sometimes a good way to go. [laughter] connell: the great jeff flock. i'm glad we had the extra 20 seconds to have that conversation. >> reporter: yeah, me too. connell: thanks for joining us, everybody, see you back here tomorrow on "after the bell." it is "lou dobbs tonight" -- ♪ ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. president trump today announced an historic achievement in the middle east. president trump has accomplished what has eluded every administration since the founding of israel in 1948. president trump has brokered a deal that normalizes diplomatic ties between israel and the united arab emirates. this agreement is known as the abraham accord, and it marks the first time that israel has established diplomatic ties with a gulf arab astronaut. state. the deal is part of what the white house calls an untraditional approach to peace

in the middle east, and president trump says this is just the beginning. >> now that the ice has been broken, i expect more arab and muslim countries will follow the united arab emirates' lead are, and we are already discussing this with other nations. they're very powerful, very good nations and people that want to see peace in the middle east. so you probably see others of these, but this is the first one in more than 25 years. a lot of progress being made that nobody thought could possibly be made. and things are happening that i can't talk about, but they're extremely positive. lou: and under the terms of the agreement, israel halts its plans to annex occupied land as it is referred to sought by palestinians in the west bank. that effectively avoids a new round of conflict between the two sides. it also places the united arab

emirates as a key u.s. ally in the region and a new friend of us israel. just across the persian gulf from iran. president trump's top envoy to iran, brian hook, today said this extraordinary new agreement not only cements the relationship between israel and the united arab emirates, but it is also another major blow against the iranian regime. >> peace between the arabs expect israelis is iran's -- and the israelis is iran's worst nightmare x. no one has done more to intensify the conflict than iran. and what we see today is the new middle east, and the president's maximum pressure campaign has achieved historic results. lou: president trump's secretary of state mike pompeo today also announcing a major foreign policy decision. the secretary of state ordering chinese confucius institutes to register their u.s. headquarters

as a foreign mission of the chinese communist party. there are 75 confucius institutes in the united states. they claim to teach chinese language and culture, but the state department says, actually, they are, quote: an entity advancing beijing's global propaganda and malign influence campaign on u.s. campuses and k-12 classrooms. some american universities, in fact, have failed to report the millions of dollars that they have received through the confucius program, and at least 32 chinese nationals associated with the institutes have committed visa fraud. perhaps more remarkable, the state department told congress that out has no idea -- that it has no idea how many chinese nationals are associated with the confucius institute program, how many of them are in this country because at no point did the u.s. government ask.

our first guest today suggested that president trump should be considered ament front-runner know -- considered a front-runner for the nobel peace prize for his role in normalizing relations between israel expect united arab emirates. joining us is robert o'brien. congratulations to you, the administration, the president in achieving this historic agreement. give us your sense of its importance. >> thank you, lou. nice to be with you tonight. this is really a remarkable accomplishment by the president of the united states, also by the crown prince expect prime minister. to come together and bring peace to the region, it's the first time in 26 years that israel has made peace with an arab nation, and we now have the crown prince entering a pantheon of great leaders like king hussein of jordan and anwar sadat of egypt

who have had the courage and fortitude to make peace with israel. this is good for the region, good for the countries involved, it's good for the united states of america, to it's really a remarkable achievement today, and i congratulate all the leaders who were involved in this historic abrahamic accord. lou: it's clear that this has the potential to significantly alter the dynamics of the region but also change the geopolitics beyond that, reaction to which russia and china alike will have to respond in the region. out looks like it has the potential to result in real peace. i know it's certainly early days in this agreement, but it is a marked change of direction in what the region has experienced over the last quarter century. >> no, you're absolutely right, lou. and these are two dynamic

countries, maybe the two most dynamic countries in the region. they're high-tech centers, they're tourism centers, they're centers of education, and they have very capable militaries. so from a security standpoint, it's a real bonus for both countries. it's great for both israel and the uae but also terrific for the united states of america. president trump is just happy to be involved in bringing peace to the region. i said earlier today in the press conference that everyone knows that president trump is a great dealmaker and wrote a book about it, spent a life making great deals. what i think is going to happen over time and history, he's going to be revealed -- someone's going to look back and say he's a great peacemaker. this is just another example of the success on that front. lou: it certainly is, and the imperatives of his agenda from the day he became president of the united states is to bring u.s. troops home and to remove

the united states from conflicts in which it did not have an overwhelmingly profound national security interest, and that is also moving apace, is it not? >> well, it is. president trump is is very much like president reagan in that sense. he believes in peace through strength, so we've had a historic rebilling of the american military -- rebuilding of the american military which had gone through years of sequestration and lack ared readiness, and we hadn't supported our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in the prior ad manager. he's rebuilt the military. he approaches diplomacy from a position of strength. like reagan, he hasn't gotten us involved in new wars. he's winding down wars. you take, for example, afghanistan. secretary esper just announced last week we're going to be down to 5,000 troops by this fall, that's hess than half to the number of troops that were there when the president took office. we haven't had an american combat casualty since february 29th in afghanistan. and so you're seeing the

president make good on his campaign promises of bringing our troops home, our real heroes, do it in a way that brings peace to the various regions, and i couldn't be more proud to serve under him. lou: well, the nation is watching a president who is getting done what he has promised to do, and he is, he has pointed out only just begun. robert, it's great to have you with us. again, congratlates, and i think you -- congratulations, and i think you had a splendid idea about the nobel peace prize. we thank you for being with us. appreciate it. president trump scheduled to hold a news conference later this hour in the white house briefing room. we will take you there once president trump takes the podium. senator ron johnson has a different story today about rino resistance to his obamagate investigation. we take that up and more with congressman doug collins. and my new book, "the trump

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lou: breaking news, i.c.e. agents cog under attack in oregon. hundreds of left-wing activists in the town of bend, oregon, blocking immigration and customs enforcement agents from transporting two illegal immigrants with violent histories. that standoff lasted nearly 12 hours. members of the left-wing mob had the support of local democrat leaders in bend. the mayor tweeted this: in no way do i support i.c.e., nor can our bend police force. and the local district attorney tweeted this, quote: i've never been so disgusted by i my government and so proud of my community. oregon has a statewide crisis. senator ron johnson announces

there are no r are inos -- rinos on the senate how many -- homeland security committee holding up subpoenas. johnson attributed his initial suggestion of rino resistance yesterday to a, quote, misunderstanding between him and radio host hugh hewitt. johnson's office telling us, quote: committee members want chairman johnson to attempt to get voluntary compliance and also to be fully prepared for interviews by obtaining necessary documents before compelling testimony; that is, ordering subpoenas. in an interview with fox news, johnson went on to further explain he said subpoenas will be forthcoming, that i can guarantee you. joining us now to help us try to make sense of all of this is congressman doug collins, ranking member of the house judiciary committee and republican candidate for senate

in the grand state of georgia. congressman, good to have you with us. we need a little translation, a little capitol hill interpretation from you. johnson says there's rino she resistance on -- resistance on a wednesday, tells us there's none on a thursday, and meanwhile, there are suspects, clear suspects of doing just what he says didn't happen; that is, blocking his effort to get subpoenas on obamagate and amongst them, of course, mitt romney, senator lankford. it looks, it looks very, very bad for the committee. >> well, it does look bad. even worse, lou, it looks bad for the u.s. i mean, we need to get to the bottom of this. i've been on here with you a lot, i've been working with my colleagues -- i mean, they have had a long time to actually get this done. we both know comey, mccabe,

strzok, page, brennan, clapper, you need to get them in. get them all in a deposition, get them under oath so that you can ask the questions that need to be asked. the american people want to know, the congress has been is asking, we've been asking. we've been revealing this for a while, the new transcripts that lindsey graham put out, the transcripts that i put out last year all show there was wrongdoing. it's time to get to the bottom of it. let's get them under oath and get this moving because we're running out of time to actually let the american people show vividly what they did to this president who, by the way, had another great day today. could you imagine what would have happened if they'd is are stopped president trump? we would not have had the success, and right now the world would be in a worse place, i believe. no more feet dragging on this. finish. lou: yeah. well, to your, a number of your points, one of which is this president and all that he's achieved, all that he has

accomplished, and amongst those achievements is the state of this economy before the wuhan virus hit. what shape would this country be in he had not driven the strongest period of prosperity in our country's history before the china virus was up leashed upon us in -- unleashed upon us. you can look at this a number of ways. no president has done more than he has in the first three and a half years of presidency. it's remarkable. but it's also remarkable that the republican party as creatures -- has creatures like mitt romney who tried to block the subpoenas around burisma, now are trying to block subpoenas, we know that mitt romney is amongst those trying to block ron johnson's obamagate investigation, and no one raising -- mitch mcconnell, the majority leader, the party leaders should be demanding more, much more from senator

romney. >> we've got top people willing to stand up. for those of us who stood up for this president, who stood up the last 8 months and -- 18 months and all these folks who wanted to take down this president, who trued to show there was corruption around every turn. my question is let's be honest with the american people. if there's a republican or anybody who wants to stand in the way of in this investigation, let them go to a camera and say why they don't want to know about the corruption of hunter biden and joe biden. why don't they want to know about the corruption we saw with comey, strzok, mccabe and page, why would we not want to know more about what happens to general flynn when he was unmasked, joe biden himself as vice president. it's time we hoe the world that we're serious about this because people need to be held accountable for what they did. if they don't, they'll think they can get away with it x that's not right. lou: well, it's -- to see

senator portman, senator lankford and romney trying to block this by all appearances, we also have this, we also have this statement from congress -- from senator romney. if we could put this up. about his idea of blocking burisma investigations to begin with and subpoenas. he said there's no question but the appearance of looking into burisma and hunter biden appears political, and i think, i think people are tired of these, these kind of political investigations, and i would hope that if there's something of significance that needs to be evaluated, that it'll be done by perhaps the fbi or some other agency that's -- oh, my gosh, it just goes on. i mean, it's pitiful. it is absolutely pitiful, and he knows what he's doing. and he also has friends and

associates, at least one, who was on the board of burisma, so he looks like he's conflicted and should have recused himself from any comment on it. >> no question. this appears political, but it's wrong and things were done wrong and powerful laws were broken and things were circumvented whether it be burisma or the investigation with the president, it's our duty to look into it. it's not about -- i mean, should we not look into jim comey and mccabe and the rest of them because it was political that they wanted to take out the president? no, it was wrong. they were -- they went and told them thaw knew they weren't accurate. we also saw this past week where now we know christopher wray has not been honest with the senate. my question to anybody is if it's political and wrong, you've got to go after right or wrong.

our country especially understands right and wrong, thaw understand what's going on. but you can't be afraid of being appearance when you're going for the truth. my question is why aren't we going for the truth. lou: yeah. and if senate romney's -- senator romney's so concerned with the appearance of being political, he should perhaps examine everything he's said and done concerning president trump and his reactions to this president throughout. it has been aced isic, petty and purely political on his part. and did he notice that there was a sham special counsel, an absolute contrived coup attempt on the president of the united states seeking to overthrow him by the radical dems and some rino, we might add? congressman doug collins, always good to have you with us. great to see you. thanks so much. we'd like to hear your thoughts on all of this. please share your comments. follow me on twitter @loudobbs like me on facebook, and follow

me on instagram @loudobbstonight. homeland security deputy secretary ken cucinelli and pastor robert jeffress will join us here tomorrow evening. we hope you will as well. we're coming right back with much more. the supreme court throwing their support behind mail-in voting. we take that up and more right after these quick messages. what is john roberts doing now? ♪ ♪ cond... sure. okay... okay! safe drivers save 40%!!! guys! guys! check it out. safe drivers save 40%!!! safe drivers save 40%! safe drivers save 40%!!! that's safe drivers save 40%. it is, that's safe drivers save 40%. - he's right there. - it's him! he's here. he's right here. - hi! - hi. hey! - that's totally him. - it's him! that's totally the guy. safe drivers do save 40%. click or call for a quote today.

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lou: breaking news now, after a two-r investigation, the u.s. justice department has determined that yale university has scrum nateed against -- discriminated against asian-american and white applicants. yale's practice violates federal civil rights law. the doj says race was the, quote, determinant factor, quote, in hundreds of admissions decisions each year. this going to yale's

undergraduate college. the supreme court today rejected a republican effort to block rhode island's agreement to waive mail-in ballot security measures. the court's decision means absentee ballots in the state don't have to be signed by two witnesses or a notary public before being counted. and the president has just walked out to address the country. >> it was just announced by attorney general barr that they caught the killer of -- [inaudible] horribly shot, wonderful young man. and we have -- this just came out two minutes ago. to attorney general barr just announced, as you know, we named to operate legend after legend. we're going to be helping out, are in the process of helping

out cities throughout our country that have difficulty with crime, in particular certain types of crime. so that's really good news. they caught the culler of legend. -- the killer of legend. today we saw saw joe biden continue to politicize a pandemic and to show his appalling lack of respect for the american people. that's what it is. at every turn biden has been wrong about the virus, ignoring the scientific evidence and putting left-wing politics before facts and evidence. sleepy joe opposed both the china and the europe traveling bans, you know that. he opposed the china travel ban that i instituted very early and the europe travel ban that i instituted quite early. if he had followed, if we went after -- i listened to his advice, hundreds of thousands more people would have died.

s this is according to many people, i believe that dr. fauci agreed with that. he a said that president trump made a great decision when he put the ban on china. joe biden wants to fling open american borders, allowing the pandemic to infiltrate every u.s. community based on his policies. he wants to have ridiculous open borders. i've been saying from the first day i started campaigning for this great office that you have open borders, you don't have a country. you don't have a country with open borders. so he wants open borders. the democrats want open borders. and if you take a a look at our southern border, we would have with criminals pouring through. the wall getting close to 290 miles long, and it's having a huge impact. so we disagree with hum on that. that's -- with him on that. that's one of the many

different, many things that we disagree with. but while joe biden would allow rioters and looters and criminals and millions of illegal aliens to roam free in our country, he wants the federal government to issue a sweeping new mandate to law-abiding citizens who -- [inaudible] to order over 300 million american citizens to wear a mask for a minimum of three straight months. i guess this just happened. he thinks it's good politics, i guess. no matter where they live and no matter their surroundings. of course, different states are much different both in terms of the atmosphere itself and also in terms of the corona problem. he does not identify what authority the president has to issue such a mandate or how federal law enforcement could possibly enforce it.

or why we would be stepping on governors throughout our country, many of whom have done a very good job, and they know what is needed. also also many of our 50 states are doing the job at a level that, frankly, people are really surprised including foreign governments that are calling us constantly and asking for advice. so i want to just say our governors have worked very hard, they've worked with vice president pence and myself and everybody else. it's been going. we have scott now involved, so, scott, congratulations. you'll be working with a lot of governors. you've already started. and dr. fauci and dr. birx. if the president has the unilateral power to order every single citizen to cover their face in nearly all instances, one of the power -- what other powers does he have?

that's why he refused, biden, to talk questions. he couldn't answer any of them. couldn't answer any of the questions. he refuses to take questions. he never take questions. i take questions, he never takes questions, and you sort of wonder what's going on because not that difficult. some can be nasty, but they're not that difficult. but he never takes questions, so he just, i guess, left -- i didn't see it, but i guess he just left. put it in your minds. few administration has a different approach. we have urged americans to wear masks, and i emphasized this is a patriotic thing to do. maybe they're great and maybe they're just good, maybe they're not so good. but, frankly, what do you have to lose? you have nothing to lose. so we do, and we've been saying wear 'em when it's appropriate. especially in terms of social distancing. if you can't distance enough.

and what do you have to lose? but, again, it's up to the governors, and we want to have a certain freedom. we want to have a certain freedom. that's what we're about. at the same time, we also understand that each state is different and is facing unique circumstances. you have very, very different states facing very unique differences and circumstances. we've entrusted the governors of each astronaut elected by the people -- each state elected by the people to enforce their own policies following guidance from the federal government and cdc. we're working with each state to implement a plan based on the facts and science. we will continue to urge americans to wear masks when they cannot socially distance but we do not need to bring the full weight of the federal government down on law-abiding americans to accomplish this goal.

americans must have their freedoms, and i trust the american people and their governors very much. i trust the american people and the governors wanted to do the right thing, to make the smart decisions. and joe doesn't. joe doesn't. joe doesn't know too much. unlike the biden approach, our approach is guided by science. that's why we're focused on producting the high-risk americans -- protecting the high-risk americans. that is why we're delivering effective medical treatments to dramatically reduce the fatality rate. and that is why we're developing a vaccine and therapeutics in record time. you'll see that, i think, very soon. sleepy joe rejects the scientific approach in favor of locking all americans in their basements for months on end which i think is something that scott would be very to opposed to. i think i can speak for you. we've been dealing pretty strong lu over the last number of weeks -- strongly over the last

number of weeks. but he wants them in the basement for months on end. and you have governors that have been very, very strict on keeping people in their houses, keeping people in their, wherever thaw may be, apartments. and frankly, i don't think the results are necessarily better than other results. but he wants to shut down our economy, close our schools and grind society to a halt. and he wantses it done by a federal decree. this would lead to a crippling, long-lasting depression. this would be a crippling, long-lasting depression. and yesterday i showed you the numbers about how well we're doing come back with auto e sales and automanufacturing and used car steals -- auto manufacturing and housing sales, numbers that nobody would have believed, and we're back and very strong. it's very strong. it's almost a straight up v. we'll be discussing that over the next couple of days, but the

economy coming back. the employment numbers over the last three months are a record in the history of our country. and we'll be back next year, and we'll be maybe even stronger than the previous year where we set every record in the book on employment and stock market. by the way, our stock market numbers are very close to record. the nasdaq actually a record over the last 14 days, for 14 times now it's been a record. and that's during what we hope will be the more final stages of the pandemic. so if we did what biden wanted to do, we'd shut down our health care system, it would lead to a massive increase in mortal few including suicide, overdose, heart disease and countless other physical and mental harms. it is very, very bad on the other side of the equation when you do something like that. those shutdowns are very punitive, very punitive.

they hurt a lot of people in a lot of different ways through depression, through suicide, through so many other things. alcohol, drugs. biden's approach is regressive, it's anti-scientific, and it's very defeatist. it'll be very bad for our country. while joe bind has been playing politics from the sidelines, he has no clue, we've been solving problems and delivering tremendous results. the most advanced and robust testing system on the planet, the number one producer of ventilators in the world by far, unprecedented industrial mobilization, biggest since world war ii. operation warp speed to deliver life-saving treatments and very soon a vaccine. what a plan by joe biden has actually laid out would do, we've really already

accomplished. in fact, many of the things that was well reported over the last few days, every single thing he said to do, every single thing we did, and we did 'em well. so biden has no idea on his own. he only knows what he thinks we should do, and he spews it out, and then he, i guess he plagiarizes, and he really did in our case because every single one of the events -- i think, would you say that? >> does something we had already done. so we'll defeet the virus but not by hiding in our basements. he's got to come out of his basement. we'll defeat this virus through a common sense mitigation effort, shielding those at highest risk and unleashing america's medical and scientific genius, which is what it is. and we've already been doing it, and we're are close to having -- very close to having something that's going to be very, very special in the form of

therapeutics and vaccines. to joe, you would say stop playing politics with the views. too serious. partisan politics has no place here. it's a how maniful situation for anybody to try and score political points while we're working to save lives and defeat the pandemic. in times of national challenge, america and americans -- and, by the way, we are working with countries from all over the world. and they're trying to learn from us. and some of the countries that you spoke most well about are having a tremendous surge right now. but it'll work out. but americans must unite together, they must put politics aside and have to really unite for a common good. three vaccines are in the final stage of clinical trials. they're doing really well. we're producing the most promising vaccine candidates in advance. as you know, part of the largest

industrialization ever. that's incredible, when i meet with heads of companies that are doing this. they're the best companies anywhere in the world. it's incredible where they are, how they're doing and the speed with they're doing it and also the speed with which the fda is approving things. because by new other standard -- any other standard, you would have been two or three years away from being at the point that we're at. by the end end of this week, we will have shipped 1,846 rapid point of care testing devices to nursing homes which are very important source, as you know, for people that are not handling the plague from china very well. this week alone we're sending 992 testing devices and 450,000 tests to more than 950 nursing homes across the country. and these tests are incredible.

these are tests that are all new, veried modern, and we're also -- very modern. and we're also getting on the tests that are not done immediately with the 5-15 minute timing, when they do send them to a lab, they're coming back now in three days, so it's a three-day process which is about assed good as you can do. one day of deliver, one day of reffing and one day in the lab. we're also requiring owl nursing homes to test all members of their staff at least weekly. we have delivered effective treatments. the case a fatality rate for americans over 70 has decline by about 85%. that's a fantastic number. it's declined. that's case fatality. it's decline by 85%. europe has seen 40% more excess mortality than the united states compared to a nonpandemic year. so you hear the numbers, and

those numbers are very interesting, but that's the way it is. we continue to urge all americans to wash your hands, socially distance, wear a mask when necessary. and when you cannot distance and protect, very importantly, the vulnerable, protect people that are older and especially people that have problems with heart or diabetes or some other problem. earlier today, very exciting news, very big news all over the world they're talking about it all over the world, it was amazing, we finalized a historic peace agreement between israel and the united arab emirates. after half a century, israel and the united arab embrace will fully normalize their diplomatic relations. nobody thought this was something that could happen for a long time. this is the most important diplomatic breakthrough since the egypt/israel peace agreement

was signed over 40 years ago. we have ambassador to israel david friedman here. thank you, david, for being here. you would agree that this was a big day for israel and a big day for the world. good. thank you, david, you've been fantastic. fantastic ambassador and representative of our country, thank you very much. the deal that was reached today will enable muslims to have far greater ability to visit many historic suits in israel and to peacefully pray at the mosque which is very important to them which they've wanted to have access to for many, many decades. this is a monoing unital step to forging ties of cooperation in the middle east, and i think you're going to have other countries can come forward. i can tell you we already do, and they want to make a deal. we could have peace in the middle east, and it'd be

fantastic. israel also suspending settlements in the west bank which is a big deal, a bold step toward achieving peace. they've also awe greed to immediately expand and accelerate scientific collaboration e to develop effective treatments and vaccines to defeat the china virus. they're both been hit. virtually every country's been hit. 188 cups. and to save lives in their region and in their world. other working very much on the vaccines also with us. again, some very good news is going to take place with respect to that. our unprecedented diplomatic engagements laid the groundwork for this historic peace agreement. which was just announced a little while ago today. we will not rest as we continue to work toward a world of greater harmony and prosperity for all. i want to thank prime minister benjamin net ab an ya hue of

israel and -- netanyahu and crown prince ben sayyed of the united arab emirates, two fantastic people for their vision and leadership, and i look forward to hosting them at the white house to formally sign the agreement. we'll probably be doing it over the next, i would say, three weeks. and they'll be coming to washington. so that was a tremendous day. that was a tremendous thing that happened. and it's a great side. we have a lot of other interesting things going on with other nations also having to do with peace agreements. and a lot of big news is coming over the next few weeks, and i'm sure you'll be very impressed and, more importantly, it's a great thing for our country and for the world. to thank you. please, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. i appreciate it. i want do can you about school-aged kids and food. one to have real problems when you shut down schools, these are

kids on reduced and free lunch programs. they need these meals to make it through their day, and with districts shutting down school, what, if anything, can the federal government do to make sure that the kids still get decent meals as long as the schools are out? >> well, you know we want the schools to open. and especially very young children, all children, but especially very young children handle it very well. so we want schools open. we don't want to be in that position. we want schools open. we have made payment and we would frankly, we would much rather follow the child. giving the money to the child, meaning the parents of the child, and plett the parents do what they have to do, including bringing the child to another school. we're finding whether it's parents or children, people want to get back to school. thaw want to have their life back. some people say they don't want -- the democrats don't want

schools open because that's where you have a lot of polling votes, and if you have have a cool close, you can't have voting booths at the school. maybe we'll be able to show that as fact. but that's another thing that they're trying to keep people away from the polls. so we have to look boot that, but you've been reading about it, but we'd like to see the schools open, then we don't have that problem. good question. >> [inaudible] what's your understanding of how -- [inaudible] will suspend the annexation plan? >> what do you do you think? >> we have -- we put our eggs in the basket of peace. we have an agreement with the emirates, we're going to -- [inaudible] then we're going to ec trap late that for the rest of the region. how long that that takes, i can't tell you, but that should

be prioritizes over the sovereignty movement. it's not off the table, it's just something that we give peace every single chance. >> and. [inaudible] palestinians to take away from this deal since -- [inaudible] >> well, but they are supported largely by some of the countries that we're talking to and that are have already signed. you know, in the case of the one country, but others will be following. and i think the palestinians without saying it necessarily yes i -- i see peace happening. i see as these very big, powerful, wealthy countries come in, i think the palestinians will follow quite naturally. yeah, please. >> do you believe that -- [inaudible] without a agreement temporarily -- [inaudible] >> say it again?

could you make it better? >> do you believe a deal would have been reached to temporarily suspend annexation? >> what do you think about that? that's interesting. >> i think you can't do both taunt. so i think, again, prioritize peace, oventy after peace given every opportunity. >> and have you -- [inaudible] permanently consider -- [inaudible] >> no, this is a temporary process. finish. >> please, caitlin? >> this morning you said that you do not want to fund the u.s. postal service because democrats are trying to expand voting by mail. so i've got two questions for you. one, are you threatening to veto any legislation that includes funding for the post office? >> no, not at all. no. >> so you would sign something that -- >> sure. it's a separate thing, i would do it. but one of the reasons the post office needs that much money is because they have all these millions of ballots coming in

from nowhere and where they're going. you saw what happened in virginia. it was, you know, 500,000 applications coming in going all over the astronaut. nobody even knows where they came from. you saw what happened in new york which was a disaster with congresswoman carolyn maloney. you see patterson, new jersey. what has happened, it's part of a negotiation to met more money to people who it wasn't their fault, it was china's fault. the post office is part of it. another part they want $3.5 million just for the ballot themselves. why it's so much, i don't know, but it's what the them the accurates want. if the bill isn't going to get done, that would mean the post office isn't going to be funded and the $3.5 million is isn't

going to be taken care of. ab entee ballots, by the way, are fine. but the universal mail-ins that just get sent all over the place where people can grab stacks of them and sign them and do whatever you want, that's the thing i'm against. >> but isn't that precisely the problem, you're saying you do not want to give this post office funding in the kroning that legislation. they say they need it to they can be prepared because if the pandemic still going on, people can rote but mail, and it can be safe and secure. >> i can understand the post office, and if we could agree to to the overall bill which is, obviously, a much bigger number than just the post office, that would be fine. but they have the post office as one with of their requests. >> before you with said you were against it, didn't you? >> i'm only against -- what i'm against is doing anything where the people aren't taken care of. we want people to get money.

it wasn't their fault that they got shut down. they got shut down by china. so whether it's the post office or whether it's the $3.5 billion. you know, they're canning for that just for the mail-in user stress versal -- universal ballots. the thing they want more than anything else, caitlin, is you know bailout money for the states and cities that are in trouble. mostly democrat-run states and cities. new york has that problem, california has a problem, illinois has a tremendous problem and others. we don't want to be doing that or certainly not to the extent they're looking for $1 trillion. we don't want to be doing that. please go ahead. >> they need that money in order to make the post office work to take all these millions and millions of ballots, you said that would be fraudulent -- >> no, i said it will end up

being fraudulent because if you look at what's happened over the last few weeks, the -- it's turned -- >> [inaudible] >> well, if you look at new york, it was fraudulent. if you look at patterson, new jersey -- >> what was? >> the whole thing a mess. in fact, carolyn maloney's opponent, he's gotten praise. i think they should redo that legislation. look in california where i think found a million non-eligible voters. that was done by judicial watch, tom fitton and judicial watch. we have to have an honest election. and if it's not going to be an honest election. i guess people have to sit down and think really a part about it. but if the post office, if they're not going to approve a bull expect post office, therefore, won't have the money x if they're not going to

approve a bigger bill and they're not going to have the $3.5 billion for the for the mail-in votes, how can are those votes? people will have to go to the follows and vote. like the old days, like two years ago, three years ago, four years ago. it doesn't say anybody's taking the vote away, but it means that the universal mail-ins don't work. ab absentee e where you send it in, but they would have to go to a voting booth. they're going to have to feel safe, and we will make sure that they're safe, and we're not going to have to spend $3.5 million to do it. it would be wonderful if we had voting ud. some states have that and some states don't because they can't

get it passed. most states want it. but we want people to vote. we want people to vote so when they vote, out means one vote. it doesn't mean ballots all over the place. you saw what was happening in virginia where piles of ballot applications are dropped all over the state. they had them name after dogs, they had them named after dead people. we want to have an accurate vote. i'm not doing this for any reason. maybe it turns out to be to my advantage, i don't think, i can't tell you that. i just want an accurate vote, and it's a fair question, by the withdraw. so does everybody else. okay -- [inaudible conversations] >> mr. president, how is the awe accord today between israel and the uae helping struggling and persecute christians in the middle east? >> how -- what? >> how does it help struggling and persecuted christians in the middle east? >> well, i i think it's going to, i think it's a good start. and you're right about that, christians have been persecuted by some countries in particular

in the middle east, and i think this is going to be a big start, a strong the start, very powerful start, and it's something i will tell you i've told david and every one of our goingers, if you look at the way christians have been treated in some countries, it's beyond disgracesful. if i had information and if i had absolute proof, some of the stories that we've heard -- which are not easy or which is not ease i to get -- i would do in and do a number to those countries like you wouldn't believe. what they do to christians in you're right. it is a very big part of the overall negotiation. and as countries come in, for instance, u.a.e. has agreed very strongly to represent us. i think they will very well, with respect to christianity because in the middle east it is not treated well, it is not treated well at all. it is treated horribly and very

unfairly. it is criminal what's happened. that for many years. that is a great question. it is very unfair situation. reporter: thank you, mr. president. there is routine check in call with china on the phase one trade deal. my question is, what if they bring up tiktok and also wechat, would you instruct your team to engage them on -- president trump: september 15th. whether it is microsoft and i understand, others are negotiating to. it is obviously worthless if they don't allow them into the country. the night treasury will be getting something out of this deal, something very substantial. we want total security. we have a deadline of september 15th. we know microsoft and others are very interested in it. that is our deadline. it has to be proven to be totally secure. we don't want having any

information going into china what we've been through. i have to tell you, you talked about the deal you mentioned, the phase one deal, well the phase one deal, it is a very interesting situation because you've been hearing the largest order of corn in history, the largest order of soybeans, the largest order of beef. they have done more than they have ever done. you will have to figure that one out. where i'm coming from i could have -- because they see my tattooed. my attitude towards china is not friendly. but they have gone into orders that are extremely large, extremely large and our farmers are very happy but with what they did with respect to the pandemic, the plague, that came in from china, it just is a different feeling. it was an incredible dealing but i have a very different feeling. but they are giving, they are giving the midwest, our farmers among the largest orders they

have ever seen. somebody told me today, robert lighthizer, about 3% of what they're selling now is going to china. so maybe they're trying to make me change my mind a little bit because you know my attitude on china and it, it hasn't been very good. reporter: [inaudible]. president trump: we're not talking to them. we're talking to the companies. there is a company but it's a company within china, that means china and the deal will have to be substantially beneficial to the united states and we total security. lou: the president wrapping up his news conference and on this extraordinary day in which the united arab emirates and israel signed an agreement recognizing one of their -- brokered by president trump and we're going to hear a lot more about that as well. that's it for us tonight. we thank you for being with us. tomorrow evening ken cuccinelli,

pastor robert jeffress with us. we hope you will join us. and preorder my new book, "the trump century." it is available for preorder now at amazon.com and barnes & noble. good to have you with us. good night from sussex. ♪. reporter: i'm asking what you think he should do? president trump: like i say it's off the table. so i can't talk about sometime into the future. that's a big statement, right now it is off the table, is that a correct statement, mr. ambassador? >> the words chosen carefully by all the parties suspend by definition. look it off. temporary halt. it is off the table now but not off the table permanently. president trump: got it. reporter: [inaudible]. you said you want an accurate vote. president trump: right. reporter: postmaster general with policy changes in order to prevent