady michelle obama for not wearing a head scarf in saudi arabia. he said teat the time in a twee the united states has enough enemies, suggesting the first lady at that time michelle obama was creating enemies in the muslim world by not wearing a head scarf. as it turns out, this time around, melania and ivanka are not wearing head scarves during the arrival ceremonies. plenty of pomp and circumstance on the way, martin, christi. they'll be dining together later. >> thanks for the insights. danny is he val is, legal analyst and defense attorney, gentlemen, thank you for being here. take a quick look and listen to

jeffrey toobin as he reacts to the latest reporting in the "new york times" calling director comey a real nut job and said i'm not under investigation. let's listen here. >> if you parse the words donald trump says, it does seem close to a confession of obstruction of justice. i mean, he is talking about james comey who was investigating him and his campaign in connection with the whole russia campaign matter and he says i fired him, and the pressure is off. >> so danny, from a legal perspective is jeffrey right? does that qualify as obstruction of justice? >> potentially. on one hand, we have sort of two kinds of obstruction of justice. we have obstruction in the criminal sense under the u.s. code and that's a law so broadly drafted that virtually any interference corruptly with any administrative or judicial

proceeding can fall within the statute. of course, there's also obstruction in the impeachment sense which is a separate concept. you know, our framers believed that high crimes and misdemeanors, the high meant the political part. so to the extent a president abused his official power, that would be a high crime and misdemeanor, not necessarily something that's in the criminal statute books. so while this might be a difficult case for a prosecutor to get a conviction in the criminal obstruction of justice world, because frankly the president is the chief executive, he can technically call off an investigation. however, looking towards impeachment as a possibility, it could rise to the abuse of power and obstruction of justice that the framers envisioned when they drafted the constitution. >> you know, secretary spicer in a statement said mr. comey put unnecessary pressure on the president's ability to conduct diplomacy with russia on matters like syria, ukraine, and isis and that this is nothing more

than we should be looking at the leaks as opposed to the verbiage necessarily here. what do you say to that, and the leaking out of the white house, only 129 days in. >> it is extraordinary the amount of leaks, discussions within the oval office almost immediately find their way into the news media, if shawn supervise error anybody else is concerned, they have to look inward, who is talking to the media so frequently and freely. as to the question of whether or not the investigation, the fbi investigation, let's keep in mind, the president himself called for it, it was the president who said we need to get to the bottom of this russia stuff, he wants congress and the fbi to get this behind him because there's nothing there, and then his actions directly contradict that. if it is making it harder, the fact that the investigation, multiple investigations are

making it harder to conduct diplomacy, that's shame. the reality is you can't step in, fire the fbi director, bad mouth him into a hostile adversary an act as if everything is going to be okay. you start to go down that path toward people raising questions about whether or not there's been obstruction of justice. >> i want to get danny's reaction to something you said when we spoke last hour about a possible investigation. you mention how the clintons were initially investigated for white water and then by the time impeachment proceedings came about for the investigation there, it turned into something entirely different. what is the risk, danny, of starting one investigation and having it evolve into something entirely different? >> there's always that risk. as we continue to dig into the russia issue, that can reveal more information thinking

hypothetically, even if trump had some activity with russia prior to the presidency, the authority seems to indicate that he cannot be impeached for prepresidential activity. however, to the extent he does any kind of activity with russia that could be perceived as quid pro quo or to the extent he continues that activity with russia into the presidency, then that becomes an impeachable type offense. exactly the kind of thing the framers intended. so any investigation could reveal much more activity that may not fall strictly within criminal statutes, but remember, we do not strictly need a criminal activity to be impeachable offense. >> errol, seeing the pictures from saudi arabia this morning, what does the president have to do on this trip to characterize it as a success? >> well, i mean, there are some deals that are lined up. he will have to and most likely

will use those prearranged deals to sort of call it successful. avoiding a disaster, frankly, would be a success when it comes to meeting with the warring parties of israel and west bank. this has been a tinder box for decades. getting through it without any gaffe or deterioration of a possibility of a peace process will be a victory. >> grateful to have you. thank you. >> thank you. sources say that russian officials bragged they could use michael flynn to influence president trump. will this information become a liability to the trump administration? we'll have our experts weigh in. also, "new york times" reports as we have been saying, president trump called james comey a nut job. now comey's father has something to say and some choice words for the president. those details are ahead.

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right now, president trump is in saudi arabia. the first stop on the whirlwind five day 8 nation trip. in the u.s., the latest bombshell from "new york times." the times reporting the president bragged to two top russian officials that firing fbi director james comey relieved pressure on him. >> cnn political commentator and democratic strategist. "new york times" says the president told two top russian officials that comey was a crazy nut job. jeffrey, do you believe it? >> yeah. i mean, probably he did. i mean, donald trump in many ways is harry trumanesque.

he puts it right out there. i don't have any reason to doubt that he would have said this. >> what was he referring to? >> that's the thing, martin. i don't think, look, i don't believe that there's any there there with this russian business. we're now in yet another day where there's no evidence that anything happened whatsoever. so all we're doing is running with a "new york times" story that's gossipy about what was said in the oval office, but produces absolutely no evidence, none, zero, there was any collusion with the president and the russians. >> maria, do you buy that? >> absolutely not. i love jeffrey, he has to take off his beer goggles when it comes to looking at trump for what he is. look, if there's no there there, you don't get a special counsel appointed to the investigation. not only that, we can see with our own eyes what happened this past week. look, trump fires comey, then

the next day invites into the oval office one of the biggest known spies and spy recruiters that are russian and not only makes fun of comey, and we can laugh about that, we all agree that's trump par for the course, but more importantly he says to them that he fired comey because he felt pressure about the russia investigation and now that pressure is gone. donald trump in the white house i would argue is the biggest accomplishment or one of the biggest accomplishments in history of russian operations and russian intelligence. whether we find collusion there or not, i think we are seeing before our eyes the accomplishment of what russia tried to do, and frankly was very successful in terms of throwing the election to donald trump. that's why we have special counsel. that's why we have seen so many direct ties between the trump

campaign and the russians. we'll see how this all plays out. >> i want to bring in a little more conversation here. jeffrey, we have a special counsel to investigate whether there was wrongdoing, not that it supports necessarily there was wrongdoing. i want to bring up this. first on cnn, sources say russian officials bragged they could use flynn to influence president trump. is that going to be a liability for the administration? and yes, we have to be dubious of the source. >> well, yeah, but i mean russians or any foreign leader or foreign country can brag about anything they want. it can be true or not true. i think this is ridiculous. the part that i find ironic, having worked for president reagan, democrats spent the entire cold war saying we should be nice to the soviets. there was alger hiss for heaven sakes, convicted of spying for the soviet union. that's a lot more serious over time. dwight eisenhower had the soviet chairman to camp david.

president kennedy sat down with him, reagan criticized for not meeting with soviet leaders. ted kennedy was trying to interfere in the 1984 election. i think the history of this is rich for maria or others to be criticizing donald trump and russians. >> what's rich is when you have russian supervise in the oval office and the president of the united states sharing highly classified information with them that came from israel, a close ally of the united states, but a nemesis of iran which is one of the closest clients of the russian state. that is rich and that's why we have a special counsel investigating this whole mess. >> i didn't even get to ask you about comey who is going to testify. we will have to save that for another time. jeffrey lord, thank you very much, maria, thank you very much. >> love having their voices. a huge arms deal overseas could mean boost in jobs for the

u.s. how $110 billion in tanks, jets, and weapons for saudi arabia could translate to work for americans. president trump overseas, attempting to build religious bridges. that could be a tall order, especially after controversial remarks made about islam and muslims on the campaign trail. can he use this trip to reset the relationship.

welcome back. glad to have your company. i am christi paul. >> i am martin savidge in for victor blackwell. what's a remarkable first trip overseas, president trump to saudi arabia and it is filled with pomp, circumstance, and history. designed to send a message of

resetting a relationship to a long time but sometimes controversial ally. but it has been overshadowed at home at least by president trump's campaign possible ties to russia. >> let's go to nic robertson. president trump has a key meeting with the king of saudi arabia any minute now. help us understand what they are to discuss, is that where the arms deal will come into play? >> reporter: yeah, probably the arms deal and a number of other deals. we're just beginning to get some details. there are a number of u.s. ceos here on a u.s., saudi i guess call it a gathering of ceos and businesses, obviously a high level thing and it is designed to push through and get some ink on paper, signatures down on some deals, hearing about $6

billion arms deal, lockheed martin, ge and the interesting thing about those deals to assemble 150 black hawk helicopters from lockheed martin is to be done here. these deals working for the u.s. and saudis, they want to build their own weapons industry. $6 billion of deals has been signed on arms, equipment that will be in part manufactured here or new premises built in saudi arabia. 22 billion signed in oil and gas sector, 15 billion ge signed to be part of a power generating system and other investments here as well. dow signed a deal worth $100 million to build a manufacturing plant here. that business is certainly part of the agenda being discussed here. >> nic, what about looking ahead to tomorrow and the speech the president will give to some 50

leaders of muslim countries. we know his intent is to bridge the gap there seems to be, and to prop up the muslim faith. does he, however, have the authority to speak on islam based on what he said as a candidate, candidate trump as opposed to president trump? >> reporter: sure. we all know what he said as candidate trump. who would have thought the man who could say those things could come to the cradle of islam and deliver a speech to 50 arab, muslim leaders about how islam should portray itself. that's what it will do. general mcmaster will say this is something done respectfully, that president trump will ask and talk about the difference between good and evil and ask the leaders to convey to their faithful and people in their countries a more peaceful and more tolerant vision and version of islam. they already believe they do

that. we have been out meeting with people on the street, i have been asking that very question. donald trump with this campaigning legacy of negative comments about islam and about muslims, how is this going to go? this is what i heard on the street here. >> nic robertson, appreciate it so much. thank you. continuing the theme. $100 billion arms deal, nic robertson alluded to, could provide defense ships and missile systems and on and on. the real question, what does this mean for the u.s. we talk to nick paton walsh. nick, there's a number of ways to look at the significance of the deal, one to count dollars and cents, potential for jobs, and also how it seems that saudi arabia more and more wants to become a military power in the region. >> certainly they have a lot of military strength.

what has been interesting, as you know the past few years or so, the obama administration cooled slightly in relations with riyadh. they perhaps began to feel a little distrustful of long term -- extremism in the region, links to terrorism as well, and the obama administration was keen to get friend lelier w iran, slowing down the nuclear program. donald trump said he would can that, has since gone softer in tone. this is the issue, martin. saudi arabia and iranian rivalry across the middle east, playing out in virtually everything you see. as evidenced in syria and parts of iraq as well. this is the crux for the white house here. and the fight against isis, find

themselves on paper often on the same side as iran and iranian backed militia, some fighting in iran. the president in syria clark as well. saudis, long term strategic ally who the u.s. is comfortable with, financially, economically and the u.s. always enjoyed taking as much saudi oil money as they can lay their hachbds on. we're seeing substantial decision for the administration in years ahead in bed with the saudis. that's key. it will provide state of the art military hardware for the saudi arabians, that will be used in the on-going war in neighboring yemen, the obama administration was unhappy at times with use of some of the heavy weapons they gave the saudis, slowed down supply of them towards the end of obama administration after accusations of civilian casualties being caused. that appears to be less of a concern to the trump administration who are moving

ahead with supplying substantial amounts of weaponry. unclear how long that war will endure, it is tortuously awful, between the militia with rebels inside yemen backed by iran, that regional rivalry in the fall and saudi backed government of yemen itself. so many complicating factors here, but all of that really put aside by the enormous dollar figures seen here. >> thank you for that insight. reminder, that yield is over ten years. christi? still to come, a point of view we don't hear much when it comes to politics. a group of kids sit down with cnn. and talk about their impression of the president. >> what's your favorite part about being president? >> what do you think his answer is?

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fmy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard - calms the angry gut. want to show you some of the pictures we've gotten in moments ago after we believe the president was able to sit down and have a meeting with the king. there's the president with the first lady, his wife, of course, melania. as they come back to the room where they have the coffee meeting, we don't know if anything was actually signed in the bilateral meeting that just happened but we are expecting some sort of arms deal to be established in his time there. so we'll keep you posted on what we hear as we get the results of the day in. >> we will indeed. president trump's trip abroad will test the president's religious savvy as he becomes the only president to visit

muslim, jewish, christian home lands on the very same trip. chief of staff reince priebus said the president has been working tirelessly on the message of diplomatic immunity, it will be quite a challenge. >> let's not forget the rhetoric about islams and muslims on the campaign trail. take a look. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. i think islam hates us. radical islam is anti-woman, anti-gay, and anti-american. radical islamic terrorism is just taking over and we can't let that happen. when it comes to radical islamic terrorism, ignorance is not bliss, it's deadly. they're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful isis is and how wonderful islam is. we will defeat radical islamic

terrorism. zblm all right. some questioning whether the president is the right messenger when it comes to religious unity. here to discuss cnn religion editor daniel burke. thanks for being with us. after listening to everything, what could the president say that -- it is not going to erase what he said as candidate trump but turn the tide and make him influential in that regard. >> when you look at the trip, he had to address religion, he is going to birthplace of islam in saudi arabia, going to israel and the holy land and going to the vatican. in some ways, preaching a message about religious unity is very smart. on the other hand, you played a clip, rather long trip of all of the things donald trump said about islam and they were seen by many muslims as insensitive and uninformed. what he can say in the speech, and safe to say this speech is going to be closely watched by not only muslims in america but

around the world, what muslims want to hear are several things. number one, acknowledgment that muslims are trying to fight the radical ideology of isis, al qaeda and other places. it is not like they're not doing anything. number two, that muslims in the fabric of the united states, they have been there a long time, are an important part of the country. and number three, just acknowledgment that most muslims around the world, 1.6 billion are peace loving people, and that while a fringe minority of muslims are engaged in isis and al qaeda, that they don't speak for the rest of the 1.6 billion muslims. >> the president has been labeled islam phobic. he denies that. can he shed that characterization on this trip do you think? >> i think he can go a long way toward that, sure. if he gives a decent speech that acknowledges points i just made, that islam has a long history, a

long history of peace, that many muslims want peace, and that most muslims are the victims, not most muslims are victims, isis and al qaeda attack far more muslims than anyone else. i think he can make some positive steps on this trip to erase that islam phobic image. >> the president's own religious views are still in question. a man that says he is christian. he isn't somebody that has been seen going to church a lot. he didn't answer questions about what his favorite bible verse was when he was asked as a candidate. what do you make of how his own religious beliefs play into his influence on this topic in. >> that's a really good question. i did a long story looking into donald trump's relationship with religion and the truth is there's not a lot of there there. he has a critical relationship with a pastor down in florida

who he was watching on christian television, her name is paula white. she has been giving him some spiritual guidance in the last 13 years or so. went to church, baptized presbyterian. went to church somewhat as a young man. as an adult seems to not go to church that often, not have all that deep a relationship with christianity or particular congregations, so it is possible that during his time in the oval office he will develop era deeper relationship with christianity, that happens to presidents because of the pressure of the job. but we haven't seen that yet. he spent more time golfing sunday than in church. >> all right. daniel burke. we appreciate getting your perspective on this. thanks for being here. think back when you were in third grade, what was the focus on your mind, maybe recess, lunch. today it seems the third graders are thinking politics. we will get a group of kids to tell us what they think of this administration so far.

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donald trump, president trump's first trip overseas. live pictures as he walks with the first lady and the king of saudi arabia there at the royal court. we understand they're going to have a document signing. this is what is interesting about this. it was supposed to be closed off, it wasn't supposed to be so public. we weren't getting word this is something we would see. we understand you see them walking slowly, almost ceremonially, there will be some sort of document signing. don't know if this is an arms deal that has been talked about so much that donald trump, the president, says will create jobs

here in the u.s. $17,809 million arms deal weapons package that includes tank, war ships. it is a very public ceremonial moment and we're hoping to get word on what document they'll be signing together. >> should point out what we were initially given was a rundown, bullet points of how the visit was going to go. when we say we can't give you full details, it is because really they were not revealed. we can tell you imagery and access is extraordinary which only shows you how much significance the saudis are placing on the visit of president donald trump and they're obviously bending over backyards in formality and in public viewing of all this because they know it is seen around the muslim world as well

as back in the united states, and it is designed to reinforce the long-standing alliance that saudi arabia and the united states has. the obama administration is one example how it started to subside over the saudi war going on in yemen and also the nuclear arms deal made with iran. now saudi arabia clearly finds the president which they have strong feelings toward in a positive way and are trying to demonstrate that in the way they greet that president and the way they show the world. >> as we watch here for the signing of the document, looks like they're getting a tour of the royal court before they do so. everybody is looking forward to tomorrow to the president speaking to 50 muslim leaders. according to national security

adviser h.r. mcmaster who is accompanying the president on this trip, he says the topic of that speech will be the need to construct ideology and that the president -- his intent to influence muslim leaders to be more vocal in their rejection of radical islam. we understand radical islam may not be a term he will actually use in that speech because it could be seen as offensive. >> it appears looking at this at a side view, that's a view of mecca, the holiest sites of the muslim world, it is within saudi arabia. it's a place that the president would not because he is not muslim would be allowed to visit, it is great pride and significance to the muslim world. here you have the president of the united states going to make

a significant speech and getting tutoring on the part of the saudis to give him insights. this may be based upon some harsh, critical things that candidate trump made on the campaign trail when it came to the muslim faith. >> seeing a lot of reverence on this trip, and it has been very different as you mention, martin, from past president's trips in that the president if you are just joining us or the king, actually greeted the president and first lady at the airport which is unusual, he has not done that in the past with some of the other presidents, and then they came back to the royal court where you're seeing this now, seeing them take this tour. prior to this they had a ceremony, a coffee ceremony where they all spoke amongst each other and they were seated very tactically. there was obviously a structure

to the way they were seated. and the president, president trump was given one of the highest honors, a gold necklace, called a collar, and it is one of the highest honors that the king can give to a dignitary. >> want to bring in nic robertson, he has been to saudi arabia, knows the leadership as well. nic, i know you can't see these pictures, but there have been a great many images from the visit already. that would seem to imply significance of the saudi place to trump. >> reporter: absolutely. we have seen them roll out if you will all of the senior members of government, all the senior members of the royal family. we saw earlier the king sitting between president trump on his right, melania trump on his left, on her left, the deputy

crowned prince, and onto the left, rex tillerson. to his left, next to deputy crown prince, you have the sort of top three tiers of the country, the king, crown prince and deputy crown prince next to key members, president trump, melania, and secretary of state. on the right of president trump at that time you have ivanka trump sitting there with senior staff and officials. that's what we're seeing. we're seeing what we're expecting to be, we have been told to expect at this time a signing ceremony. we saw the king give president trump the highest award that is bestowed upon visits to saudi arabia. a high honor given to president trump. it has been given to other presidents before. the amount of air time the saudis are giving him, the

insight and time we're being shown president trump with the king is very significant. the king, of course, came to the bottom of the steps of air force one when president trump came off. he didn't do that for president obama, during president obama's last visit. so the mood music here is really set to build up to that very important speech that president trump will give tomorrow. and again, it is not just being given to saudis, it is being given to a group of more than 50 different leaders from different arab, muslim, regional partners. again, this is the significance of saudi arabia standing in the region, something they want to communicate to president trump, and something again that for president trump is a sign of how much support the saudis are giving him, and in a way is on the line in the nuance of the speech that president trump will give to these muslim leaders and

representatives of their country. the speech will be about a more tolerant, more peaceful message of islam. many of the leaders believe that, put that forward already. it is the nuance of the speech that will be critical. what we are seeing now as president trump mingles with leading members of saudi arabia royal family, leading members of the government, have all been on hand. the foreign minister, the finance minister, all significant players and part of it is to do with business. the signing ceremonies we expect will begin to indicate the deals being pencils that will bring business to saudi arabia. saudi arabia is trying to revitalize, change itself. the deputy crown prince has a vision for 2030 to change the way saudi commonly works, lose dependence on oil, to create

industries here, to be a transport hub for aircraft, tourism hub, create their own defense industry, create their own car manufacturing industry. shift that balance interest what they have now which is 40% private sector money contributing towards gdp, to up that to 65% to 70% for much more significant amount of income of the country to be generated from the private sector, not from largeness of the government. huge changes under way and huge challenge. president trump of course in saudi eyes is playing part in that. the deals that will be signed will be part of that. >> and of course, the counter weight to all of that, nic, not just the military deal but the significance of the speech to so many muslims. nic robertson, thank you very much. we have been following day one of the president's trip to saudi arabia. >> and the live pictures coming to you there. we will continue to follow this

throughout the morning. but we have to pass the time to smerconish who will take over. we'll be back at 10:00 to show you more of what's happening around the world. stay close. thank you for being with us. >> see you later. i am michael smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. escaping turmoil at home. president trump heads to international waters, landing this morning in saudi arabia. he got the royal red carpet welcome from 81-year-old king salman, with military brass band and fighter jet fly over. can his foreign policy push help down play his domestic disturbances? to list just a few, naming of a special counsel into possible