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tv   Americas News HQ  FOX News  October 13, 2018 11:00am-12:00pm PDT

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to breathtaking adventures, tripadvisor makes it easy to find and book amazing things to do. and you can cancel most bookings up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. so you can make your next trip... monumental! read reviews check hotel prices book things to do tripadvisor eric: fox news alert, we are waiting oval office meeting between president trump and pastor andrew brunson, that expecting to happen in a few moments from now. pastor brunson is now back in american soil, great day for the usa, he was as you know released after being detained under house arrest for two years in turkey. and this comes as we are also watching the major diplomatic development, the escalating tensions between the u.s. and saudi arabia following the shocking and chilling disappearance of the washington post columnist in consulate in turkey. welcome to america's news headquarters i'm eric sean.
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arthel: and i'm arthel neville, president trump thanking for release. the president touting brunson's return during a rally yesterday in ohio. >> we went through a lot, you know, all about pastor brunson, he went through a lot but he's on his way back. we've done that with a lot, we've had a lot of success. north korea, egypt, remember, we bring a lot of people back and that's good. arthel: however, at the same time president trump raises -- praises turkey for release of brunson he has a warning for saudi arabia after a washington post columnist disappears and presumed dead, we will hear from israel's em -- ambassador to the united nations but first
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coverage on both stories, benjamin hall but we begin with garrett tenney at the white house. >> he went from facing 35 years in turkish prison to being on a plane and headed home. he landed in joint andrews moments ago. now, he is expected to arrive here at the white house any time now ahead of his meeting in the oval office with president trump and the president has made securing pastor brunson's release priority. while this is win for the administration, this is a huge moment for the evangelical community across the country who really have been pushing issue since he was detained. earlier on fox news reverend graham said brunson would still be in prison now if it wasn't for the efforts of the trump administration. >> this was a wonderful day and it's a day we have been praying
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for and, of course, we are very grateful to president trump and vice president mike pence for the effort that they have put behind this whole ordeal to get this man released and have him come back to family. >> souring relationship between u.s. and turkey. the president weighing aggressive pressure to secure brunson's release including tariffs on turk i steel and aluminum. as a result turkey currency plummet today record low and economy is now on the brink of disaster, however, last night in ohio president trump was adamant that the u.s. did not agree to lift sanctions or make any kind of deal in return for brunson's release. >> we spoke to turkey, and we went through a system and we got him out, they've been trying to get him out for a long time. well, this has nothing to do with anything. there was no deal made at all, there was no deal but we are very happy to have him and have
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him in good shape. i hear he's in very good shape. >> while there was no deal to secure pastor brunson's release it will lead to better relations between trust and turkey, possibly great relations. so certainly the possibility that those sanctions and tariffs could be lifted down the road. now, today, though, pastor brunson back here home in the united states set to meet with the president in the oval office about 30 minutes from now to be officially welcomed home on behalf of the entire nation, arthel. arthel: thank you very much, eric. eric: as we wait the meeting in the oval office, there's new information coming out of major story that we are following for you this afternoon. the shocking disappearance of washington post columnist jamal in saudi arabia consulate. the recordings document his alleged killing this comes as president trump faces pressure to push saudi arabia for more
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information on exactly what happened to him. >> i will say that they are looking very hard and fast and not only us, a lot of people are looking to find out because it is potentially a really, really terrible situation, so we will see what happens. eric: benjamin hall live in turkey where mr. brunson was in house arrest, he has the latest, hello, benjamin. >> hi, eric, as you pointed out this is becoming an incredibly mirky situation and potential to move into full-blown international scandal. what is undeniable, the columnist from the washington post, went in to saudi consulate in istanbul and hasn't been seen since, that was 12 days ago, turkey alleges he was kill dz inside consulate by hit squad of men, 15 of men who arrived private jet the same morning and left that evening, among them forensic expert and intelligence expert. the saudis deny all of this, however, saying, they reached
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statement, what has been circulating are lies and baseless allegations against the government of the kingdom of saudi arabia, now, turkish state media claims to have recordings from kaschoggi's apple watch and apparently it's graphic. without getting too technical, experts have rejected this, no apple watch roaming ability in turkey, left his phone outside with fiancee, bluetooth connection was impossible. saudi arabia used points from delete files on the watch but no fingerprint recognition on the apple watch. so the waters are being muddied. all evidence now coming from state controlled turkish media and not released any of it to the public. president trump has said he doesn't plan on jeopardizing thousands of u.s. jobs by canceling arm's sales to saudi arabia in response to this which would effectively send as he
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said business to russia and china but he did say clearly there could be other ways of punishing saudi arabia if it turned out they were involved. two other issues if the turks do have evidence from inside the consulate, they were with surveillance program which would be international norms, the other point people are looking turkey versus saudi arabia, turkey a long-time supporter of brotherhood, saudi arabia long-time ally of the u.s. and turkey is trying to drive the wedge between the two. both countries facing off trying to get as much leverage as they can but everyone wait if for real evidence to come out and wait to go see how president trump responds if he does get. eric: israel ambassador to the nation, ambassador, it would be a stunning of violation if he was murdered inside the turkish embassy, embassy in turkey by
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saudi arabia, what is your reaction to this development? >> shocking story when you watch those pictures, we will wait for the investigation but looks like a movie that you kidnap a journalist in consulate, president trump was very clear about it. he's also waiting for explanation and saudis are moving toward u.s., western democracies, they will have to give good explanations to what is happening in consulate. eric: they are denying it, denied it to jared kushner on the telephone. do their explanations, does that satisfy you or your government? >> we have nothing to do with the incident even though at the un they blame us for everything. i think we need to give good answers to the u.s. and i think people are waiting because the journalist went into the consulate, the footage of him
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not coming out of the consulate. eric: what would this mean to saudi arabia coalition, sunni arab states, what type of impact could that have potentially on the fight against radical islamic for rism and tehran? >> it is known that they have a coalition to motivate and working against iran, includes the saudis, egypt, to jordan, we all have one thing in common, iran leader threatening, threatening governments, they are threat tng middle east. we have a lot in common but this story is disturbing. eric: could this jeopardize some of the progress, do you think? >> i think it's too early to jump to conclusions. i think they would not be able to keep going and ignoring it. they would have to face the camera and give good explanation. eric: in terms of this whole issue, what if they don't give any answers apparently like they are doing it right now and
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stonewalling it. >> he will demand answers. eric: pastor brunson held in turkey, we expect him to be in the oval with the president, that was astounding development and big win. >> great news for all democracies being held in turkey for 2 years it's very difficult, president trump was very clear about it that he demanded, pushed for that, we need to congratulate the administration for delivering and bringing him back home, we congratulate his family and even the people of israel are celebrating today this happy moment. eric: christians have been persecuted horribly in the middle east, murders in egypt and on and on, do you think this shows some type of opening or is this maybe just one-off? >> on the contrary, you look at situation of christians in the middle east, they cannot stay there, look at lebanon, they used to live, they fled, look at egypt, christians do not feel safe in muslim countries.
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the only place they feel safe it's israel and it's unfortunate. eric: in terms of erdogan, do you think it's one-off for him, he's jailed journalists? do you see any progress or is this just his effort to try to get u.s. backing and dealing with saudi arabia because of the situation? >> i cannot be optimistic about erdogan. he called our prime minister benjamin netanyahu, compare today -- compared to hitler. eric: andrew brunson has arrived at the white house, we expect to cover that live in about 15 minutes from now. finally, ambassador, i can't let you go without commenting on nikki haley, now she's leaving, i bet you are going miss her. >> absolutely. ambassador haley fought with israel, she was fearless and able to win at the un, great
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achievements, we will continue to work with new ambassador but we will miss her direct approach to fight for what is right. eric: thank you for coming in. >> thank you very much. eric: always good to see you. >> thank you. eric: arthel. arthel: meanwhile we have fox news alert regarding the utter devastation happening in florida, hurricane michael leaving the panhandle in the dark, down power lines and knocked down trees filling the streets of panamá city and mexico beach looks like a war zone. >> we haven't had cell phone service in a couple of days now, no power, no internet. this is unbelievable. this storm was, i mean, catastrophic is not even the word for it. arthel: mike tobin, live in mexico beach, mike. >> amazing, arthel, days ago the moon escape behind me was rows and rows of brightly vacation houses. i want to show you the primary activity that is going on in mexico beach right now and
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that's the search and recovery, you see a couple of the crew members on one to have search and recovery teams, they are discussing right now and taking break. primary activity is to look through this rubble and find anything that would possibly be a void space where someone could be trapped inside. talking with city officials right now or just short time ago, frankly the communication is so chaotic they can't give specific number, one official said 100 people unaccounted for and another said 50 are unaccounted for and what i heard from a mayor is you had 280 people that elect today ride out the storm here in mexico beach and you can see just about everything except for the satellited houses were just wiped out right down to the ground and largely was on storm surge but also the wind. you can see the scene of autoer devastation, piles and piles of debris, primary activity right now is going through piles of debris and hopefully finding
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some kind of sign of life or sign that a person had been trapped inside the piles of debris. what you don't see in mexico beach are the rows and rows of power truck. i talked to city clerk out here who said they are not there yet, they are still in recovery mode, restoring power, getting cellular service, improved a little bit but low priority until finding people missing. arthel: mike tobin, thank you very much for the update, eric. eric: 15 minutes from now we will show you live from inside the oval office, expected meeting between the president and pastor andrew brunson who arrived a few moments ago at the white house for the historic visit. he is free, back on american soil after being held in turkey, what his release could mean for relations between washington and that nato ally. plus, more of our revelations are continuing with the situation with jamal hashoggi
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who disappeared after in saudi arabia embassy, we will have a look at policy and diplomacy that's taking ongoing behind the scenes in this horrible, horrible drama. >> we will find out what happened with respect to the terrible situation in turkey, having to do with saudi arabia and the reporter and nobody knows quite yet, nobody has been able to put it all together
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arthel: pastor andrew brunson has arrived tat white house as we wait meeting with president trump, that will happen minutes from now and we will take you live as soon as the president and the pastor sit down. meanwhile the american pastor was freed yesterday after 2 years of detention in turkey, all this as the trump administration's relationship with saudi arabia is under scrutiny after the disappearance of a washington post columnist, here is the president weighing in. >> i don't know if it's any closer than other relationships that people have. we have a lot of very close relationships with a lot of countries, but this is a serious problem. arthel: steven nelson, white house reporter for the
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washington examiner, steven, first of all, does this bode well for president trump and while you answer that, answer this as well, would this have happened now without the alleged jamal khashoggi murder? >> the timing is really difficult to say, there's various things that could be influencing here, the u.s. is preparing to apply sanctions in relation to turkey, oil sanctions with iran but clearly this is a big win for president trump who is passionate about winning release of americans unjustly jailed abroad. he has won release of prisoners in north korea, venezuela, and egypt, with brunson there's the complicated back story, he was arrested in 2016 before trump was even president and this detention really got significant mainstream attention after a tail-spin in u.s.-turkey relationships that followed president erdogan to the white house in may last year, at the
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visit erdogan watched how guards attacked protestors in washington, d.c. this triggered tit for tat which resulted in suspension of visas, cancellation of deal, turn up the pressure on turkey, applying sanctions to justice and interior minister over there. turkey is a nato ally and now brunson is released, they'll be, of course, focus on other american who is are also detained in turkey but this is a big win for president trump, the timing is difficult to say but clearly they are going to be celebrating in the oval office. arthel: absolutely, evangelicals will be celebrating as well, what's taking place behind the scenes right now, the political posturing, who wants what? >> well, turkey doesn't want sanctions. president trump has been adamant that there was no deal to win the pastor's release, there's no
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evidence that a deal exists but it is -- you could presume that the sanctions that are directly in relation to brunson's detention that they might be rolled out now that he is out. arthel: as the president celebrates release having brunson released, talk about political perils, what's at stake for the u.s.? >> well, the u.s. has an interesting situation over there in the middle east, we, of course, have had for years and years true autocrats as our allies in those countries. president erdogan as no tolerance for defense or free speech, nasa american scientist imprisoned in a similar situation as pastor brunson but this comes as saudi arabia, another key u.s. ally is accused of murdering a washington post columnist in the turkish consulate over there. it's an interesting timing,
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turkey has gone from being the bad guy to being potential partner in investigating this murder by another u.s. ally which is, of course, pretty clear as well. the u.s. has to represent its own interest while, of course, not totally unraveling the alliances with countries -- arthel: what does that mean? that the u.s. has to protect its own interest? >> well, the u.s. isn't going to scrap a treaty alliance with turkey, the u.s. is unable to throw turkey over board or saudi arabia as well. they are both key play nester the region and trust has interest in keeping them our partners. arthel: so then what happens, though, if in fact, we don't know, it has not been confirmed, at least the trump administration has not renounced any sort of confirmation but the turkish officials are saying that they have proof that in fact, the saudis were behind the murder of jamal khashoggi so what happens, what should president trump do now and what
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does saudi arabia stand to lose? >> well, saudi arabia stands to lose its real standing as a key trusted u.s. ally but the big question mark is what -- what would happen, you know, what would the u.s. do. there's huge purchaser of u.s. arms, president trump indicated he's unwilling to nix that relationship. it's unclear what he will do to saudi arabia. we don't know what that would be. arthel: we will keep an eye on that, steven, i have to leave it there, we will continue discussion with you another time, thanks, steven. >> thank you. eric: let's take a look live at the white house, pastor brunson is there and in a few minutes we will cover his visit to the oval office live, he will be, of course, meeting with the president there, expect to hear the president's warm welcome and carry whatever comments the president says, stick with us in just a few moments for that as we will also take a look at what brunson's release could mean
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with u.s. relations with turkey moving forward. >> he suffered greatly but we are appreciative to a lot of people, a lot of people. there was no deal made at all. there was no deal, but we are very happy to have him and have him in good shape. chevy malibu. i forgot. chevy also won a j.d. power dependability award for its light-duty truck the chevy silverado. oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j.d. power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row. phew. third time's the charm...
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eric: we are waiting any moment the meeting in the oval office@awhite house between president trump and freed master andrew brunson, you know he was released yesterday by a turkish court after detained first in jail and then under house arrest for 2 years in turkey on we aretism-related charges that he denied, return marking major diplomatic victory for the president and the administration, what could come next and how does the disappearance of jamal khashoggi fit into all of this? joining us what whaled pharis, e
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wait for the meeting we will cover it live, very warm welcome to the pastor in the oval office, why do you think erdogan, the government of turkey and the judiciary took this measure now after all of the calls for the many months to release him? >> excellent question. in turkey the judiciary is basically very well organized and they are known to go to the law by itself but you have a political level which is the government and the president and they had a lot of pressures to maintain the pastor where he was because their relationship with the united states was not going well, they discovered over the past 3 months that the president and the vice president are very firm, they wanted the pastor back, they could not, you know, overnight deliver the pastor, they needed to have a process and that process and the context is this week, on the one hand, they asked judiciary to look at it one more time but on the other hand there is an issue between saudi arabia and turkey and the united states and
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president erdogan found that this is appropriate to do it right now. eric: going back to charges against him, they say it was terrorism, christianity, held services in local town there and it is very dire time for christians in the middle east. >> it is dire time for christians in the middle east. i have worked on this for the last 20 years, the charge has to do with alleged ties with the leader of the opposition against mr. erdogan who is a political -- eric: who is in pennsylvania who erdogan wants back. >> he calls them terrorist. they consider movement as terrorist. any american or other citizen that works with this movement or is charged that, you know, they are part of this movement are accused of being supporters to terrorism. eric: how does that fit in to disappearance of jamal khashoggi and the stunning possibility that it was a 15-member hit squad, kind of like the mafia
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sent in to apparently kill jamal khashoggi in cold blood because he was a critic to have saudi regime? >> look, before going into the details of the jamal khashoggi issue because we don't have any material evidence of anything at this point in time but it's certainly the responsibility of two governments, the government that own it is consulate which is a sovereign saudi land to give us answers, to give the international community answers about where -- whereabouts mr. jamal khashoggi but also the responsibility of turkish government because he was living there or at least he departed from turkish land into the consulate. before mentioning this, basically president erdogan i believe and his government considered the moment as the best to do the service or to do this gesture to the president of the united states because now there is this tension between turkey and saudi arabia and turkey may want to gain back some trust in the united states as it is confronting the saudi arabian leadership.
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eric: jams jams -- jamal khashoggi lived in washington area, what does it mean if the diplomatic facility is so braisingly used as assassination site? can you outline that and, you know, what if the saudis stonewall this forever, would we ever know the answers if you're using the cover of diplomatic service? >> it is so complex. i spoke to many people in the region on both sides and on no side of the issue, you reported if you're -- you remember in july about diplomatic involvement and active terrorism attempt if you remember. eric: yeah. >> in paris, there was evidence, members of the iranian diplomatic core and it was proven by the french authorities. where we are now in the case in turkey is that there is no evidence but everything point out that the gentleman jamal
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khashoggi has vanished inside. he did not reemerge from the consulate. that involves basically number one having a real investigation, international law by the saudis and turks together. the problem as you know, rhiyad are in conflict, very complicated, maybe the united states can do something as a third force. we have alliance with the saudi and emirates and alliance with turkey and qat r, maybe -- qatar and maybe the united states can held them in the middle and come to an investigation. eric: what can we do? could there be sanctions, they would go buy russian or chinese items? sanction specific teem in the saudi regime, whether crown prince or not, kick diplomats,
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have national security council resolution against it or is all this too early? >> look, it is too early, that's right, this is chapter 2, once chapter 1 is established, the direct responsibility of people in the higher level in saudi kingdom or maybe a third rogue party, who knows, we are still early, then we can talk about what washington would do. some of the critics because of the tension between qatar and saudi arabia already talk about what u.s. would do as punishment. but as the president has said, if it is established, let's focus on establishing the facts first. eric: can we trust saudi arabia and trust them after 9/11, can we really trust the government? >> look, i would trust nobody when there's a crime, you want to know all of the information. saudi arabia, the united states, russia, turkey, crimes occur but the saudis have changed, the leadership of saudi arabia has easily changed between those who were in charge on 9/11 and then
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those who welcomed the president and had him address 50arab and muslim leaders are helping the united states to contain iran, so there's a major change and you just said that there is a big defense agreement between saudi and the united states, but investigation will have to be very real, we will have to get to the point and after facts assembled then the united states will make its own decision. eric: what type of decision do you think that could be? you have coalition against tehran that's been successful and sunni and arabs have been working on that and the threat of tehran, the west and israel? >> look, my concern here is that if we find, you know, evidence that it's, indeed, coming from rhiyad, we don't have evidence at this point in time, this could be blow to middle east strategic alliance we attempt today declare in a few weeks as far as we heard, maybe november,
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we were about to declare middle east strategic coalition to contain iran. one to have cornerstones is saudi arabia, uae and others. eric: does this derail that? >> i think we would. if we enter sanctions against the saudi regime, if we have evidence that would derail that, that makes me think about the whole context of this incident happening at this point in time. eric: saudi arabia consider him terrorist because he spoke well of the muslim brotherhood, most recent column was on that, how does that factor into this disappearance and do you think this could be political assassination? >> look, it's very difficult, again, we need investigation of facts but i read that twitter feed of swram jam, i saw him on tv, he's well known. his position has always been for the muslim brotherhood against regime and especially against this leadership. even he sided with the brotherhood at some time
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criticizing criticizing the policy of the united states which is okay, people can do that. that's reality, generated decision to take that action against him, to do that action in istanbul or in turkey, we don't know, we actually need the facts. eric: we also had the fact that the prints that he threw everybody in four seasons or the ritz-carlton until they paid up and pointed out billions and billions of dollars to help regime. that's a potential mafia hostage taking situation, so was this, you know, going to this level potentially, you know, really beneath him if they're willing to do that? >> look, the action that was taken in saudi arabia and i'm not here to defend the saudis or the qataries, they were taken in light of the day, it was open and decision made by judiciary and political level, that's something that many have criticized and they did not hide
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and decisions to release most of them, i believe. this is something else. this is action against saudi citizen who has disappeared inside the saudi diplomatic facility and it's the big enigma, of course, the responsibility is for the saudis to tell the world who has really happened. they have the information that they came in, what happened to him, second, the turks should also give us a lot of information and they are. look, the turkish government is now releasing so much information about it and the question is when did you have the information, since when you have the information, it's getting more on the side of a legal investigation rather than an oh political -- on the political level. eric: this type of move, it's like the crime family in brooklyn, there was a place called lounge where they would bring people in and kill them. this is exactly if this is indeed what happened, you know, textbook right out of the mafia
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situation. what does this say about international politics, the norms of behavior after we have seen the massacre and utter human catastrophe in syria with so many million who is have been killed and what we have gone through over the past few years with this savage brutality that we have come to a point where a journalist, an american resident would walk in into a sacred ground of a country, saudi arabia and potentially get murdered in cold blood? >> he vanished. if he was killed assassinated, tortured anything bad happened to him or kidnapped, this is the crime, this is an international crime because it's between two countries. we -- remember, the definition in lebanon at the hands of syrian regime in hezbollah, we remember how hezbollah, for example, assassinated many journalists and members of parliament in lebanon, assassinations in iran, so these
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matters exist because it's so dangerous and so delicate, the recommendation is to sort it out in terms of facts, once we get to the facts then we have all of the time to go in terms of political consequences, what we will do to the saudis or the turks or how we can sort it out, that's something after the facts. eric: we will see. we are waiting for meeting with pastor brunson, we are waiting for that right now, we just have to take a quick break, whaled, stick with us.
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arthel: let's listen in. >> for andrew it's been an interesting day because as you probably heard, i said a little bit earlier from a turkish prison to the white house in 24 hours, that's not bad. [applause] >> and i want to start by saying that marine was unbelievable, he
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was calling and calling, she definitely loves you, let me put it that way. [laughter] >> she was calling and she wanted you out. she was not playing games, right? and we are proud of you, thank you very much. and you are very, very special to all of us and, you know, we have some of our great leaders right here, you know james, you know cindy, you know richard, you know tom, you know patrick, you know mark and all of these people, the whole group of people, they fought so hard for you, they wanted you out and, again, we have been negotiating long and hard. we do not pay ransom in this country, at least any longer, we won't pay ransom otherwise you'll have big problems and lots of things will happen, lots of bad things will happen, but i still i want to thank president erdogan, we have been dealing
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and until this we had a good relationship, i was surprised that we didn't work this out a couple of months ago, but it started in a different administration and they were not going to work out anything and we took it over and inherit it and we have i think at this moment gotten 19 different people out of various countries that were being held. chairman kim was really great to us, i think that started the relationship that we have now in north korea with 3 hostages as you know. egypt, we had ia, they said a spy, she was sentenced to 25 years, they told president obama we will not let her out under any circumstances and they told me she'll be in the oval office in 24 hours. you guys worked on that one too and many others, many others.
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so i just want to congratulate you because you have galvanized this country. you take a look at this, there's so much interest and it's your faith, your strength, what you have gone through, i know what you have gone through and i also know that a period of time ago we were able to get you from prison to the house. it's not an easy situation for turkey either. they've had a lot of difficult situations going on and i do want to thank president erdogan for making this possible. you understand by that, it wasn't easy and wasn't easy for him, most importantly i want to congratulate you and your life. if you would like to say a few words, you might want to thank great leaders, they were calling me a lot, too much, okay, we are working on it. they are terrific fans of yours
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and right now the whole world is a fan of yours, the whole world is a fan, maybe say a few words, introduce your family and it's a great honor to have you back home. >> thank you. this is my daughter jacqueline, my son and other son jordan and my wife. [laughter] >> we especially want to thank the administration, you really fought for us unusually from the time you took office. i know that you have been engaged and secretary of state pompeo was very engaged and fought for us and vice president pence, we are grateful. there are a number of people in the senate and i can't mention everyone but i know that senator
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tillis visit in prison and so did senator graham and senator lankford who has been involved from the very beginning, we are so grateful to so many people in congress who stood with us and prayed for us and fought for us, so we want to thank you all very much. >> i do have to say we did leave out many people in the senate, many people in the house, you know that patrick, many people have been left out and we just can't go through all of the names but it was everybody who wanted to make it happen, the complete senate, i think we can probably say, richard, this was bipartisan, do you agree? this wasn't just republican, right? but honestly if there was ever a bipartisan event this was it and i do have to thank vice president pence. he's doing a terrific job. he felt very, very strongly about this and secretary of state pompeo, i would say we spoke about this at least once a
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day. >> yes, sir. >> we thought we had it done 2 months ago, sometimes it doesn't always work out, i can only tell you it's better than anybody else would have done. you are going to go and relax and go home and celebrate and have a great life, right? i won't ask you whether or not you are going back to turkey. >> we do love turkey, we were there for 25 years, we love the turkish people. >> that's very nice. >> we pray for their blessing. >> they are great people. i know that. they are great people. >> we would pray for you and pray as a family my wife and i. >> well, i need it more than anybody. that would be very nice. thank you. thank you very much. >> okay. so you can --
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[inaudible conversations] >> i ask that you show us your holy spirit on president trump, that you give him super natural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for the country. i ask that you give him wisdom to lead country into righteousness, i ask that you give him perseverance, courage to stand for truth and to protect him from enemies and those undermine and i ask that you make him -- wisdom and strength and perseverance and bless him, may he be a great blessing to our country. [inaudible] >> amen. >> i want to pray that the spirit of the lord would rest on the president, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
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spirit of knowledge of the lord, amen. >> thank you very much. could i ask you one question? >> yeah. >> who did you vote for? [laughter] >> i knew the answer. >> i would like to say that i sent absentee ballot from prison. [laughter] >> it's a little unfair. i would never do that to myself. that could be too tough. listen, congratulations. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. fantastic children that are still with you, it was an honor. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> appreciate it. again, to president erdogan, thank you very much, to the people of turkey, thank you very much. i think this would be a big step in our relationship, we have had a very harsh relationship over the past number of months because of what was happening and i'm not going to blame fault, i'm not going to say anything, i'm saying this is a tremendous step toward having
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the kind of relationship with turkey which can be a great relationship that i know we are going to have, so thank you very much and, president, thank you very much. thank you. thank you, everybody. >> does anybody have any questions? would you like -- >> what your next plans are, what are you planning on doing now that you are back safely? >> we want to spend time with our children especially and that takes some time to pray and see what god wants for the next part of our lives. [inaudible] >> what was your experience while you were detained? >> i think we will do that in the future, we will probably be doing interviews. right now, we just want especially visit time to thank the administration and people in government who supported us and that's especially what we want. gratefullness to say we love the
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country. we arrived in germany on a plane that president trump sent to take us to turkey, ambassador met us there at 1:30 in the morning and he had an american flag to give us that had flown in berlin and i took it and very naturally kissed it. i love this country and we pray for this country. [inaudible] >> do you think that the disappearance and possible murder of jamal khashoggi had anything -- >> timing is coincidence. i've heard a couple of people say, well, it's pretty tricky, could there be anything to it, no, it's a total coincidence. it's interesting, a lot of things happening in a certain part of the world, you know that, you know what else is going on but there are probably things beyond that but no, it's strict coincidence, bill.
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[inaudible] >> if i could follow up -- >> i have a feeling i know what he's going to be. wait, wait. [inaudible] >> that's right. that's right. what do you have in mind? >> we will be sitting together with folks here and make a determination. i worked very hard to get the order for the military $110 billion, i believe it's the largest order ever made. it's 450,000 jobs. it's the best equipment in the world, but if they don't buy it from us, they are going to buy it from russia or they will buy it from china or they are going to buy it from other countries but russia and china wanted it very badly, i got 10%, almost 10% of the order and i would from the standpoint of jobs, economic development, a lot of other reasons, i would like to do something where we could
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maybe look at other things, i will tell the senators, tremendous order for the companies, it's a tremendous order for economic development standpoint, you look at texas, has big chunk of it, almost all of our states are involved in that order. i actually think we would be punishing ourselves if we did that. there are other things we could do that are powerful and strong and we will do it. as of this moment nobody knows what happened. as of this moment, we are looking intojamiecmcs5195 they will get back and i know mike has been dealing with them, john has been dealing with them. in terms of the order of 110 billion dollars, all they will do is give it to other countries and i think that
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would be very foolish of our country but there are other things we can do that will be -- >> there are many things we can do. there are many things. if you would like to tell them some of the many things we could do there is a big list. >> yes there is a long list we have a relationship with saudi arabia but my preference is not talk about what we do let's find out what did happen first. and his fiancce still waiting to find what happens and there's a lot of speculation but until we know i hate to take the next step -- [inaudible question] >> yes, we have invited his fiancce. she actually wrote a letter to myself and the first lady and a beautiful letter and we have invited her and i believe we
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are working it out wish you will be coming. i would love to have her. it would not be necessary but at this point it is looking like hey, perhaps won't be or isn't around and it is very sad. i think we would have known by then that was our first hope, that he was not killed but, maybe that is not looking, is not looking too good. [inaudible question] >> there is a lot to learn. [inaudible question] >> we are working on that. as you speak, we are working on that. by the way, other people that are in prisons and other countries other than turkey, we have other people that have been there for many years. we have done very well. at the least, 18. and the 18 were people that they said would never ever be
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freed and by the way, pastor brunson was one of them. we were talking before how many years was it? the number that you told me, -- >> they wanted 35 years. >> they wanted him in jail 35 years. we have many people throughout the world and other countries and we are working very hard, this group, we are working hard to take care of this. [inaudible question] >> let me see what happens. what is really best let's determine what happened first. there's plenty of things that we can do that are very tough. let's see what happened first. [inaudible question] >> i have not.
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i mean we have all heard a lot about the audio but no one has seen it yet. we do want to see it. i guess is a combination of seeing it and hearing it may be -- [inaudible question] >> yes, we will be seeing it very soon. [inaudible question] >> no i have not. i have not called yet i will be. and i will be also calling the king of saudi arabia. i think it is important for me to ask him what is going on. probably tonight or tomorrow. [inaudible question] >> go ahead. [inaudible question] >> for a time. we don't know what is ahead of us. i would like to say something, there are other american prisoners in turkey. i know dealing with the consulate there, excellent consulate staff there.
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they were not only engaging for me. there engaging for everyone there. so -- i know this from talking from consulate staff and they will come to visit me that they were involved very much in advocating for the other prisoners there. >> with respect to turkey or saudi arabia, when you look at what is going on in iran, and other places, it is really bad. it is really bad. there are a lot of bad things going on in that part of the world and frankly in other parts of the world also. any other questions? >> you talked about the 19 people that you have seen released abroad paid what did you do differently then previous presidents? >> it is good, i like it i think i can tell you why but i won't. but they cannot -- it will stay
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that way. [inaudible question] >> i did. i thought she was fantastic. i thought the first lady was fantastic last night. i hope i do as well on 60 minutes. [laughter] will you still be sending secretary mnuchin to the conference later this month? >> what you think about that? >> i think we need to continue to evaluate the facts and make the decision. we spoke last night and we will take a look at the rest of the week. [inaudible question] >> we were very tough on turkey and we will take a look. it was absolutely -- frankly, the only deal is a psychological one. we feel much different about turkey today then we did yesterday. i think we have a chance of really becoming much closer to turkey.

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