good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington we're looking at live pictures of the white house south lawn where president trump will be presiding over the signing of an historic diplomatic agreement between israel and the united arab emirates and bahrain. what the agreement does not include is a peace deal to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians the president has long been meeting first individually with leaders, those leaders first and we'll bring the signing ceremony to you live when that happens. but first, jon stewart is back

on capitol hill this morning calling attention to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan the veterans are running into roadblocks trying to get the federal government to pay for their health care. >> the only difference between the first responders at ground zero who were particular and dying from toxic exposure is that that was caused by a terrorist attack on our country. the veterans in iraq and afghanistan are suffering the same illnesses and the same toxic exposure because of the actions of our own government. >> and joining me now are jon stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 victims and veterans, and an army veteran who has fought relentlessly for 9/11 first responders after getting seriously injured himself, and

daniel roble robinson whose hus died in the burn pits in iraq. good to see you, jon and john, and to meet you, danielle. jo jon stewart, what is the issue with the health care for these veterans who is blocking it, what are you trying to do to fix it >> so basically everybody thinks that veterans get health care for life but they don't they only get health care if their injury or illness can be tied to their service. and in iraq and afghanistan, the way that they disposed of hazardous materials and human waste and armaments and everything else was, they dug, like at camp anaconda, a ten-acre pit, they poured all the trash in there, covered it in jet fuel, and burned it, 24 hours a day, seven days a week the soldiers were next to the burn pits, inhaled all these toxins, and have developed the

same respiratory illnesses and cancers that 9/11 first responders developed but the va has denied that this is because of the burn pits. so that's the issue, that veterans like danielle's husband who passed away, unfortunately, cannot get health benefits and care because they're saying that the science doesn't exist that inhaling jet fuel -- i mean, literally, the burning gun in this situation are burning guns. they open these toxic pits, and i would challenge the dod and the contractors who were granted sovereign immunity, to prove that it doesn't cause these illnesses. >> i mean, jon stewart, this is to me a really bad deja vu of what happened for decades with

agent orange in vietnam. it's the same issue. the veterans had to prove, and many of them were long gone by then john field, i'm going to talk to you in a moment, i'm so glad you recovered from covid, to which you were more vulnerable because of what you experienced on 9/11. but danielle, i wanted to meet you because you suffered the loss of your husband, and that's obviously what brought you to capitol hill with jon stewart and john field today tell me about that >> yes, he was diagnosed in 2016 with a rare form of lung cancer, stage iv he was given four to six weeks to live. he ended up living for three years. he went through countless treatments of radiation, chemotherapy, surgeries, immunotherapy, and then again he passed in may of this year >> i mean, i'm so sorry for your

loss, danielle how old was he >> he was 39 when he passed. he was 35 when he was diagnosed. >> and to suffer a rare kind of lung cancer and to pass so quickly, it seems to me there is no question that this is the result of his service. john field, you've been through so much, and through a victory, finally, with the help of your friend jon stewart, to finally get more money for the 9/11 relief victims but you've lost so many friends. talk to me about this struggle, this new struggle. >> yeah, you know, andrea, thank you for having us today. and it's an honor to work with jon again. we've been working on this day for so long. but it's the most humbling thing, to be able to work with danielle and the hundreds and the thousands and the hundreds

of thousands of soldiers, ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who protected us 24/7 from harm's way. their stories parallel the 9/11 community with the same illnesses, the same cancers, the same respiratory illnesses i want america, i want everybody in the united states to challenge their members of congress, to challenge their humanity everybody pick up a phone today, send an email, and tell your member of congress and the senate to support senator gillibrand's that will help these families and individuals who are suffering. we need the media more than ever, now, to be our sword and to help us fight this and to get legislation passed we can't wait ten, 15, 20 years like we did with 9/11. we have to get this done now and i gave this woman my promise, i will die and i will give my one kidney, i will give my one kidney to ensure that we

get legislation passed and when this is all said and done, jon stewart is going to owe me dinner. >> so not true so not true. >> there was a moment there, the three of you were having your news conference, the republicans were having theirs on the steps not far away, and they were walking past, and i wanted to play something that happened that really was notable to our producers, to haley talbot up there with all of you. susan zaire was trying to get the attention of the republican members of congress, and she had lost her son-in-law, i believe let's play what she had to say >> look at it. you have no guts no guts at all you don't even look at me. don't tell me you respect veterans because you don't [ crying ]

>> and, i mean, just the emotion, the frustration, jon stewart, the anger, with not being able to get -- those were the leaders of the republican house members, they were going back to their office buildings, talking about their post-election agenda, for them not to have the humanity to walk over and talk to you guys. >> the whole thing, again, is a metaphor for everything. they were up there with a photo op and they had the microphones. we don't have microphones down here it's just family members and victims and advocates. and they're up there with a microphone and we hear from the steps, america is a country worth fighting for meanwhile, the people who fought for that country are down here saying they're sick and dying from an easily solvable problem. we have the money. the money exists in the pentagon budget the money exists at dod. the money exists at va it's just been allocated to

boondoggle projects like the f-35 or waste, fraud, and abuse. it exists in the system. and they wouldn't stop and hear the real stories they would rather talk about the platitudes on america and its greatness than talk to the people who embody its greatness, who are the epitome of its greatness, and who are suffering. k kellogg, brown and root made $40 million in ten years running those burn pits, right they cannot be sued for their negligence, for their open pits fueled by jet fuel, because they were granted sovereign immunity. meanwhile, danielle and her family were put through hell, made to feel like defendants they had to go to proceedings to advocate for her husband's care. danielle was taking care of him

along with her mother, 24/7. the va wouldn't grant them care status it's an easily solvable problem. we have the money. what we don't have is the will, the focus, and the attention, and the humanity to get something like this done we're four wars behind when it comes to caring for our veterans we have veterans from vietnam still trying to get benefits from agent orange. at what point will this system put the burden of proof back on defense contractors and away from the families of veterans? >> you know, andrea -- >> that is the essential question john feal, i want to correct myself, because i misspoke, thankfully susan zaire's son-in-law is going through cancer treatments and has not passed, i apologize to everybody on that.

john feal, i wanted to ask you about the "new york daily news" reporting that the administration has siphoned nearly $4 million from the health care program for 9/11, is that true? >> that is true. i believe it's being corrected if it's not, i'll do what i do best, and that's become a pain in the butt. those members of congress, i walked by their press conference earlier, they disrespected everybody who served this nation with honor and pride and it's time that a dysfunctional body starts serving the american people with honor and pride. they get one free pass with me and that was today and when we come back, we're not going to be so cordial and i'm not going to be so pleasant to everybody. and as for taking money from the fdny program, shame on the administration for doing that. but we're going to multitask and we're going to take care of those in the 9/11 community and we're damn going to make sure we take care of those who served

our nation with honor. they volunteered they went to combat and they came home. and they brought back destruction, carnage, and devastation and they brought it to their families. and we're here to put an end to it and we're here to make sure that congress and the senate does the right thing. and if they don't do the right thing, well, hey, you know what happened the last 15 years with us in d.c. >> i want to make sure, though, that danielle is able to tell, you know, for the struggle that she went through, the va i guess sent you a letter afterwards >> yes they sent me a letter saying i was given a high level of care and that they were still denying it even though it was service-connected but it was not related to the burn pits >> didn't they send you another letter afterwards saying thank you for taking care of our soldier? >> correct after he passed a received a letter from a couple of days later from the va and at the end of the letter, signed by a medical doctor at the va, said, thank you for taking good care

of our soldier >> her husband her daughter's father. >> words cannot express the frustration and the anger that we all feel for you, and the compassion i can't even imagine the fury you must feel towards this system that has cheated you of your loved one's life, and i am so sorry >> thank you i appreciate that. >> you've got the best advocates, your wing men, jon stewart and john feal. and we will be on this we are just a phone call away, ms. robinson >> hey, andrea, maybe when you have some republicans on your show, ask them if they're going to get behind this, and let's see who's who and let's see who does what's right? >> good idea thank you, thank you very much thanks for being with us today

and as we move from capitol hill to the white house, we are awaiting that signing ceremony on the white house south lawn. these are the live pictures. it's a diplomatic agreement, an historic agreement between israel, the united arab emirates, and israel and bahrain. right now prime minister netanyahu is in the oval office with the president he's been holding a series of individual meetings with the two foreign ministers from the arab countries and with prime minister netanyahu who of course owes president trump a great deal for having done major things for israel just before his most recent two hard-fought neck and neck elections including recognizing israel's sovereignty over the disputed golan heights. as you see, there's pictures of the arrival of prime mince benjamin netanyahu, sarah netanyahu, earlier this hour at the white house west wing, with of course the first lady and president trump. and before the signing ceremony

begins, joining us now nbc white house correspondent peter alexander, "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker, and jeffrey goldberg, editor in chief of "the atlantic. the new book from "the atlantic" is "the american crisis," from the writers of "the atlantic." jeffrey has had a number of significant, significant interviews lately, we'll get to that in just a moment. peter alexander, let's talk about the bilateral meeting. there have been a couple of questions thrown to the president, what have you learned? >> that's exactly right, andrea, the president is hosting the prime minister of israel, bibi netanyahu. we're told by reporters that the president presented netanyahu with a ceremonial key to the white house. the relationship between these two men obviously has had its benefits for both sides. netanyahu has benefitted

obviously from his relationship with the president, a lot of them happening before elections for netanyahu, among other things, president trump recognizing israel's authority over the golan heights right now netanyahu has been facing a series of damaging reports not just around corruption allegations but also around coronavirus, announcing a new lockdown for three weeks, so coming here and standing beside the president on a day like this will be significant for him. for the arab gulf states, they have benefitted greatly by this, obviously both of them allies of saudi arabia when presumably gave its blessing for today. saudi arabia has faced a reputational crisis of its own here in washington given the death of jamal khashoggi, the "washington post" contributor. so a lot of benefit for those countries as well. the bottom line is this is a normalizing of relations 49 days out from the president's own reelection, it's one touted

as a political victory, the campaign putting ads on facebook that describe this as the achievement of a peace deal. of course there was no actual conflict, no war between these countries. they have had a de facto -- they've been de facto allies for a matter of years, certainly, in terms of their relationship, their opposition to iran but the president will have the opportunity to formalize this today with many of his members of his administration in attendance, many of them not wearing masks. they expect a thousand people to be here, among those who we saw not wearing masks, the attorney general william barr, ben carson we saw wearing a mask, scott atlas, the president's coronavirus adviser, was here, he was not wearing a mask as well, andrea >> peter alexander to the other peter, peter baker, you and i and jeffrey goldberg have seen a lot of peace deals with jordan and before that,

camp david, the first that i covered at the white house and also of course the historic handshake between rabin and arafat that bill clinton brokered on september 13, 1993, on the south lawn. this is not that but this is something. peter, it certainly is a sign of the realignment in the gulf where iran is a bigger problem for them and they're not protecting the palestinians. there have been no talks at all with the palestinians, in fact they've been completely frozen out of it. this was the original jared kushner plan, to have the president go first to saudi arabia as his first out of the country trip and to work that angle against iran and to really ice out the palestinians >> right, i think that's exactly right, andrea. it's not the same as oslo, not the same as jimmy carter at camp davidin 1979 in those cases they in effect put down arms after years of

conflict in this case israel has been friends or at least friendly with bahrain and united arab emirates now for years and this is a formalization of that it is important because it does show how the region is changing. israel once considered to be an isolated state, a pariah state to the arab, is no longer seen as anathema in many arab capitals the question is whether it will extend beyond these two relatively smaller states. saudi arabia doesn't seem ready to do it itself, but as you said correctly, andrea, bahrain probably wouldn't have done it without saudi permission the saudi leader's son, mohammed bin salman, is much more open to peaceful relations with israel so it's a big moment, it's a big moment for president trump who hasn't had a lot of great foreign policy victories to celebrate on the south lawn like

this he's making the most of it i don't know that it makes much of a difference in an election context, jimmy carter still lost in 1980 after camp david but it allows him to say that, you know, he's doing something of importance, and it allows him to, you know, be a global figure at a time when other attention is focused on the coronavirus and issues here at home that are of more damage to him politically. >> and jeffrey goldberg, the other downside of this, potentially, some people even in israel are worried that this is going to open a real arms race, because there is a separate track where the uae has long been trying to get the f-35 stealth bombers and other weapons systems, advanced weapons systems. we've already seen how mike pence got a weapons deal through with saudi arabia last year that was being investigated by the inspector general of the state department before he was fired

now we don't know what's going to go down with the f-35 this thing is on track, and there is considerable concern about the whole region getting into arms deal because israel has a long shopping list it wasn't just the key to the white house, symbolically, that netanyahu got today, he will get everything he wants in terms of arms from the trump administration, at least >> right the up sides here are obvious. normal relations are better than no relations and so credit where credit is due. two potential downsides, one you mentioned, a further arms race, further intensification of an arms race. the f-35 going to a gulf state is quite something obviously it's not going to happen without israel's sort of promise to the trump administration that it won't oppose that. it's really fascinating, in a way, because i think one way -- you know, don't think of me as overly cynical for saying this

but one benefit for the uae, for bahrain, for maybe other states that come into this, is that israel becomes for them in washington an advocate for their own arms deals if israel says to washington, which has traditionally promised israel a qualitative military edge, if israel says, it's okay if you sell this weapons system or that weapons system to an arab state, the arab state will get those weapons. this is the oldest middle east cliche of all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend the reason this is happening is the uae, bahrain, and israel share a common enemy, iran for now that takes precedence over long term worries about having advanced weapons systems in the hands of arab countries >> and i wanted to note that on the heels of your extraordinary interviews on the military with

the president, what he had said about veterans and -- well, the reporting you did on what the president said about the military being losers and suckers, on the heels that have you had the first print interview with alexander vindman and lester holt had the first tv interview, as you well know, we'll play a little of that in a moment but your interview with vindman, the key witness, impeachment witness, and the way that he has paid a very heavy price, he and his brother giving up their military careers because they were forced out of the white house, back to the pentagon, and then his promotion was not going to be approved, even though it was recommended by the defense secretary. >> right right. no, he is -- i spent a couple of hours with him, he seems at peace with his decision to do what he did. he's pursuing other interests now. and he has decided, and, you know, we saw this in this pair of interviews, he's decided to go very public with his view,

this is not a completely surprising view, obviously, that donald trump is unfit to serve as president from a national security perspective he doesn't go quite as far as we believe dan coats has gone, other people have gone, in talking about the pro-russian proclivities of donald trump he doesn't argue necessarily that trump is acting as a witting agent of russia. but he certainly believes that trump is acting in russia's best interests. and so he's going to be, i believe, quite vocal in the next couple of months about his views. >> jeffrey goldberg, i know you've got to go, but thank you so much, thanks for bringing all that have, and of course your new book will be a must-read as i mentioned earlier, peter alexander and peter baker will stay as we watch what happens on the south lawn as i mentioned earlier, alexander vindman, that star

witness at the impeachment hearings, paid a very heavy price, the end of his and his brother's military careers in an exclusive television interview with lester holt, he described one way in which that experience has changed him >> prior to all this, would you describe yourself as being very political? >> i was completely apolitical and i hope that, frankly, after this, after this election, i could return to kind of my comfort zone, which is being apolitical what i think i've been awakened from is a complacency that everything is going to be okay, that i could sit on the sidelines and, you know, hope for the best we have a strong democracy, we'll live through this. i think i've been shaken loose from that kind of complacency. but my -- i'm not inherently political. i've most recently registered as a -- i'm waiting on my new voter registration card because now i'm a civilian resident of virginia, so i'm looking forward to registering to vote >> do you care to tell us how

you plan to register >> i think those are personal decisions. >> understood. >> i can tell you this, that the choice for me in the election is clear. i'm going to be voting for the other guy. >> democratic senator chris murphy, who serves on the foreign relations committee, joins us now a lot going on today, thank you very much, senator, nfor being with us. let's talk about alexander vindman and the role he played you were traveling back and forth to ukraine, you were seeing what you saw, the heavy russian influence in conspiracy theories being spun and how he stepped into it, and he would say he was very disappointed to see -- he was not surprised but disappointed, he told lester, to see that the republican senators did not step up and have a real trial. >> i think we have to be careful not to normalize what happened to alexander vindman and his brother. he stepped up as a

whistle-blower to simply tell the truth about what he saw, the corruption inside the white house, and he was fired from his job. anybody who stands up to this white house, anybody who tries to tell the truth, if it's not in service of the president's reelection, is going to be not only summarily dismissed but is going to have their character attacked as he has and, you know, i worry that what we said during that trial has come true, right donald trump's not going to stop he sees an ability to use the mechanisms of the white house, of the oval office, in order to try to destroy his political rivals and he continues to do that, whether it be the investigation of the justice department that maybe revealed right before the election about the origins of the russia inquiry or senator johnson's efforts here in the senate, which seemed to very mutely dovetail with russian disinformation campaigns the apparatus of government is now freely available to this president, as alexander vindman warned us, to be used for his

political ends and that has disastrous consequences for democracy >> there has been so much going on that's disturbing, it's hard to know where to start with you, because we've had the distortion from the dni of what is actually the intelligence on who is the worst actor regarding election interference where russia was being downplayed compared to china and iran, where russia is involved in active measures. michael caputo at cdc distorting the morbidity reports that come out weekly, which were the crown jewels of the cdc. no one political was ever able to, and now telling people on facebook that they should arm themselves if donald trump loses, if the election is stolen, and get ready for trying

to take back the white house what is going on in our country right now? >> well, first of all, michael caputo has to go you cannot encourage the armed insurrection of americans against the government and have a job in this administration but you opened talking about the withholding of information about election interference by the intelligence community from the public and i have been waging a consistent battle to try to get od&i to make public more information and to stop their political spin as you referenced, right now the white house wants to make you think that the russians and the iranians and the chinese are all the same, that yeah, the russians want donald trump to win but we think the iranians and the chinese, they might want joe biden to win and so it's all a wash that's not true. the only country that has the intent and the capability to steal a u.s. election are the

russians and they are actively interfering in a way that may dwarf what they did in 2016. the administration is trying to put this fog on election interference to make everything think that what the russians are doing is different than anybody else it's not apples to oranges, it's apples to fire trucks. it's not comparable. and the intelligence community has to make that clear >> i want to also show you what the president said about climate change, still denying, in california on monday, when he was challenged by the health and climate official, california state official in that briefing with governor newsom let's watch. >> it will start getting cooler. you just watch >> i wish science agreed with you. >> i don't think science knows, actually >> he's already rolled back the obama era environmental regulations, especially in california, on clean air

and he's still denying the climate effect we've got a hurricane about to hit the gulf coast tonight, slowly moving, which could make it more dangerous in terms of the water, the rain, the surge and look at what is happening to the west coast and it is undeniable, according to any scientist, any credible scientist, to say nothing of what's happening with covid-19 >> it's going to get cooler? that's bananas this president is fundamentally divorced from reality, he's not right, right and we've got to call it like it is climate change is here it is ruining our country. it is costing lives. never mind the giveaway on the economy. if you don't get serious about climate change, yeah, your nation is going to be imperilled, but you're also forsaking literally millions of jobs in clean energy technology that right now the chinese and the japanese and the germans are taking and so even if you think it's

going to get cooler, put the money into climate change because you want to create jobs for the 10 million people, for the 10% of the american people that's out of work today because the trump administration botched covid response so i know sometimes we laugh when we hear the president say these things but he's killing people. he's killing people. he's killing people by not responding to the covid crisis he's killing people by refusing to confront climate change and at some point we have to wrap our heads around the fact that this may not be accidental, that some of this may be willful. >> senator murphy, thank you so much we have to leave it there. we are still waiting for president trump, of course, and we'll bring that to you live thank you, senator as we mentioned, as i was just discussing with the senator, two natural disasters, millions of americans in their paths, down south hurricane sally closing in on the gulf coast, out west the wildfires threatening more land. we are live in california and along the gulf coast, next stay with us, you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on nbc. >> tech: when you've got auto glass damage...

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firefighters across the west coast are battling shifting winds and dry weather, sparking new fire fronts at 4.6 million

acres have already burned. hundreds of thousands are forced to evacuate. the air quality in the west is among the worst in the world in california there are 28 major wildfires burning right now including one near fresno where vice presidential candidate kamala harris is meeting with emergency responders later today. joining me now, nbc's vaughn hillyard in toll house, california is there any progress is getting control of these fires >> reporter: you said it, andrea, there's more than 25 fires just across the state of california in the state of washington, there's ten afctive wildfires, ten states in all in which wildfires are taking place you see crews just getting off a 12-hour shift last night i have fire departments from palo alto, mountain view fire department, san jose i saw several crews from amarillo, texas. this is a situation in which essentially you have rural communities here that are being aided by a lot of these urban

fire departments, because this is a real crisis, communities have been lost one family that erin mclaughlin talked with earlier today, take a listen >> it doesn't feel real because i'm having deja vu so bad from the camp fire, this is what happened last time, to tell them, this is the same thing that happened, they look at us, like, what and i don't even understand it, how am i supposed to explain it to children? but we did it last time, so we'll do it again. >> reporter: andrea, senator harris, just one day after president trump came into california, will be here this afternoon with governor newsom we're 45 minutes outside of fresno where there is the creek

fire as you can see from the smoke here, it's only 16% contained. but already it's burned 332 square miles and there's questions about the wind and the weather here in what the future looks like as these crews continue, andrea >> thank you so much, vaughn the resilience of those people is just inspiring. i don't know how they do it. let's turn to the gulf coast, where people are also threatened a different climate issue, of course, hurricane sally. the worst hurricane season we've seen in years. now a category 1 storm, crawling towards the coast, expected to make landfall late tonight or early tomorrow nbc's chris jansing joins me now from alabama chris jansing, already they're feeling that on the alabama coast, oh, my gosh >> reporter: yeah, it's really starting to pick up here just the last couple of minutes, it's picked up this should all be beach here, andrea i've been here during the

season this is a gorgeous part of the country. but obviously in hurricane season, this is often what you get. the big concern here right now is going to be just how slow-moving that system is as you mentioned, it's going to be two miles an hour you and i could walk faster than that which means it could sit over this area and dump rain for as long as 12 hours that means 24, 30 inches in some places, of rain. and that's the potential for heavy flooding, for storm surge. here in goin gulf shores, drivin we saw some traffic but not much at all there was a voluntary evacuation in place there is no indication that the three area shelters that have been set up are getting any kind of traffic yet but let me come out here where you see, i think you can see behind me just how much this surf has really come up. and we are not expecting the worst of the rain and the surf

according to the latest forecast, it will start to pick up at 5 or 6:00 this afternoon then, saucas you said, overnigh or 2:00 in the morning all the emergency crews are standing by, there's an emergency declaration in the county, an emergency declaration in the state everybody has been holding briefings. we've been getting some wind gusts -- there goes one right now, where it feels like you're getting a little bit of acupuncture. that's not the big concern they've had destructive winds here i think in ivan, 2004, 200-mile-per-hour winds. they're expecting 70 to 80 miles per hour, so not that kind of destruction. the real problem here, andrea, is definitely going to be the rain just how long it sticks around, and the possibility for as much as a seven-foot storm surge, andrea

>> chris jansing, thank you so much, chris. >> reporter: there it goes >> they're already on sally, the s's, and it's only early in the hurricane season they'll go to the greek alphabet next, apparently, when they get through the w's. meanwhile, today, joe biden is in florida for the first time after polling that shows he's really lagging behind the president and hillary clinton's support among hispanic voters, many of whom have been waiting for him to show up joining me is garrett haake in florida, fwgarrett, he's targetn specific communities, particularly puerto rican communities, but not in miami. >> reporter: andrea, to be clear, biden does lead with hispanic voters in the state of florida but not by the margin that hillary clinton did, and that's an issue of concern when you have a state that's decided by less than a percentage point, everything is done on the margins here

you talk about targeting hispanic voters, they're not monolithic in the state of florida. biden is in tampa first today, then in the orlando area with this event marking hispanic heritage month and the cuban-american voters who are based largely in southern florida do tend to have a more republican lean the biden campaign is targeting not just them, kamala harris was there last week, but members of the puerto rican do iaspordiasp voters from south america, latin america, and they know the importance of pushing back against attacks from the trump campaign, labeling him as a socialist or sympathizing with socialists, because these people are more familiar with actual socialist regimes. biden's backers here recognize

the importance of him getting on the ground in person here is what a biden supporter told me yesterday. >> i think the biden campaign and all democrats have woken up and smelled the conleche it's important that you be present and here >> reporter: andrea, i could probably interview a biden surrogate from each area in florida that would say the same thing. florida, a win here for biden almost forecloses the path for trump to win the white house >> absolutely, no more place for him to be if there's any chance of winning than florida, he really needs to get there and do something more with that community in particular. garrett, thank you so much as we head back to the white house now, and the signing ceremony which is supposed to be starting very briefly, peter

alexander, peter baker peter baker, when you look at the middle east and the way it's shaped, there's a lot of criticism on all sides with the palestinians and their poor leadership, poorly-organized leadership, but certainly in my experience, traveling with the vice president to the region with the secretary of state to the region, and the president, the first year of his first visit there, to israel, after going to saudi arabia, they have just kept the palestinians out of it. they've refused to meet with them they've taken away all the united nations relief for palestinian refugee camps, they've zeroed all of that out they've put no sign of putting any effort into that relationship while they've worked so hard, successfully, with the gulf leaders. >> that's exactly right. there was an initial burst of enthusiasm between the trump administration and the palestinians that didn't last beyond a few months. there was a quick falling-out

and has gotten worse and worse over the ensuing years the trump administration shut down the palestinian office in washington, cut off aid, and has rewarded netanyahu's government with a lot of things that it wanted and the palestinians have refused to engage with the trump administration, from its point of view, as long as things are going the way they are so each side can point at the other and say they're at fault, but there's no dialogue and therefore no peace the president came in and said i'm going to make middle east peace. he was talking about the classic israel/palestinian cancer that has been tearing away at that region for decades what they've decided to do is bypass that, move beyond that, and arab states have been doing that as well [ inaudible ] palestinian dispute. they find israel probably a more useful partner in their larger concern which is the alliance and alignment against iran

>> and in that alliance, of course, the other major player, saudi arabia, at war with iranian proxies in yemen, brutal civil war, and saudi arabia is not present today, they are hoping to try to get saudi arabia into the fold let's talk about that for a moment, because the de facto leader is not king salman but it is mbs, and the fact that the crown prince now is really running the country, and is having some difficulties on a lot of fronts, but is getting such a pass from the president remember what we read in the woodward book where the president was actually bragging about having saved mbs's, you know, i'll paraphrase, rear end, over the whole killing, the gruesome killing of the "washington post" contributor,

jamal khashoggi. and the fact that the cia has said with high confidence that it was the crown prince himself who was behind -- the brain behind that terrible, terrible murder >> right, well, president trump came in deciding from the beginning that he was going to be close friends with saudi arabia, even at the expense of concerns over human rights like the khashoggi killing. as you pointed out, he made saudi arabia his very first stop overseas when he became president. that's very unusual for an american president he defended them during the khashoggi episode. he's talked about the arms sales to the saudis being of significant economic benefit to the united states. and, you know, it's symbolic of the realignment, the gulf arab states are pre emineeminent in country's policy towards the middle east. and to the extent that it shows you how things have changed, i

mean, president trump didn't change the region in that regard he found it changing already when he got there and he continued to accelerate it and i think the arab states are happy to go along with him in that regard. >> and the irony is, peter alexander, who is there amongst the crowd there on the south lawn in the press area, the irony there is that the saudis and others in the region, the golf regi gulf region, had turned away from president obama they felt president obama and his national security team really let them down over the war in syria when they did not retaliate for the chemical weapons usage in syria and when they gave up on president obama, they certainly turned to the incoming president, trump so that was a confluence of beliefs. and the irony there of course is that president trump is now positioning himself to withdraw troops, and he's talking about withdrawing troops from the

middle east. it's not clear what he means beyond iraq and afghanistan, which he certainly telegraphed certainly today's agreements do not presage any withdrawal of troops because the only troops in the immediate area are really the multinational forces, the u.s. contributions to the u.n. peace keepers who have been there for decades and decades. r for decades and decades. >> of course, what these countries share today, the united arab emirates, bahrain and israel is a shared view that iran is their enemy. and the timing of this just seven weeks out from election also reinforces the concerns that exist among those countries that if donald trump does not return as president in a second term, the policies of this administration, as it would be president obama's former vice president joe biden who would then move in to the white house would certainly be different than that of the trump administration, that he might try to re-engage iran, obviously, was under this administration the iran nuclear deal was withdrawn

the united states withdrawing from that deal so that's a significant backdrop to this as well. as we await the visit from the four leaders, president trump now guiding those leaders down the colennade into the residence. thaibl they'll be arriving behind me, about an hour behind the scene here is a dramatic one. about a thousand people for what this white house is selling as an historic breakthrough and it's not insignificant by any means but, obviously, and we heard this from jared kushner earlier today as he was pressed on some of the television channels about sort of how this fits into the broader middle east peace he said in his language was, that middle east peace as it related to the issues of jerusalem, and the palestinians, was not as complicated as many people have said but it does certainly -- this does certainly complicate things as it relates to the palestinians right now who view this as a major betrayal they feel betrayed by bahrain, by the united arab emirates and

the al aqsa mosque, the status of jerusalem and the issue of the palestinian state they've so long desired as well, andrea >> we should also point out the 5th fleet is based in bahrain. it's a major naval base for u.s. forces they are still going to want, presumably, to keep all of that in place because that is their bulwark against what they view as the hostility from iran when you look around the south grounds today, which was, of course, the site of the republican national convention's wrap-up night, now restored because of all the damage done to the turf by that event and other events in the rose garden, when you look around, do you see any masks as the president is being introduced, and i think they're going to walk down the steps. >> they're introducing the first lady and sarah netanyahu right now behind us. but it's notable what you mention about the wearing of masks. there are about 1,000 people

here they're certainly not socially distanced. the seats are as close together as they would be pre-pandemic or perhaps post pandemic. many wearing masks but some of the top figures you'd recognize the faces of are not steve mnuchin was not. the attorney general william barr was not leader kevin mckaertcarthy, the leader in the house of representatives was not. sort of a striking backdrop as it relates to the backdrop but the president hoping to focus on a different issue today that he thinks will serve him politically beneficially trying to cast him less as erratic, bellicose, predictable leader when it relates to foreign policy and one who as he'll present today will preside what they are casting as an historic moment >> melania trump notably, and we know that she views fashion in a symbolic way very often wearing blue and white which are the colors of israel, the colors of the israeli flag it's also notable that democrats

were supposedly invited today. that would be the first time that democrats in years have been invited to the white house, which they always traditionally have been. we're hearing "hail to the chief" and believe the leaders are going to come down those steps from the blue room balcony. >> accompanied by the prime minister of the state of israel. >> i don't know if you can see any democratic leaders, but traditionally, certainly in the past, there have always been democrats invited and attending. i don't know if they were just invited and not attending. but that would be something to report later also we've not seen the text of these agreements the uae's agreement was done earlier, several weeks earlier than bahrain so we don't know that is supposedly more detailed as we see this very ceremonial approach the president at the podium.

>> thank you very much please, thank you. the first lady and i are honored to welcome to the white house prime minister netanyahu of israel and mrs. netanyahu thank you so much. thank you, sarah and foreign minister abdullah bin zayid, united arab emirates. uae, thank you very much and foreign minister abdul azazz we're here this afternoon to change the course of history after decade of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new middle east. thanks to the great courage of

the leaders of these three countries, we take a major stride toward a future in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity these visionary leaders will sign the first two peace deals between israel and the arab state in more than a quarter century. in israel's entire history there have been only two such agreements now we've achieved two in a single month and there are more to follow israel, the united arab emirates and bahrain will establish embassies, exchange ambassadors and begin the cooperate -- and work together to cooperate as partners across the broad range of sectors from tourism to trade

and health care to security. they are going to work together. they are friends the abraham accord open the doors for muslims around the world to visit the historic sites in israel and to peacefully pray at al aqsa mosque in jerusalem, the third holiest site in islam. they'll serve as a foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region. something which nobody thought was possible, certainly not in this day and age maybe in many decades from now but one founded on shared intere interests. to our honored guests from israel, the united arab emirates and bahrain, congratulations on this outstanding achievement congratulations.

fantastic. i also want to thank vice president mike pence thank you, mike. great job. secretary of state mike pompeo mike, thank you very much. national security adviser robert o'brien. robert, thank you. mr. jared kushner. thank you very much. ambassador brian hook, thank you very much, brian thank you. and avi berkowitz. thank you very much. i also want to give a very special thanks he's been an incredible ambassador to israel, david

freedm freedman that's a very great group of people, great group of patriots. they worked so hard, and again, nobody thought it could happen, and they thought it could happen they never even doubted it i want to thank you all very much thank you. for generations, the people of the middle east have been held back by old conflicts, hostilities, lies, treacheries, so many things held them back. actually lies that the jews and arabs were enemies and that al aqsa mosque was under attack, constantly they would say it was under attack these lies passed down from generation to generation fueled a vicious cycle of terror and violence that spread across the region and all over the world. these agreements prove that the nations of the region of breaking free from the failed

approaches of the past today's signing sets history on a new course, and there will be other countries very, very soon that will follow these great leaders. the people of the middle east will no longer allow hatred of israel to be fo momented as an excuse for radicalism or extremism. so important and they'll no longer allow the great destiny of their region to be denied. on my first foreign trip as president, i had the honor of addressing the leaders of more than 54 arab and muslim nations in saudi arabia. my message that day was very simple i urged the nations of the middle east to set aside their differences, unite against the common enemy of civilization and work together toward the noble aims of security and prosperity. i offered america's friendship

i offered america's help but i said clearly that th