hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. thanks so much for joining us. breaking the silence. the widow in the ugly feud surrounding the white house talks about her condolence call with the president and his insult of the military. a policy that kept donald trump from serving in the vietnam war. mccain's blistering words, coming up. what jimmy carter thinks he could do face to face with kim jong-un. lots of news going on this hour, but let's start with the president of the united states.

now, openly challenging the word of a widow whose husband died in service of the country. sergeant la david johnson was killed in niger more than two weeks ago. he was laid to rest over the weekend. today in hin her first intervie his widow myeshia johnson says she still has questions about her husband's death, including this. >> every time i asked to see my husband, they wouldn't let me. >> what did they tell you? >> they told me he was in a severe wrap, like i wouldn't be able to see him. i need to see him so i know that is my husband. i don't know nothing. they won't show me a finger, a hand. i know my husband's body from head to toe, and they won't let me see anything. i don't know what's in that box. it could be empty, for all i know. but i need to see my husband. >> she also gave her account of the condolence call from

president trump. >> what he said was -- >> the president? >> yes, the president. he said that he knew what he signed up for but it hurts, anyway. and i was -- it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. he couldn't remember my husband's name. i heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband's name. and that's what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risks his life for our country, why can't you remember his name? and that's what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was an awesome soldier. >> myeshia johnson also responded to questions about her family friend, the long-time family friend, the democratic congresswoman fredricka wilson who president trump said lied about that same condolence call. >> whatever ms. wilson said was

not fabricated. what she said was 100% correct. it was her, me, my uncle and a driver in the car. the phone was on speakerphone. why would we fabricate something like that? >> our white house correspondent sara murray is joining us from the north lawn of the white house. the president attacked the widow calling her, quote, wacky. what is he saying about that same phone call? >> reporter: the president weighed in on twitter and he's still insisting his tone was respectful. he said, i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of sergeant la david johnson and spoke his name from the beginning without hesitation. obviously he's taking issue with myeshia johnson's claim that the

president didn't seem to know sergeant la david johnson's name. despite the fact the president was tweeting about this this morning, we saw him briefly in the oval office, he's meeting with prime minister lee right now, and he wouldn't take any questions about whether he regretted the facts that he upset myeshia johnson with his comments, or whether he had anything more to say to her. he ignored those questions today from reporters, wolf. >> he's going to have another little photo op with the visiting prime minister of singapore. is the white house saying the president will answer questions? that's expected to come up later this hour. >> as of right now, we're not expecting them to take questions. as you know, with president trump, he always tends to change the plans on the stroke of a dime if that's what he feels like doing. but as of now, we're not anticipating questions. >> all right, sara, thanks very much. we'll see what happens. we'll have live coverage of the two leaders, the prime minister of singapore and the president of the united states in the rose garden. that's coming up later this hour. they'll make statements. we'll see if they answer questions from reporters.

i'm sure reporters will shout a few. let's not forget, four u.s. troops died in that ambush in niger. staff sergeant dustin wright, staff sergeant jeremiah johnson, staff sergeant brian black and staff sergeant la david johnson. here with us now, cnn analyst, retired general cedric lee. when her body was flown back before the burial, she said she wasn't even allowed to open it to see her husband's body. what is the military policy on that? >> normally, wolf, they do allow a widow to see the husband's body in a case like this. what it tells me is there was, god forbid, some damage to the body that made it look very bad, or that there was some other decomposition that was going on that made it very difficult to look at. there may be a medical reason for it. there may also be potentially a

forensic reason. given all of that, i still find it very unusual that she wasn't allowed to see the body and to say her final goodbyes. >> the military, like those who were there, the escort officers, they may have decided they wanted to protect her from seeing the body of her husband, that it would have been too awful for her to see that. as a result, they recommended to her, you better not take a look? >> that is possible. that is possible. we don't know right now. that part has not been released to the public. what normally would happen is the escort officers, the casualty officers, would actually take control of the situation and make a decision based on what the situation is. >> but in the end, according to military protocol, it's her decision. if she really wants to see it, they have to let her see t. -- it. >> that's normally the case. >> her other big question is why did it take 48 hours to find him? >> that becomes an operational

issue as well as, quite frankly, the circumstances. i think we know there was a mission. the s.e.a.l.s were reportedly on a mission that was to basically do a recovery or a search of the area where la david johnson was. >> the green berets. >> the green berets were also involved in that. there were reports that indicated they wanted to mount this mission. they were also going to use nigerian and french forces to do this. the fact they found him so late indicates to me that he was separated from the main body of his group, of the special forces a team. that fact is very troubling because the team should always, they're taught doctrinely to stick together. so there must have been something that happened that made him be separated from the group. >> sergeant johnson's body was eventually found 48 hours later, about a mile away from where the incident occurred by local nationals. what does that say to you? >> it says to me that only they were able to find the body

either because it was hidden or because it had been brought back to a location. it is possible he had been kidnapped by the terrorists. there are other things that could have happened. of course, the final result of that would have to await an investigation, wolf, but the basic issue here is separation. something terrible might have happened with him. he may have been in custody alive, even, during a certain portion of this ordeal. those are things we just don't know right now. >> here's something that's really disturbing to me, and i'm sure to you as well and to others. the leaders of the house and the senate apparently did not know that the u.s. has deployed a thousand u.s. troops to niger. lindsey graham, a member of the armed services committee, he says he didn't know. chuck schumer, the democratic leader in the senate, he's supposed to be briefed on the most sensitive operations. he didn't know. i've spoken to others that

didn't know all of a sudden a thousand u.s. troops -- about 800 were deployed in the obama administration, about a thousand right now. it's a pretty sad commentary that america deploys a thousand troops to this one country and the leaders in the house and senate don't even know about that. >> absolutely. i was a congressional officer for the asian intelligence effort and we always made it a point to tell congress what we could, and we dealt with some very, very sensitive materials. in this particular case, there are, of course, maps that are publicly available that show the deployment of u.s. troops, but it is absolutely imperative that when there is a ramp-up in any country around the world that the congressional leaders are told that. it's part of the constitution. >> senator leighton, thank you very much for joining us. >> you bet, wolf. the attack in niger certainly has prompted new questions about president trump's war authorization problems. next week it will come under review when james mattis and the secretary of state rex tillerson

appear before the senate committee. my next guest, bill richardson, was the u.s. ambassador to the united nations during the clinton administration and then served as the democratic governor of new mexico. governor, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you very much, wolf. >> the 16-year-old authorization for the use of military force is used to justify military operations in numerous countries, including niger. is it time now to review that authorization and get the house and the senate, if they want to, to pass new authorization allowing the u.s., the administration, to deploy these kinds of troops in very, very dangerous areas? >> yes. i think this situation in niger where there are thousands of american troops, the group of eight, the highest congressional leaders, maybe even the intelligence committee didn't know. i think what is needed is clear guidelines, new authorizations. i don't think it would be an

infringement on the president's power. these are usually granted. i was on the house intelligence committee for many years. but look, we have a situation in niger where so many people don't know, was this a military mission, was there any covert action involved? i suspect there might have been. this is why there wasn't full disclosure to the armed services committee, at least. but at least the gang of eight, the highest congressional leaders, should have known. this is war in africa. this is a national security case where so many few people know, and the tragedy of what happened to officer johnson and the widow, nobody knows the decomposition of the body. by the way, wolf, i think the military has very strong, good protocols. i was involved in the remains of american forces from north korea. we got seven remains back.

the pentagon is very careful about the condition of the remains. it's a very somber situation. you have to show respect. i suspect there was a good reason for that decision by the pentagon. but this widow, what a tragedy, what's happened to her. she should get a full explanation of what happened, and the president should call her and say, i meant no disrespect. here we have cases where general kelly, a good, decent man, you could see the pain in his face having lost a son. we shouldn't get into these political debates on these issues in a partisan basis. t the way the president has fostered. he should just stop this. >> a lot of people totally, totally agree with you. get on the phone, tell her, i'm sorry, you misunderstood. my heart goes out to you.

whatever you need down the road, i will be here for you. a gold star widow, she deserves that respect. i want you to listen to president trump's latest comments about north korea. >> we are so prepared like you wouldn't believe. you would be shocked to see how totally prepared we are if we need to be. would it be nice not to do that? the answer is yes. will that happen? who knows. >> so what do you think the president means, and you've been to north korea on serl occasions. is this more heim. >> again, he makes reports on the fly. i suspect he's talking about some sort of military response. there may be some diplomacy going on. the north koreans for two weeks have not shot a missile. they have not had a nuclear

test. they've been relatively quiet. there are reports of secretary tillerson talking about diplomacy. the president is going to asia in early november. you know, maybe there's something going on, potential orders that would put a freeze on things until we at least have a dialogue with north korea. i don't have any advance information, but i do know there's something going on there mainly because of north korea's silence and relative passivity compared to their loqua loquaishousness or threats. the president will find a way to irrita irritate the north koreans and

they're easily irritated. secretary tillerson, let him explore a little diplomacy, that's all. >> i think what they're trying to do, and it may be paying off if your analysis is correct, doctor, that china is squeezing the americans a little bit more as a result of urgings from the u.s. it's made major trading policy. are you okay with that? >> i do think it made a trading policy about north korea. but the public statements he makes, getting china to realize -- but this isn't on cole, on north korean workers. maybe that is starting to work

with north korea. but you don't know. the north korean is hard to deal with. the silence by the north koreans, no bombs, no provocations, no threats, no missile tests, no nuclear weapons test is a good sign even if it's just two or three weeks. >> let's hope for the best. that's a subject you know well. we'll continue this conversation, ambassador, down the road. bill richardson, the former mexican governor, the former ambassador to the u.n. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. thank you. senator mccain going after the draft policy that kept tr p trump. we're looking live at the white

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it's a big week for president trump's tax reform plan after budget work set the tone. the president is calling the plan the biggest tax cuts ever in u.s. history. the cuts are based around some major changes to tax brackets, going to three brackets from the current seven for individu.

for individual tax returns, the biggest drop in taxes will be for corporate earners. he wants to drop it to 20%. congressman, thanks very much for joining us. a lot of analysts are pointing out that the biggest winners in all these tax cuts, yes, there will be some benefits for the milled class, but the biggest winners by far will be the very wealthy. is there a danger that going into midterm elections next year these cuts will simply be labeled as tax cuts for the rich? >> well, there is always a danger, wolf, any time that you talk about tax cuts that you put a label on that it just benefits the rich or this particular segment of the population. but i can tell you that the president and members of congress are laser focused on making sure it's those middle

income wage earners that actually benefit. you talk about the analysis that's been done. i find it fascinating they're doing this unbelievable analysis, wolf, where you and i, if we were pressed to talk exactly where those tax brackets are, we couldn't do it because the details haven't even been laid out. we're hopeful we will see that beginning of next week. we'll be able to have a real debate. i can tell you in recent days the president has weighed in on one particular thing when they were talking about a pay-for that might affect 401(k) plans. he said, no, this is something that will help middle income wage earners the most, we need to make sure we keep that intact. so all hands on deck for those that -- the moms and dads on main street, the viewers, we need to make sure we deliver for them. >> how concerned are you, congressman, that all these tax cuts will simply raise the deficit and the national debt will go up, some are saying 1

trillion, 2 trillion, $3 trillion? >> it is a concern, and really, when you look at that, and you know the budget we passed out of the house actually had some mandatory spending cuts along with being able to do aggressive tax reform. but any time you look at increasing the deficit, you're looking at somebody paying the bill other than you and me. you know, we're looking at our kids, our grandkids to have to pay that, so we need to make sure we're fiscally responsible. but in this particular approach, we're looking at a senate budget that would allow us to be a lot more aggressive on reducing those tax cuts. the president has been talking about more tax cuts than tax reform. but we've got to be really aggressive in doing that to get the economy going, or we don't even have a hope of not only funding our military but it's funding the other things, education and child tax credits, many of the things that receive great bipartisan support. so am i concerned? yes. are we looking, really, more at being aggressive on reducing the

tax rates? we are perhaps at some short-term exposure on the deficit side of things. >> you know, the biggest expenditures of the federal government are the so-called entitlements. social security, medicare, medicaid. the white house budget director mick mulvaney was on the sunday talk shows saying he personally is pushing the president for cuts in these entitlements, but the president says no, they are off limits. listen to this. >> i had a meeting with the president just the other day. we walked over some of the numbers and i actually said, look, here's where it is, here's where it isn't, and mr. president, i'm going to come back and want to talk to you about entitlement spending. he said, look, i'm not going to do it but i'm happy to have the conversation. i told people i wouldn't change social security. i said, that's fine, but my job is to show what you that means. i think so that's the right way to do it. >> where will you stand? will you support all of these tax cuts if the president gets

his way and there are absolutely no cuts to social security, medicare and medicaid? >> you know, the president is going to get his way, so at this particular point, it's a binary choice for us. it's either working within the framework that we have and trying to be aggressive on the tax cuts. i've raised this issue of looking at modifying, whether it be social security or medicare or medicaid, any of those items, and the president has been very emphatic. personally on three different occasions, he says, mark, we're just not going to do that. it was a promise he made to the american people. so we're looking at other areas. there is one that we do believe we can team up with the president and this administration on, and that's welfare reform. i think in the coming days you'll see we'll start to reimplement a work requirement that actually was originally passed under bill clinton but that was dunawone away with.

on the three core issues director mulvaney mentioned, he's right, the president has been very emphatic. we can keep coming back, but it's not going to be in this tax bill. >> one final question before i let you go. if it's shown the congressional budget office and other experts that all these other tax cuts will wind up increasing the national debt, increasing the deficit, will you vote for it? >> well, we already believe that it's going to show that it's going to increase the deficit in the short term, and for me, i've been trying to make them look as aggressive as possible, even if they have to aspire in 10 to 15 years. the answer to that is, based on the parameters that have been laid out, 25% for corporate, 25 for small businesses, i will be voting on that and voting for that, and hoping that we can make some adjustments on some of those spending things to address the deficit in the coming years. >> and you will support eliminating the estate tax which really is a benefit to

millionaires and billionaires like the president. the president presumably could save for his family billions of dollars if he's worth, let's say, 10 billion which he claims forbes magazine says he's worth maybe 3 or 4 billion dollars. as part of the estate tax, he would save at least one or two or three billion dollars. are you going wiokay with that? >> i haven't looked at it with this tax policy in mind, because candidly people with those kind of assets have done the planning to avoid the inheritance tax, anyway. what it really is for estate taxes for me are the families back in california. you have these family farms, and what we're doing is essentially taking it from those family farms and saying, you got to get rid of it -- >> those family farms have to be worth at least $11 million. >> you're right. >> the first $11 million is tax free, as far as the state planning is concerned.

if a farm is worth more than 11 million, then you start paying estate tax. >> but wolf, let's look at it. when we look at family farms, we're talking about a husband or wife that may be in their family, but they may have five or six children or errors that go on. when you're looking at it going on, it's about pass ing it to those heirs. there is nothing on the radar for me or my colleagues in looking at that, so perhaps we'll see that, but really, when we get down to it, should death be a taxable event, wolf, and i don't think it should be. they've already paid in taxes, so that will be a debate we'll have in the coming days as we start to modify this tax reform and roll it out. >> always nice, thanks for being

with us. >> thank you, wolf. you're going to hear mccain's statement about president trump avoiding the vietnam war. the president is in the rose garden with the prime minister of singapore. our coverage continues right after this. ur mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley our recent online sales success seems a little... strange?nk na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online,

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usaa was there hands-on very quick very prompt. i feel like we're being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. we're the webber family and we are usaa members for life. usaa, get your insurance quote today. a gold star widow, an apparent comment to her has taken headlines the last several days. senator mccain talks about president trump's draft deferment during the vietnam war. >> one thing i will never countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of america and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur. that is wrong.

that is wrong. if we're going to ask every american to serve, every american should serve. >> people thought you were talking about mr. trump because he had a doctor's note that said he had bone spurs -- >> i think more than once, yes. >> more than once. >> chronic bone spurs. >> do you consider him a draft dodger? >> i don't consider him so much a draft dodger as i feel the system was so wrong that certain americans coould evade their responsibilities to serve the country. >> we're going to be hearing from the president shortly in the statement he's about to make in the rose garden, but let's discuss this and more with our panel. our chief political analyst angela borger is with us along with the rest of our panel. what does this say, these latest

statements, by president mccain about the president? >> he's not shying away from anything. i think mccain was making a point that others have made about the income disparity between those who served and those who got out of service for things like bone spurs and he was clearly talking about donald trump. and donald trump has said, you know, he had bone spurs but thai since healed and they've gone away, and trump now, who cloaks himself in the military, wraps himself in the military, loves generals, et cetera, et cetera. i think mccain is making a very clear point here, which is i served and you didn't. >> he's not shy at all about this, senator mccain, in criticizing the president when he sees something very, very wrong. >> it took almost two years for john mccain to have a little tew shea back at then-candidate trump for saying he likes heroes who weren't captured. but he did it.

and i -- senator mccain tried to explain he's talking about the more global collection of service. but come on. not exactly what he was doing. i have to say, i have been told that, you know, in the back and forth with mccain and trump that people who are close to mccain have been begging president trump not to retaliate, not to go after or even to start it in some cases with john mccain given where he is in his life, that he's got terminal brain cancer. and for the most part, at least in public, the president has kind of bit his tongue or sat on his hands when he wanted to tweet. we'll see if that continues now. >> it goes against his grain totally for the president not to respond. normally the president on twitter or some other format would be responding right away. >> that's right. he talked about this even recently saying, people should be careful. when they hit back at him, he's

going to hit back harder. we haven't seen this with john mccain. even lindsey graham, he's been on our air, and you mentioned lindsey gravm has probably been in the president's ear at some point, talking about we had seen, you know, john mccain speaking out about donald trump. you had george bush do it as well. a corker as well. a lot of this conversation reflecting frustrations with this president, particularly from the establishment wing of the gop. >> he hasn't for the interview she gave to good morning america this morning on twitter. just after that, he tweeted, i had a very respectful

conversation with mthe widow of sergeant johnson and i spoke his name from the very beginning. he could have addressed her saying, i'm sorry one of those situations. wolf, as you said, sometimes you just got to take the punch, bleed a little bit and then you move on. this idea that you want to continue fighting. that you want to call a woman whose husband was killed fighting for our country really does represent the office that trump hold. >> why wouldn't you just say, i'm sorry we had a miscommunication here. i'm sorry that you interpreted my remarks that way. i certainly did not mean to

offend you. i meant to honor your husband, and i am sorry for this kind of conversation. that would require the president to say, i apologize. >> right. i'm wrong. right. >> what's wrong with apologizing? >> there's nothing wrong with it. and even if he doesn't want to apologize because it's not in his head to be able to do that. this is a gold star wife. >> a young gold star wife. very young. >> how do you not say, we had a miscommunication, i'm so sorry for your loss, i honor your husband? >> even if president donald trump, who doesn't like to apologize, even if he can't do that, is there someone else in the white house who can send that message. it seems like no. john kelly really didn't send that message when he was at the white house, the. . in terms of fighting and

essential physicly the conversa which has been spurred by the widow and the president responding to that, is about this, because it's understandably a very sad, personal story and tragedy and drama that's going on. but the focus really should be by the president. so i think rightly sole sl. a lot of it is oversight, trying to find out what happened. if president trump can't do it, can somebody else in the white house do it? if the president show empathy. he keeps it. the democratic congresswoman who

was listening in on that con. is the gift that keeps on giving from a republican party a disaster for damn. he likes to label people, so she's suddenly wak kwl-- that s wasn't wacky about the conversation. he cannot talk to john mccain or anybody else. he just can't help hichlmself. >> we're standing by. we expect the prime minister of singapore and the president of the united states, we'll show.

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another major victory against isis and syria. we're going to take a look at that in a moment. take a look at the rose garden. the president and singapore prime minister about to take the stage. we'll see if they answer reporters' questions. we'll stand by. in the meantime, other news we're following as u.s.-backed forces claim territory. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh joins us live from iraq. a major victory for the u.s. and its ally.

so why now is there a potential problem between the u.s. and russia? >> reporter: because in short, it's a very valuable oil field, wolf, and the syrian regime, who have russian military both on the ground and in the air in support of them, also want it. it's valuable, in short. isis is losing and losing fast. they lost after a nasty six-month, nine-month battle, and they lost raqqa in syria just a week or so ago. the hunt for baghdad, i very key here, too, but most of the attacking being done by sittthe syrian regime. the oil field, which fell to the sdf, u.s.-backed in the last 48 hours or so. that was in syria before it was

potentially damaged before being in isis' hands for a period of time. when we spoke to them earlier on, they were obviously delighted they got ahold of it. it's a key playing card for them and they weren't going to give it back because they had lost people in the fight against isis. as we saw ourselves, they are literally meters away from their advances against isis. meters away from the syrian regime and russian forces, too. in fact, those are american-backed forces so they have face-to-face meetings with russian soldiers on the ground to be sure they don't clash in the battle space. so already at this point, as the end game of isis gets nearer and nearer, frankly, or already in full flow, we're seeing moscow and washington's different interests, often meters away from each other right at the heart of a serious war. a very confusing new chapter, certainly, wolf. >> and further, they're further complicating the situation.

they are in the regime in damascus. they see this whole area backed by forces in the syrian government and presumably the russians are going to help assad as he tries to move there. what are the chances that the regime -- assad's regime could make some gains there? >> look, i mean, we saw it in the skies ourselves, the remarkable sight of hearing the explosions of the russian airstrikes over the key town in the mix here near the area we talked about, and american planes flying from fdf territory to huge ploops. we've heard about that decon flikz issue. we'll show you exactly how close these two sides are.

mark wanted all of syria back under his control. that's a far-fetched idea. and if you're dealing with the syrian kurds who have taken a lot of territory in the fight against isis with american support, kicking isis out but holding it themselves, the regime surely want that back. we saw the iraqi kurds took a the same thing could happen in syria and it's moscow versus washington in terms of interest today, wolf. >> nick paton walsh in iraq. we'll stay in close touch with you. be careful where you are. we're showing our viewers live pictures coming in from the rose garden at the white house. the president will be walking toward the microphone with together with the prime minister. we'll see if they answer reporters' questions. right now, no questions scheduled for the public announcements once the two

leaders walk out of the oval office towards the lecterns over there. you know our fellow colleagues at the white house, the pool reporters and others will shout a few questions and so far today the president didn't respond to shouted questions to earlier photo-opes. >> right. the white house let it be known that the reasons there are not questions is that is what the prime minister preferred and the president preferred and we'll see if the president himself will take a question. here they come the president and the visiting prime minister of singapore. singapore purchasing more boeing commercial aircraft. let's listen. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. please sit. i am pleased to welcome mr. lee of singapore. thank you, mr. prime minister. >> thank you. >> i want to thank you for

visiting us and your entire group of very, very good group of people and dealing with our friendship has never been stronger than it is right now and singapore is one of our closest strategic partners in asia and the united states is proud of the deep and enduring partnership we have built. since singapore gained its independence more than half a century ago, from nation to a powerhouse under the prime minister's great father. he was a great man. he really was a great man, has been one of the incredible economic and political achievements. singapore's strong commitment to the rule of law to international property protections and to the principles of fair and reciprocal, one of my favorite words when it comes to trade, has made the country a magnet for business.

today over 4,000 american companies are operating in singapore and we have a very large trading relationship with singapore. earlier today the prime minister and i witnessed a contract signing between singapore airlines, a great airline and boeing worth more than $13.8 billion. i want to thank the singaporean people for their faith in the american engineering and the american workers and our american workers deliver the best product by far. our robust partnership extends far beyond economic cooperation and trade. mr. prime minister as your father rightly noted the development of the economy is very important, but equally important is the development of the nature of our society. so true. the united states and singapore share profound belief in a society built on a foundation of law, a nation ruled by law

provides the greatest security for the rights of citizens and the best path to shared and lasting prosperity. both the united states and singapore understand the unmatched power of private enterprise to uplift the human condition. these values have made our society stronger, sustained our partnership through the cold war and laid a critical foundation for our lasting relationship today. our common values and interests have led to a vital security relationship. throughout southeast asia the united states and singapore are currently working to enhance the capacity of law enforcement, fight terrorism and bolster cyber defenses. our two nations also shared unwavering commitment to countering the north korean threat and promoting freedom of navigation in the south china sea.

singapore was the first southeast asian nation to join the coalition to defeat isis. that was very far thinking. you were there before most more than 1,000 personnel training here in the united states every single year. when hurricane harvey struck our gulf coast in late august singapore deployed its own helicopters to help transport personnel and critical resources to areas in need and the prime minister told me that and called me and made that request himself. it was of great help and we want to thank you very much for the use of your helicopters. when the navy destroyed "uss john mccain" suffereded a collision at sea singapore came to our immediate assistance. on behalf of all americans i want to thank the prime minister and the people of singapore for their support which has been tremendous and for their

friendship. in a few weeks i will attend the u.s.-a see an summit in the philippines where we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of u.s.-asean relations. i look forward to seeing the great things singapore will accomplish as asean chair in 2017. this great gathering will take place in singapore in 2018. thank you for your continuing partnership and leadership. the u.s.-singapore relationship has made both of our people far more prosperous and secure and our values have made us longstanding friends. we are fortunate to have such a wonderful and loyal partner. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. president. [ applause ] >> mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, i'd like to thank

president trump for his very warm hospitality and i'm very happy to visit him in washington. following our first meeting from the g-20 meeting in hamburg in july. we had a wide-ranging exchange in the oval office and then over lunch. we reaffirmed the robust and enduring partnership between singapore and the united states over the last 51 years. it's a deep and wide relationship with substantial economic and defense and security, and we discussed what more we could do to take it forward. on the economic front, the u.s. is an important partner for many countries in asia, just as asia is an important economic partner for the united states. singapore is a small country of just 5.5 million, but we have sizeable investments and trade with the u.s. and these continue to grow. for example, we're the second largest investor in the u.s.

with more than $70 billion and stock investments and our total trade in goods and services amounted to more than $68 billion last year. >> the u.s. has consistently run a substantial trade surplus with singapore. last year stood at $18 billion. in other words, america exported $43 billion of goods and services to singapore and on a per capita basis we might be one of the highest-buying american customers in the world, $7,500 yearly. iphone, pharmaceutical, golf clubs and financial and consultancy service e, i mean, e associations. i discovered recently at looking at my sport shoes and my new balance shoes which are very good and made in the u.s., probably in new england, and of course, we buy boeing jets. president trump and i just witnessed a signing between singapore airlines and boeing

for sia to purchase 39 boeing aircraft worth $13.8 billion. it's a win-win for both sides. it would further modernize s.i.'s fleet and it would support many american jobs. our defense ties are very strong. since 1999 we have hosted u.s. and navy aircraft and ships on rotational deployments. we thank the u.s. for hosting more than 1,000 singapore military personnel each year in training detachments in the united states. we have forces in luke air force base in marana and arizona, and idaho, grand prairie in texas and in fort sill oklahoma where i spent three months many years ago. in fact, our chinooks and military personnel in grand

prairie were deployed to assist in the harvey disaster relief and we are grateful to be of help to our very gracious hosts. we r transnational sdiert, terrorism and cybersecurity. singapore has led early and consistent support to the defeat isis coalition. we were one of the first countries to participate and are still the only asian country to have contributed both military assets and personnel and as i told president trump when we met, singapore will extend our existing deployment to the operation into 2018 for an additional year. president trump and i naturally discussed the situation on the korean peninsula. we strongly oppose the nuclearization of the korean peninsula as it affects the peace and stability of the region, and like the u.s., we condemn the dpr case dangerous