eric: president trump just landing in texas moments ago and getting ready within this hour to address a rally in houston attended by tens of thousands of indian-americans. and he'll also get ready to greet the indian prime minister. howdy moti, they really do. the president weighed in on the whistleblower complaint controversy as well as iran which is sure to be front and center when the commander in chief addresses the annual united nations general assembly gathering this week. he is expected to call for a global coalition to confront tehran. here is the president just a short time ago. >> nothing's ever off the table completely, but i have no

intention of meeting with iran, and that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. i'm a flexible person. but we have no intention, it's not set up. eric: hello, everyone, welcome to "america's news headquarters." the british u.n. ambassador is here on that, but for now, you've got us, i'm eric shawn. [laughter] arthel: i'm arthel neville. the president is set to meet with leaders in new york city after deciding to deploy troops and equipment to mideast allies in response to the attack on the saudi oil facilities that the u.s. blames on iran. the pentagon has not ruled out a military response, but secretary of state mike pompeo hoping it does not come to that. >> our mission set's been very clear, president trump would like to have a diplomatic solution. that's the task that's in front of us, it's what we've been aiming for for a little over two years now with the strongest sanctions that have ever been put in place against this

revolutionary regime. you know the history, 40 years terror from iran, an anti-semitic set of leaders that would like to wipe israel from the face of the earth. our mission set is to avoid war. eric: fox news team coverage on all this, trey yingst standing by in the mideast bureau, but we begin with kevin corke who is traveling with the president. -- traveling with the president. hey, kevin. >> reporter: always good to be with you, much more on that as well as the week ahead in new york. but first, we're here in the great state of texas ahead of the texas rally, the president saying that he was certainly looking forward to seeing his friend, the indian prime minister here, actually wrote as much on twitter. let me share that with the folks at home, he said: we'll be in houston to be with my friend. will be a great day in texas. now, those comments, eric, coming ahead of his departure and amid new questions about whether or not the u.n. general

assembly coming up this week the president would be willing to meet with the iranian leader. >> we have a lot of work at the united nations during the next week. we have no intention, it's not set up. we're meeting with a lot of leaders, we have about 15 meetings set up, but iran is not one of them. >> reporter: all this as iran marks the 39th anniversary of the beginning of the iran/iraq war with its president, by the way, eric, promising to propose a security council at the u.n. general assembly, also warning the u.s. not to attack iran. back out here live in texas, as you take a look here, you can see quite the crowd to here in houston. there's about 400,000 families here in this area, home to the largest indian diaspora in the country, and the president is certainly looking forward to coming here and addressing them, as well as the prime minister of

india. should make for a great day. for now, back to you. eric: kevin, looks like quite a scene a. thanks so much. arthel? arthel: secretary of state mike pompeo doubling down on a avoiding conflict with iran amid a war of words between president trump and iranian president rouhani over last weekend's attacks on oil facilities in saudi arabia. now, this comes as world leaders prepare to gather in new york for the u.n. yen assembly on -- general assembly on tuesday. trey yingsts as this story. >> reporter: hi there, arthel. all of this happening as iranian president i rouhani said that the united states and israel are trying to take advantage of iran. you could see troops marching down the streets of tehran and missiles rolling by on the backs of trucks as he addressed the audience. video footage showed iranian warships in the gulf conducting naval exercises. rouhani called on the west the

leave the middle east amid new tensions. >> translator: if you really want security for the region, they should distance themselves from here. your presence has always been a calamity for this region, and the farther you go from our region and our nations, the more security would come for the region. >> reporter: the comments come after an announcement on friday by the department of defense that more u.s. troops are headed to the middle east following a drone and missile attack earlier this month on a saudi arabian oil plant. u.s. secretary of defense mark esper said that the forces would be deployed to saudi arabia and the uae for defensive purposes only. the president of iran arrives tomorrow in new york city for the u.n. general assembly. as ken noted -- kevin noted, president rouhani is not expected to meet with anyone from the american delegation at the event. the americans going to unveil

their own plan to try to take care of iranian aggression. arthel: trey, thank you very much. eric: new reaction is now pouring in following that whistleblower complaint that has raised concerns with democrats on capitol hill over the president's interactions with foreign leaders. multiple outlets have been reporting that complaint was prompted by the july phone call where the president allegedly asked the president of ukraine to investigate the son of former vice president joe biden, hunter biden. well, on "sunday morning futures" this morning senate judiciary committee chairman senator lindsey graham says he's calling on the department of justice. he wants them to investigate the wildens and ukraine. -- the bidens and ukraine. >> i'm calling for somebody in the justice department to look at all things ukraine. we have looked at all things russia and trump. his family, everything about his family, every transaction between the trump campaign and russia. now it's time to see whether or not the ukrainians released

information regarding manafort who was trump's campaign manager, what relationships, if any, did the biden world have with the ukraine, what role, if any, did ukraine play in the 2016 elections. eric: ellison barber now with more from washington. >> reporter: the former vp said he had not spoken to his son about his overseas dealings, but in a july interview with the new yorker, hunter said his father addressed the ukrainian oil company which hunter sat on the board of once. according to the younger biden, dad said i hope you know what you are doing, and i said i do. president trump seemed to mention that as he spoke to reporters on the south lawn this morning and once again defended the call at the center of this. >> i know that before i made the call. intelligence agencies, everybody listening. that call was a great call, it was a perfect call, a perfect call. what wasn't perfect is the horrible thing that joe biden said, and now he made a lie when he said he never spoke to his

son. i mean, give me a break. >> reporter: intelligence officials filed a whistle blower complaint reportedly based on a series of events, one of those being a july phone call between president trump and the ukrainian president. there are some reports suggesting the whistleblower did not have firsthand knowledge of the call, but according to a report in the "wall street journal" president trump pressured president solinsky to investigate former vice president joe biden's son and urged him to work with trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, to look into biden's push to investigate corruption and also fire the country's president-general who was investigating gas companies where the younger biden sat on the board of directors. biden says this allegation is nonsense. giuliani is doubling down. >> not one single credible outlet has given any credibility to his assertion, not one single one. and so i have no comment except the president should start to --

>> this town protects joe biden. his family has been taking money from his public office for years. >> reporter: biden and other democrats have called on president trump to release a transcript of his phone call with ukraine's leader. biden also says that the house should look into the phone call. one of the president's cabinet secretary it is suggested today that they are unlikely to release that phone call. they said that only happens in extreme cases, and they did not think this warranted that. at this point, obviously, biden and a lot of others disagree. eric: arthel? arthel: for more, we're going to bring in republican congressman from new york, peter king. he's the member of the house homeland security committee where he is the ranking member on the subcommittee of emergency preparedness. he also sits on the house financial services committee and, congressman, always good to have you. >> thank you, arthel. arthel: thank you. and if we could, i want to start with iran. we'll talk about the whistleblower in a moment.

measured minds, including president trump, do not want a military operation with iran that could escalate into an all-out war. i mean, so how do you think the president is handling this, and what should he do next? >> so far the president's handling it correctly. no one wants a war with iran, but we can't take the military card off the table. iran, in the end, is a violent, terrorist government. it's basically a terrorist state. so, again, everything should remain on the table, but i think right now the president by increasing sanctions, a very positive step the, we can also hold back in in reserve action against iran. i would hope that so-called allies like france would stop bailing out iran. arthel: congressman king, let me interrupt you, i've got to go to the president right now. stand by for me. >> we have brand new cutters coming, and you've already gotten some. and a lot of new equipment, we have new helicopters coming out

of the budget. we spent a trillion and a half dollars, so at least you should get some helicopters out of it, right? but it's going to be completely rebuilt with brand new ships and boats and helicopters and everything else. so it's really great. big difference between mow and what it was three or four years ago. it's been totally rebuilt can and some equipment is still coming. steve? >> [inaudible] >> well, nothing specific. i mean, we're doing our own thing with iran and with a lot of other places. i think we're doing very well. a lot of, a lot of progress is being made in a lot of different ways. china's coming along well. i actually think that tremendous progress was made over the last little while with respect to question you just asked, having to do with iran. so we'll see. we'll see. it's all going to work out, always does. we get it to work out. if it doesn't, sometimes it takes a lyttle longer, but i get things to work out, steve. >>

[inaudible] going to offer a peace plan -- [inaudible] during the u.n. are you open to hearing about it? >> i'm always open. i have no plans to meet with him, i'm always hope open. we're doing well. they're having a hard time, and i'd like to see it be a great cup. i would like to see iran be a great and very wealthy country because it has tremendous capability, tremendous people, frankly, and tremendous potential. so we'll see what happens. certainly, the united nations week is going to be very interesting. i look forward to it. i'm speaking on tuesday, but on monday, tomorrow, a lot of meetings with different heads of state. and i leave for the stadium, the prime minister of india has asked me to make a speech, and i will make a speech in a stadium loaded up with -- i guess we're going to have 70,000 people or something like that, whatever the maximum is, so we're going to have a lot. the prime minister and myself. i look forward to it. [inaudible conversations]

>> i was asked by prime minister modi if i could come. he asked me about four weeks ago. i asked him what it was about, and he said it's a very big deal for india, and i'm very close to folks from p india, the folks that love india because i love india, and i have a lot of respect and a great friendship with the prime minister. he said would it be possible to do it, and i said i'll make it possible. so, and i thought while i was here, i wanted to see the coast guard, i wanted to see fema. i think you will say that working along with fema's been a terrific thing, right? >> yes, sir. >> they've been great. they've really done a job. and local enforcement, local first responders and law enforcement, the team has been incredible. and i spoke with the governor of texas, greg abbott, who's a fantastic guy, and we will be making everything available. they have a big, big, a lot of water right now in texas. and we're making the federal government totally available, so

you'll let us know any questions, you'll let us know. you know that's happened. and they've made a lot of progress and, hopefully, now it's going down pretty good. and people here just fix it up. they get used to it, they fix it up, and it'll be nice if they don't have to get used to it for a little while. we had harvey and now we have this. so it's tough. but i want to say fema, i want to thank also the people from fema, the first responders, law enforcement, everybody. and, of course, i'm here with the coast guard now, very special people. yeah. >> [inaudible] >> we're going to be doing money, we're going to be doing a lot of things. we help the state of texas. we've had some very, very big events in texas, and we've been there. we've gotten an a+ from everybody, whether it's harvey or any of the other really tragedies, they were tragedies, but they could have been so much worse. and, or frankly, with the coast guard the number of people, when we talk about thousands and thousands of people were saved. their lives were saved.

what would have been the biggest catastrophe really of its kind ended up being not that. tremendous damage, some life lost, but you would have been talking about anywhere from 10-20 or even 25,000 lives would have been lost. so the coast guard has really done a job. >> [inaudible] >> that's right. that's right. the people of texas are incredible. they go through some of these really catastrophic floods and hurricanes, and the following morning they're up working and making it beautifulment -- beautiful. last time i came a few days later, and some of the areas were -- you see people out there cutting their lawn. they had 5 feet of water and they're cutting their lawn a short time later. these are amazing people, incredible people. the people of texas, that's why i'm here today. i'm here for this and i'm here for the stadium, and it's going to be a lot of fun.

>> [inaudible] on climate change. >> well, they've had floods for many years in texas, and they've had hurricanes for many years in texas, and i think one of the big differences is we really have it down to a science now. in the last three and a half years, we've done something that nobody's done. nobody's reacted to hurricanes and flooding like the trump administration, and nobody's helped texas like the trump administration has helped them. we've done a good job, and i'm very happy to do that. very great state. >> [inaudible] worry about that for your own re-election? >> no, i don't think it is for us but, still, you can't take anything for granted. i just saw polled and we're ahead, but you have to always be careful. people think you're ahead, i like the con set of it's in play -- concept of it's in play. last time i won by a lot, and i heard it was in play. when you hear something's in play, that means close, you work harder. so i don't think -- i don't see

how i could possibly lose texas. they want border security, they want to protect their second amendment, they want a lot of things that i stand for. i don't see how it's possible but, you know, you never know. the only way it's possible people think you're going to win and win by a lot and, therefore, they don't go out to vote. so i think we're doing well in texas. >> [inaudible] >> well, he's a very high he respected -- highly respected man, prime minister modety. he's also -- modi, he's also loved in india. he won by a record number, and they have 600 million voters. he won by a record number. it was the biggest election victory in india for -- at a minimum, a very long time. i think from the beginning. that's a long time. he's very popular. the people love him. he's done a great job. and he's been very good to us and me. so he asked me if i'd come and

speak and introduce him, and i'm doing. that. [inaudible conversations] >> well, i think indian-americans, people from india, people that love india, they like trump, you know? we've seen that too. we've seen that even in the polls. i have a great relationship with the people of india. and i have a great relationship with people from ending ya that end up -- india that end up living in the united states and ultimate hi becoming citizens of the united states. it's been great. that's why, that's one of the reasons i'm here. >> mr. president, will you meet with the president of ukraine -- [inaudible] vice president joe bide when you do? >> well, i won't be mentioning much. i mean, vice president biden did a terrible thing the way he put it. i'm not looking into holding him to anything. i'm not looking to hurt him with respect to his son. joe's got a lot of problems, joe's got enough problems without that. but what he said was a terrible thing. and, you know, he really made

it -- it was an offer. it was beyond an offer. it was something where he said i'm not going to give billions of dollars to ukraine unless they remove this prosecutor, and they removed the prosecutor supposedly in one hour. and the prosecutor was prosecuting the company of the son and the son. and you talk about something that shouldn't have been said, he shouldn't have said that. now, as far as my conversation, it was a perfect conversation. it was, couldn't have been any better. but we'll make a determination about how to release it, releasing it, saying what we said. it was an absolutely perfect conversation. the problem is when you're speaking to foreign leaders, you don't want foreign leaders to feel that they shouldn't be speaking openly e. you have to be talking to people. and the same thing for an american president. you want them to be able to express themselves without knowing that not every single word is going to be going out and going out all over the

world. when i make calls though, i know that there are a lot of people on those calls that are listening, intelligence people -- with my approval -- intelligence people and others. so when you're making a call, or when you're talking to a leader of a foreign country, it's very easy the assume that you have many, many people listening. in addition to people listening on the other side. [inaudible conversations] >> well, i'm going to talk about it. i mean, i love it. i would love to do whatever i want to do, i'd love to do it. but you have to be a little bit shy about doing that. it's a perfect -- everything we said on that call was perfect. by the way, i don't know if you saw, ukraine put out a major statement last night said that was a perfect call, it was friendly, it was warm, discussed many topics, and we've done more for ukraine than president obama. he sent them pillows and sheets, and we sent them very powerful weapons. what does bother me is that germany and france and so many other countries aren't helping with ukraine, and we are.

why are we helping and they're not helping? they benefit much more than we do. because ukraine is a bloc between russia and the european union. european countries. so why are they -- ask that's been a complaint that i've had for a long time. you've heard me say it many times whether it's for defense or anything else, why isn't germany doing more? why isn't france doing more? why aren't the european countries doing more? and why is it always the united states? we send a lot of money to ukraine, we send a lot of armor -- at least i do. president obama sent, as i told you, sheets and pillows. i send much more than that. but why is -- why isn't the european union doing more? they have to do more. >> [inaudible] >> well, we're looking at, we're looking at that. you know, people don't like that, and is i don't want like it, the concept of it. but we're looking at it. it's perfect. by the way, the conversation was

absolutely perfect, absolutely appropriate. what wasn't appropriate was what joe biden said, and he said it on tape and i guess he must have thought he was in front of a lot of friendly people, but he said it on tape in front of a small group, and somebody recorded it, and it's up there to see. and what he said was wrong. and, again, i'm not looking to hurt him because he's got his own difficulties. but what he said was wrong, and i know a lot of people are looking at that right now. yeah. >> [inaudible] joe biden or his son's name with finish. >> well, i don't even want to mention it, but certainly i have every right to if there's corruption and we're paying lots of money to a country, we don't want a country that we're giving massive aid e to to be corrupting our system, and we don't want to be corrupt in any way. but we certainly don't want it to be corrupting our system. i've been hearing all about ukraine all during this russian

witch hunt that turned out to be a zero. all through i've been hearing ukraine, ukraine, ukraine, a lot of things came out of you crane. so we don't want to let anything having to do with any of that really, you know, hurt our country. so it'd be fine to do it, but you will see one of the finest, one of the nicest -- if we do that, or i'll have somebody, i'll give it to a respected source, they can look at it. but what i said was so good, it was a great conversation. it was a really great conversation. and everybody will say that. >> [inaudible] >> but, you know, but unfortunately what joe biden said was a terrible thing. what he said was just an absolutely terrible thing, and he used money -- he said i'm going to hold back money if you don't do, and then they did what he wanted, and then he released the money. you're not supposed to be doing that. you're just not supposed can be.

>> is it okay for the ukrainian government releasing their version of the transcript? >> well, i think their version would be the same as our version. it would be identical. but they did, they put out a major statement last night, and in the statement they said it was a very, very fine conversation, and this was no pressure, no nothing. there was no pressure. that was not pressure. i know when i give pressure. and that was not pressure. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you. i'll see you over at the stadium. arthel: okay. there's president trump there flanked by the coast guard there in houston taking questions from reporters. basically, he's there speaking to governor abbott there, reinforcing thorough support for houstonians in the wake of imelda, but he's really there on the campaign trip, he's there with indian prime minister modi who is popular in india, and houston has a large indian and indian-american community. i want to bring back, and this is where -- this is the stadium in houston where the president said he's going to be speaking at the request with of prime

minister modi in front of some 70,000 people supposedly, a packed house, probably so. let me bring in back representative, congressman peter king from new york. congressman, i want to pick up on some things that the president said, but i want to get back to what you said before we, pardon me, had to wreak for the president -- break for the president. we were speaking of iran and pressure on iran, and you mentioned that you feel like allies like france need to join the u.s. with this pressure on iran. well, they're still in the iran january nuclear -- iranian nuclear deal, and that was the whole point of the deal. the president pulled out of a that deal, so why is it now he's going back to those allies for pressure and cooperation with iran? >> well, first, i'll have to talk with the president for interrupting us today. i'll have to talk to him. seriously, i think the president did the right thing in pulling

out. right now we see aggressive action by iran, it's totally wrong for the french president, macron, to be giving $15 billion to the french -- to the iranians. this is just wrong. for him to be giving this type of money to iran, loaning them the money at a time when the economy is in bad shape and we're trying to put more pressure on them, to have macron basically putting himself on the side of iran against the united states. yeah, the nuclear deal was one thing, but when you have an aggressive terrorist nation like iran, france should not be complicit with the iranians. arthel: understood. but then, of course, congressman, you have china and russia helping iran by continuing to do business with them. and supporting their economy while the president is trying to do the very opposite which is to squeeze their economy. >> yeah. and that's why i think it's important the president continue to do what he's doing, bring pressure on other countries to also impose sanctions on iran, make them all binding and let the world know that they should

not be standing with a tyrannical, terrorist state like iran. and that's what president trump is up against, and that's why so many of the american people support him, because he doesn't give in to political correctness, he doesn't just go along with the crowd and say we have to do business with this country. that's the difference between the united states and france. we stand up for what's right, the french make deals to try to play both sides. arthel: all right. one of those two the president's last statements was talking about the whistleblower and how former vice president joe biden should be investigated. before i get you to weigh in on this, i want to pull up some facts that we got from our green room and share that with you. this is from fact check.org, and it stays, however, there is no evidence that hunter biden was under investigation or that his father pressured ukraine on his behalf. and then from politico fact.com, we have no evidence to support the idea that joe biden advocated with his son's

interest in mind as the method suggests. it's not even cheer that the company was actively under investigation or that a change in prosecutors benefited it. so, congressman king, as you well know, the i.g., michael atkinson, who was appointed by president trump, met with house intelligence committee last thursday, and the inspector general told lawmakers that the complaint was based on a, quote, a series of events, not just this phone call or alleged phone call with the ukrainian president-elect. but he did decline to provide the substance of the complaint or whether it involved the president. so i ask you, congressman king, as a senior member of the house homehand security committee, i mean, are you okay with information from a whistle blower that may or may not be of national security concern being withheld from congress? >> first of all, i think this raises very, very serious constitutional issues.

i think it's wrong as a general matter to have private conversations between the president of the united states whether it's donald trump or bernie sanders or elizabeth warren or anyone else. those conversations with a foreign leader being somehow made public. i mean, the president -- arthel: excuse me, sir, they were -- they haven't been made public. excuse me. this is the whole crux of the matter, that a whistleblower, you know, which is, you know, a very risky step, came forward is and went through the proper steps to say that i'm alarmed by what i'm hearing and not just one event, but a series of events. and then you had the dni say i think this is important and urgent, so i need this to be presented to congress. and now that information is not getting to congress. now, this is not somebody who just called up somebody in the press and said hey, i want to leak, i want to hurt the president. this is the, as you said, concerned about the constitutional aspect of this. >> right. what i'm saying is this

conversation should be made known, the facts being given to congress, i'm saying any facts coming out of a conversationen between the president of the united states and a foreign leader, to me, it's very difficult to see circumstances where that should be made public. and if it goes to congress, it'll be made mix. this went all during russia. it was leaked to the new york times, and it all turned out to be fake and false. but the fact is we can't have the president of the united states, no matter who it is, being held hostage that someone is going to be giving -- even the inspector general. the inspector general, again this, to me, violates the separation of powers. the president of the united states -- and except under maybe the most e treatment circumstances -- he should have confidence that his conversations with a foreign leader not going to be made public to congress or anyone else -- arthel: i understand that, you make a great point, but on the other side of that argument is if there is a possibility -- we don't know that it's true, we hope it's not true, but if there is a possibility that our

president used his office to put pressure on a foreign government, president-elect to dig into his possible, potential political opponent, then that's a problem, and that's all i'm asking, sir. is that something that concerns you, that that's what you would want to get to the bottom of? >> listen, if that's what happened, but again, i think the president of the united states has the right to carry on these conversations. and just because there's a possibility that something may have been said that wasn't exactly right, to run the risk of making that public about our dealings with ukraine, remember, ukraine is a very sensitive situation. there's a lot of corruption in ukraine -- arthel: that's how paul manafort got caught up in ukraine. >> yeah, okay, and that was long before he was involved with president trump. that had nothing to do with president trump. if it is true and ukraine leaked that information out against manafort to hurt the president of the united states, then it was ukraine getting involved in the last election on behalf of hillary clinton against president trump. but what i'm saying is we have

to be very careful of having somebody in the deep state, in the intelligence community giving an -- arthel: congressman, i'm so sorry, sir, we have to go. >> okay. arthel: thank you, sir. we'll be right back. >> okay, thank you. arthel: sorry. i'm embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free ♪ not owing anyone anything is the best feeling in the world, i cannot stop smiling about it ♪

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arthel: rein january president rouhani -- ran -yard line president rue hand man condemning forces in the middle east. amid growing tensions with tehran. let's go to garrett tenney following all of this from washington. garrett? >> reporter: iran is now responding to the u.s.' decision to send more troops to the region. at a military parade today, president rouhani warned that the presence of foreign forces in the gulf could cause problems for the world's energy security. in the same speech, rouhani also said he plans to propose a new peace plan for the region in his speech at the united nations general assembly this week, a man that includes iran -- a plan

that includes iran leading a cohesion to protect -- coalition to protect the region. u.s. and saudi officials continue to say that all signs point to iran being behind the massive drone attack on a saudi oil field last week, a claim that iran continues to deny. >> i'm confident that iran did not play a role. i'm confident that anybody who conducts an impartial investigation will reach that conclusion, but i cannot say that the people who are being sent will conduct an impartial investigation because we've had cases in the past where they didn't. >> reporter: despite that, houthi rebels in yemen who previously claimed responsibility for the attack are now warning foreign diplomats that iran is preparing for an additional attack on saudi arabia, that's according to "the wall street journal." houthi claims have long been met with skepticism, but former defense secretary jim mattis says there is no reason to believe iran is serious about wanting peace in the region.

>> iran, martha, is continuing to do what they've done for nearly four decades now. they want to, they want to look like the leader, and they're trying to craft a foreign policy that pushes others around. >> reporter: this morning president trump reiterated that he currently has no plans to meet with iran's president this week at the u.n. general assembly but said nothing is ever off the table completely. for its part, iran has said there won't be any meetings until the u.s. lifts sanctions against iran. arthel? arthel: garrett tenny, thank you. >> this attack on saudi arabia is an act of war with. if we give them a pass, everybody in the region believes that the iranians will eventually break out and get a nuclear weapon, and the arabs are going to go buy one, and you're going to have a nuclear-armed mideast if you don't stop iran now. eric: senator lindsey graham, of course, warning about iran's increasing aggression. you know the brazen attack on

the saudi arabian oil fields last weekend has sealingly emboldened -- seemingly emboldened tehran. the president is expected to portray iran as a global threat and call for a coalition to confront iran's aggression and its continued support of terrorism. with us with more on this big week, we are joined by the united kingdom's ambassador to the united nations, and it is a joy to have you here in the studio, ambassador, welcome. >> thank you. eric: as we just heard, the "wall street journal" reporting that the houthis are claiming there could be a second attack. how would you receive this, and what is your reaction? >> well, i think the first thing would be to warn them off an attack. this is aggression. saudi arabia has been attacked, that was a very serious attack on the aramco oil fields. it damaged the world's energy supply, though not as much as might have been intended. it's obviously violated saudi sovereignty and territory, it's an issue of international peace

and security. eric: the u.s. and saudi arabia have blamed tehran for this attack. what is the position of your government? >> well, we take that assessment very seriously. we ourselves, we always like to do our own assessments, and we're still carrying that out. we think that's important so that when the time comes to respond to those attacks, support the saudi government in responding, we'll have the biggest group of uncountries behind that -- of countries behind that assessment. eric: you're talking about a coalition is and a response, what to you expect or is it too early to say? >> i think it's too early to say there'd be an exact coalition. i was referring to getting a number of countries particularly in europe to share the assessment and then to sit down, allies and partners obviously with the americans and the saudis and work out what is the best way of dealing with this sort of aggression. eric: and in terms of the security council discussions on this, how far, where do you think that could go? >> well, so far the issue has not come formally to the security council. i think the saudi, saudi arabian

official it is are looking at when they wish to ask for the security council to meet. i think there would obviously be a very detailed discussion. the security council follows events in the gulf very closely as we saw with all the attacks on the tankers recently. but at the moment, there's nothing planned. eric: of course, tehran and riyadh are enemies, and they have many reasons. they've fought for years. but do you see this attack as something beyond that? that it is, as has been portrayed, an attack not just on saudi arabia, but on the whole global economy and the global energy base of the earth? >> i think you're right to say that this attack was qualitatively different from anything we've seen in the yemen conflict, and that's one with reason why we believe it's implausible that the houthis carried the attack out. the scale of the attack, the wees used. and as you say, the damage it did or was intended to do all point to a different sort of

attack, a different sort of a threat. yes, i think we'd agree with you that tension between saudi arabia and iran underpins a lot of what's going on in the gulf at the moment. but on the whole saudi arabia is our friend and ally e and we work with them, the difficulty is that iran contests that saudi power in the region, and the difficulty is that while we respect iran, we think she should play a legitimate role in the region, but she needs to come in from the international cold, and at the moment she's going backwards in that respect. eric: and finally, our two countries have long endured and enjoyed this special relationship. prime minister boris johnson coming tonight. this'll be the first time he speaks at the united nations, and he will meet with president trump. >> the first time he's coming as prime minister, but of course, he came as foreign secretary. he very much gets on with president bush. he'll look forward to seeing the

president -- with president trump. i think they'll discuss iran and trade in the wake of britain leaving the european union. obviously, we hope for a strong trade deal with our american friends. we're not under any illusions, america's good negotiators, but we think we're good too. eric: it's going to be a busy week, what are you going to be doing? >> looking after my prime minister, foreign secretary and helping them make sure that britain's role on the world stage, as we hope an active, independent force is well and clearly demonstrated. eric, well, mr. johnson, the prime minister, will be in good hands. ambassador, thank you for coming. >> thank you very much. arthel: ambassador karen pierce and earp, thank you. president trump in texas right now, but later the president will head to ohio, and he -- we will tell you what he's doing in the buckeye state. stick around for that, for sure. also, was the storm area 51 a success?

and why is the site so intriguing? [laughter] y 23. i'm about to capture proof of the ivory billed woodpecker. what??? no, no no no no. battery power runs out. lifetime retirement income from tiaa doesn't. guaranteed monthly income for life. nooooo!

arthel: president trump on the roaded today, right now the president is in houston at a major rally for i could january prime minister mote -- indian prime minister motety, part of a tour highlighting foreign relations. later the president will be in ohio where he will take a tour with the australian prime minister to visit a new australian-owned paper factory in ohio. mark meredith is live in ohio where preparations are underway for the president's visit. hey, mark. >> reporter: hey, arthel, good afternoon to you. we are about an hour north of dayton where, as you mentioned, president trump as well as the australian prime minister, scott morrison, will have a chance to come tour a new paper mill that's being built here in ohio but owned by an australian company. this'll be part of the prime minister's visit here to the united states. it all started on friday when the prime minister had his official state welcome at the

white house. president trump offering up the pomp and circumstance that came with the official state visit. the president will also have a chance to talk more about the trade relationship between australia and the u.s., something the president talked about earlier last week. >> we had a spectacular morning. australia's a fantastic country and a brilliant ally. we just spent a lot of time together. we were doing a lot of deals, and we talked military, we talked trade, we talked about everything you can talk about, is and we came to the same conclusion, i think, in every case. but i just want to say it's an honor having both of you here, thank you very much. you have a truly great country, and i don't think we've ever had a better relationship. >> reporter: the president showcasing the warm relationship between the u.s. is and australia. you're looking at a live look right now of people that are going to be waiting to get into this new paper mill. it's going to be some 300 jobs

that are going to be coming to this region of ohio, again, about an hour north of dayton. the president has been running a little behind today, so we're looking to see exactly what time he comes to speak, but people very excited to hear what the president as well as the australian prime minister have to say later today. arthel: thank you very much, mark meredith. eric. eric: area 51, so what's the intrigue behind that, and why does it capture the imagination? the two folks who know a lot about the secret site tell us right after protesters try to get in. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from anyone else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist. nothing stronger. nothing gentler.

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arthel: of the millions that responded to the storm area 51 call on social media, only a few hundred actually showed up at the event yesterday. but the site still holds so much intrigue for countless fans looking for the truth out there. joining me now is peter merlin, an aerospace historian, and nick pope is a retired u.k. ministry of defense official. nick, i'll start with you because, as i understand it, you just returned from nevada. why were you there and what did you learn? >> i've been up there for three days covering this for an upcoming tv show, and i spoke to event organizers, local cops, people in the local area about this.

can and, you know, there's about somewhere between 5-10,000 people, but they're split between different sites up there. so it's difficult to get a head count. but i think it just shows the level of interest given the remoteness of this area, how difficult it is to get there, it really shows that people are passionate about this subject. area 51 has just become a focal point for the wider interest in ufos right now. arthel: so, peter, why are people so fascinated with all things alien and ufo and area 51? and is there something behind this? any scientific facts or info on the aerospace front that lends credibility to alien sightings? >> well, the secrecy surrounding area 51 has sort of turned it into a convenient blackboard upon which to draw any sort of conspiracy theory. area 51 itself is simply a test and evaluation center for advanced aircraft and weapons and has never had anything to do with aliens or

extraterrestrials. but because the government has sort of hidden it behind this wall of secrecy, everybody seems to want to put their own mythology on top of it. arthel: and that they do. so, and i understand some more events are planned around that area. we'll talk about that when it happens, we'll have you both back. nick pope and peter merlin, thank you very much for joining us. [laughter] and that is it for now, but eric and i -- thanks, guys. that's it for now. eric and i will be back again right here at 4 eastern. hope you can join us. eric: i still think the martians are there. there have to be martians there. we're going to follow this up. [laughter] ♪ ♪ i'm embarrassed to even say i felt like i was going to spend my whole adult life paying this off thanks to sofi, i can see the light at the end of the tunnel as of 12pm today, i am debt free ♪

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babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough are the most at risk for severe illness. help prevent this! talk to your doctor or pharmacist today about getting vaccinated against whooping cough. ♪ ♪ >> president trump is in texas today to speak with prime minister modi, we will bring you the president's remarks from that event as they happen. welcome to america's news headquarters from washington, i'm laura ingle. leland: we heard from the president a couple of times this morning, i'm leland vittert, president trump said a couple of minutes ago that he would consider showing transcript of his phone call with ukrainian leader to, quote, respected source, there are a lot of questions about what that means,