saudi arabia seeing their ally back, whether his commitment to standing by our allies, saudi arabia feels like america's back has been turned to them as president obama signed a deal with the iranians. there's a reason these cameras are there, they want the world to see these handshakes and realize america is back on the stage. >> you mentioned these handshakes, seems like a simple handshake but we had karl rove on who has a lot of experience traveling with president bush and he talked about preparation not just on the saudi arabian side his advisers have to walk in the room. another fox news alert, the signing ceremony. >> this cooperation agreement, we saw the bilateral agreement, that is donald trump on the right walking into the signing ceremony, $110 billion deal bringing american jobs into that region by expanding economically into a country that is pulling back and building skyscrapers. >> following a bilateral agreement between donald trump and his top staff and advisors. the package you talked about, $110 million includes services to support the long-term security of saudi arabia

and saudi arabia align on. and he indicated that saudi arabia has been the target of al-qaeda and isis as well and the saudi monarchy, the government here, they are considered a huge threat. the pivot away from saudi arabia by the obama administration is what created the vacuum, what upset the balance in the region. and so, you know, they were saying to me just in the last half hour, that there are so many common issues that the two countries can work on together. and as we're here today, we've obviously been seeing that on the surface. we see all the pomp and circumstance is the term we hear again and again and we see effects out of this, the deals, $110 billion immediately. $350 billion over the next ten years, so, that's setting up a climate for a long-term relationship to continue building, again. and of course, secretary tillerson making a point that american firms will be involved in that investment here so it's really going to benefit the u.s. i spoke yesterday or two days ago to the foreign minister her

welcome to the kingdom of saudi arabia. congratulations on an extremely productive visit. >> thank you and thank all of you for being here this evening and in particular i want to thank my longtime friend and colleague, the foreign minister. we've known each other for many years when our facial features were much younger. we remember those days but we have remained friends for all these many years and now colleagues. really proud to be here today with him to talk about this in the strengthening of the u.s.-audi partnership and relationship -- u.s.-saudi relationship. -- a is a story moment historic moment. the united states and the key number of saudi arabia are dedicating ourselves to a new strategic partnership and charting a new towards a peaceful middle east where economic development, trade, the premises are hallmarks of regional and global engagement and something we will be working together on. this growing partnership is really grounded interest. trust between our two nations that we are pursuing the same objectives

ambassador to saudi arabia. they talked about president trump's upcoming visit to saudi arabia, the relations with gulf countries and spreading extremist views. this is an hour and 50 minutes. >>> ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us to day for this important and i believe very timely event. i'm the charp of chairman of the board offed middle east policy council. it's my privilege to welcome you here for this special program for examining counter terrorism efforts. we're especially pleased to be holding this program in collaboration with our friends at the gulf cooperation council. many of you know the middle east policy council through our four core activities. our journal which i brought a cop yif, middle east poll sichlt hopefully you're familiar with that. our capitol hill conferences which i'm sure many of you have attended, our educational outreach program teach mideast and our digital platform in particular our website which features a lot of current opinion information from the region. ch which

when i arrived in saudi arabia in 2007, saudi arabia was considered a critical risk mission by the state department and what that meant was the level of security concern and terrorism threats, there were no dependents in the embassy, no wives or husbands or children in the embassy. this was in great measure a response to the events of 2003-2004 which was mentioned in his presentation. during that time saudi arabia was struck by al qaeda in a series of well orchestrated, well thought out and coordinated attacks on compounds, westerners, saudis across saudi arabia. we had a large bomb go off next to the ministry of interior building, we are targeted and killed, the most famous at the time was paul johnson who was a contractor for one of the large us defense companies in saudi arabia who was kidnapped. this was a difficult environment. the saudi security forces, having running gun battles in the streets of riyadh with al qaeda insurgents and this was all topped off at the end of 2004 with an attack on the us consulate in jeddah. i am sure everyone here knows about benghazi, four americans w

welcome to saudi arabia. the president clearly enjoying the day and he is at the palace right now which is north of riyadh where he's going to have a big banquet celebration. you can hear drumming and chanting. what is going right there at the palace is something called the. [inaudible] this is a traditional sword dance, dance by men for the most part, it's not exclusively by men but it's an old saudi war dance which is now a dance of celebrations and weddings at the like. today is surrounded by, second ago, this $110 billion arms agreement between the united states and saudi arabia involving a big american companies like general electric, lockheed martin, and others. one of the saw things the saudi wants to buy is the missile defense system. now the saudis want one. it's a high altitude defense that gets ballistic missiles and the necessity of that was driven home as we touched down here on friday night when rebels in yemen fired a ballistic missile at riyadh and it was brought down by an antimissile system

ambassador to saudi arabia. this is just under two hours. >> >> good afternoon and thank you for joining us today for this important and i believe very timely event. my name is richard surer. i'm the chairman of the board of the middle east policy counsel. and it's my privilege to welcome you to this special program on examining counterterrorism efforts. we're pleased to be holding this program in friendsation with our council.lf policy our educational out reach program and our digital platform and in particular our website which features a lot of current opinion from the region which is one of our betterette features. we're especially pleased to have such a distinguished panel of speakers to address this topic. our key note speaker is his excellency ambassador arabian p representative to the united nations. he has served since 2011. prior to this posting, he had a distinguished career in public and private sector. among the many positions he has held has been member of saudi arabia's sure counsel. mayor of jett

in saudi arabia have nothing to do with this. the kingdom will continue to combat and we extend our hands in cooperation to anyone and we welcome anyone who would like to see what we're fully doing. i would like to end here. because i worry that i'm going to give you a lot of information. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> if anyone has a question, could you write it and put it in the air and let our staff collect them. so good afternoon everyone. it's a great plesher for me to be here and i'd like to begin by thanking the middle east policy counsel and the gcc for putting on this event and would like to thank the previous speakers for their presentations. so in the short period of time that i have, i'd like to talk a little bit about the background and give you personal insights into the counterterrorism relationship. and i'm sure it will come as no surprise to any of you here today that a big part of the job of any u.s. ambassador to saudi arabia is countertism and when i look back on my time as ambassador, approximately 70%

will come to the kingdom of saudi arabia. think your efforts and congratulations on an extremely productive, historic visit. >> thank you and thank all of you for being here this evening. i want to thank my longtime thend and colleague, foreign minister. we have known each other for many years, when our facial features were much younger. we remember those days. we have remained friends for all these many years and now colleagues. the foreign minister. we really are proud to be here today with him today to talk about this new strengthening of the u.s.-saudi partnership. as he just described, today truly is a historic moment in u.s.-saudi relations. from the states and the kingdom of saudi arabia are really dedicating themselves to a new strategic partnership for the toy first century. we are charting a new cut for a peaceful middle east for economic develop an trade, diplomacy, hallmarks of the regional mobile engagement, something we will be working closely together on. this growing partnership is really grounded in trust. tr

welcome to the kingdom of saudi arabia. thank you or all your efforts, and congratulations on an extremely proactive and historic visit. mr. tillerson: thank you all for being hit his evening. we have known each other for , when our years facial features were much younger. we remember those days, but we have remained friends for all these many years and now colleagues, and i'm really proud to be here today with him to talk about this new strengthening of the u.s.-saudi partnership and relationship. as he just described it, today truly is a historic moment in u.s.-saudi relations. america,d states of the kingdom of saudi arabia, are really dedicating ourselves to a newstrategic partnership, for the 21st century, and charting a renewed toward a peaceful middle east where economic development, trade, diplomacy, are hallmarks for regional and global engagement and something we will be working closely together on. this growing partnership is really grounded in trust. trust between our nations that we are pursuing the same object

saudi arabia indicates how weak and uninfluential saudi arabia is.o a president who's tanking at home and who's international reputation is in tatters indicates this is a country whose foreign policy is basically entirely failed. secondly, i would just say to viewers, islam is not a religion that's organized. saudi arabia does not represent islam. no country actually represents islam. there's nothing to that. saudi arabia failed in the middle east, it has few sprends or allies, and it's basically burning through it's oil wealth trying to bolster it's position in the region. and donald trump is not going to make this better, he's going to make it worse. we're all as americans and people throughout the world going to be victims of the extremism that he's going to make worse. as an american muslim, that comes back to me. he should not be going to saudi arabia to talk about islam, he should apologize to americans who are muslims, for insulting our religion because he's the president of the united states of america, not saudi arabia. >> all right. haroon,

so when i arrived in saudi arabia in 2007, saudi arabia was considered a critical risk mission by the state department. and what that meant was that the level of security concerns and terrorism threats meant that there were no dependents in the embassy so no wives or husbands or children in the embassy and this was in great measure a response to the events of 2003 and 2004 which his excellency mentioned in his presentation. during that period of time, saudi arabia was struck by al qaeda. in a series of well-orchestrated, well-thought out and coordinated attacks on compounds, on westerners, on saudis across saudi arabia. we had a large bomb go off right next to the ministry of interior building and we had various westerners specifically targeted and killed. the most famous at the time was paul johnson who was a contractor for one of the large u.s. defense companies in saudi arabia who was kidnapped and beheaded on youtube. so this was -- this was a very difficult environment. the u.s. -- sorry, the saudi security forces were having running gun battles in the streets of riyadh with al q

talk about trumps trip to saudi arabia. >> it is appalling to see trump in saudi arabia, amy, toutinghen$110 billion arms deal you look at the history of how those arms have been used. in talked about their use devastating yemen. we also have the example of them crushing the democratic uprising in neighboring bahrain using those weapons to fund al qaeda groups in iraq and in syria, and using those weapons internally to crush dissent, particularly in the shia areas, which is happening right now the saudi e that is getting absolutely no price and the united states. so congress does have the right to him and i would say the armsation, to stop these deals. it did not do it under obama. it is time they do it under trump. they will only do it if we the people put pressure on congress to say no weapon sales to the present regime of saudi i arabi. amy: and the fact that these precision guided weapons that president obama, under enormous eace activistsm p and others for selling this to saudi arabia, finally stopped -- the fact that trump has resumed these weapons? >> yes, he has resumed those

welcome to the kingdom of saudi arabia. congratulations on an extremely productive visit. >> thank you and thank all of you for being here this evening and in particular i want to thank my longtime friend and colleague, the foreign minister. we've known each other for many years when our facial features were much younger. we remember those days but we have remained friends for all these many years and now colleagues. really proud to be here today with him to talk about this in the strengthening of the u.s.-audi partnership and relationship -- u.s.-saudi relationship. -- a is a story moment historic moment. the united states and the key number of saudi arabia are dedicating ourselves to a new strategic partnership and charting a new towards a peaceful middle east where economic development, trade, the premises are hallmarks of regional and global engagement and something we will be working together on. this growing partnership is really grounded interest. trust between our two nations that we are pursuing the same objectives

saudi arabia is a status quo power, iran isa arabia is a status quo power, iran is a revolutionary poweran is wanting to bring down the ruling forces in the gulf. despite all the moderate noise as they make in english to the global media, the supreme leader and revolutionary guard who really run iran, irrespective of the elections they put together, seem, the regime is a revolutionary regime talking about taking down the saudi monarchy for the past a0 years. a lot of the gulf nations share that. they are closer to iran and feel more vulnerable, so they have to be careful. there was a consensus among the gulf states that it is an existential battle with this iranian regime. the fact this administration sees it the way saudi arabia sees it is reassuring. a very brief answer from both of you. what is the risk of confrontation? there will be strong language. is there a risk of more than that? when america is strong, and shows its deterrence, the risk of confrontation comes down. it pushes their regime back into its box. unfortunately, under the 0bama days, the risk went up, they took their e

first top, saudi arabia. why? because everybody cares about oil. >> welcome, everybody, i'm ali velshi. >> and i'm stephanie ruhle. we're going to be coming to you every saturday with a fresh take on how money, power and politics all come together and wu

i would have recommended that over saudi arabia.f islam that's being practiced there. you've got a king who's a rock star in my opinion who really is potentially the vanguard of a new islam in the middle east. so i would have preferred that, but here we are. >> and the president's position seems to be when it comes to this, one, saudi arabia will be our partner against isis and also against iran. and, two, they're buying a whole bunch of our stuff and that's great for america and that will be jobs, jobs, jobs. to quote him. but these ideas, these nuanced discussions we're having about ways to encourage more moderate islam, whether in indonesia or jordan, the importance of standing up for human rights, they do seem, and again we'll hear the speech in a few minutes, but they do seem to be falling by the wayside. >> that's right. and that's where we're all expressing different levels of concern. if you're the white house and you're thinking about where to do a speech, you could argue, you go saudi arabia because that's where there's a

capital of saudi arabia. the u.s.on the first leg of his first foreign trip since taking office. well, his visit is being watched closely across the entire middle east. and there is one key player in the region whose leadership will not be meeting donald trump but will be watching the trip intently. and that country is iran. with more on iran and saudi arabia, fred. king salman are walking into the hotel. back to fred now, in tehran. fred, how is this all being viewed in tehran? >> reporter: iran is the country that is going to be the subject of a lot of the talk that the president is going to be having, not just in saudi arabia. but of course, in israel, as well. iran, of course, the great rival of the saudis in the middle east and the great adversary of israel in the middle east, as well. one thing that the iranians will be looking to here, they're going to see what rhetoric is coming out of a lot of the meetings. so far, they've been surprised how tough the white house has been on the iranians, some of the talk. i

to saudi arabia, enhance our economy, and also enhance the american investments in saudi arabia which already are the largest investments of anyone. the custodians of the two holy masks and president trump had a very, very good and very wide-ranging conversation. they discussed, of course, the challenges facing the region and the world and they began by talking about the bilateral relationship in ways to enhance it and improve it in all areas and they discussed the scourge of terrorism, extremism, terror financing and how we can work together to eradicate it, and they discussed the nefarious activities of iran and the fact that action has to be taken in order to ensure that iran does not continue with its aggressive policies in the region and that iran adhere to the letter by the agreement between made it and the p5 plus 1 countries that iran sees its support for terrorism adhere to the u.n. security council resolutions with regard to ballistic missiles and sees its human rights violations and its interference in the country of the region. they discussed the situation in syria, they d

in saudi arabia.s is his first overseas trip since taking office. >> saudis say they are honored their country is the first stop on the president's first overseas trip. >> he is placing the united states back on the world stage as a global leader promoting security. >> bombshells before the president left. reports that a white house official close to president trump is a quote person of interest in the russia investigation. >> there is a big difference and a long distance between that and being the subject of an investigation. even bigger distance to being the target of an investigation. >> garbage. these are quote, bombshells. no, they are not. they are just more of the left wing hatred for trump. >> american public will soon be able to hear directly from the former fbi director james comey. this is going to be much watched tv. >> long time harvard law professor allen dershowitz says special counsel could vindicate trump. >> no one could point me to a statute that could be violated. >> majority of tr

the reset in saudi arabia. what the saudis need to hear from president trump on his first foreign visit and why it's so different this time around than when president obama visited there. >>> the author of a new op-ed on that very topic joins me next. thank you! imagine if the things you bought every day earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, 2 united club passes... priority boarding... and 50,000 bonus miles. everything you need for an unforgettable vacation. the united mileageplus explorer card. imagine where it will take you. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. woman: for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel bett

saudi arabia is a key to that. we should not sell that short merely because, in fact, at one point or another one may see the saudi arabian relationship at this day and stage as the primary result of the trip. it has to be put into a broader middle eastern balance. this is a very challenging and demanding task. >>> ambassador, i also want to ask you about a report in "the new york times" describing the exchange that took place between president trump and russian diplomats the day after fbi director comey was fired. he told the officials, i just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy. that's taken off. you were also ambassador to russia. how unusual is this scenario? >> well, in private talks, presidents, national security advisers and secretaries of state have always wanted to create and curry leverage. leverage is important in a relationship with russia in particular. so it's not, i think, out of the question that the president was more intent in selling leverage than he was worried about the potential for leaks

when it comes to saudi arabia, saudi arabia has take an very firm stance behind the united states, behind president trump, pretty much from the get go. and in a way you can call it a gamble. it can backfire. it can backfire more in a democracy. you take for example theresa may, the british prime minister went to meet president trump very quickly. there was a backlash when the travel ban was instituted, it reflected badly at her on home. angela merkel, reflected badly on her. they're going to polls for reelection in the coming months. so it can hurt them, but here when the king puts his weight behind president trump. he's not going to go through an election. if there is some bad press, he perhaps believes that he can weather it. whereas, where other leaders and more democratic countries around the world may be more careful about associating themselves so strongly with the united states, saudi arabia, the king clearly believes that so much is at stake that the united states and president trump in person can potentially be a worthwhile ally. worthwhile that risk. if he gets it wrong, he's ta

to saudi arabia and enhance our economy and enhance american investments in saudi arabia which already are the largest investments of anyone. the custodian of the mosques and president trump had a very, very good and wide ranging conversation, they discussed, of course, the challenges facing the region and the world, they began by talking about the bilateral relationship in ways to enhance it and improve it in all areas. they discussed this scourge of terrorism, extremism, terror financing and how we can work together to eradicate it. they discussed the nefarious activities of iranhe

in saudi arabia.xt few hours. he will travel with the president. the unflappable john roberts in. five. thank you. liz. elizabeth: back to domestic news. tractor comey's first public appearance is being five from the job will be the fourth decided committee in an open hearing. tommy will testify between the into russian interference in the 2016 election. he joins us with more on what we can expect. >> lawmakers have a lot of questions for james call me. certainly on the investigation into russia but separately one of the biggest questions will be about new reports that the president asked him to end the fbi's investigation into former security advisor michael flynn. that report by the new york times this week cited a personal memo comey wrote shortly after meeting with president in february. it's also important to note that comey never mentioned this memo or any concerns about it until lawmakers when he testified last month on capitol hill. this morning on fox and friends liberal law professors said t

this president has an aunt too reset relations with saudi arabia and how the american and saudi arabiand whole region focuses on getting rid of isis and islamic radical islam. very important thing. >> i want to bring in alex before we run out of time. alex, we know that the president had been highly critical of muslims during the campaign, and we also know of course what's playing out domestically as far as politics. how does this weigh into the thought process of the saudis? do they look at a president who has just arrived and say he's already damaged? >> a good question and one when trump makes the big speech to muslim leaders s is in saudi a tomorrow. lot of conservatives and liberal will be interesting to see if if he uses "razical islamic terrorism" something he made a big deal about the campaign, before he ran he criticized hillary clinton and barack obama for not talking about that phrase in terrorism. trump plays to his audience. it's something he'd say talking to republicans or conservatives. now that he's in vosaudi arabia will he use that phrase? i think immediately that's a

tent —— of the arabia foundation and i'mjoined by an tent —— of the arabia foundation and i'm joineditting in washington, why do you think that saudi arabia has claimed this prize of being the first stop on president trump's foreign visit? what was it about the relationship? it shows the centrality of the relationship, the enormous importance saudi arabia has for america's interests in the middle east, the need to work closely with saudi arabia to fight terrorism and to deter iran. the gentleman around the president, his advisers, national security adviser, secretary of state, are strong believers in that. that's really what has pushed the symbolism of the trip, it is very symbolic for a president who said a lot of rhetoric on the campaign that caused concern but the fact that he is making this gesture, coming to riyadh now and progressing the muslim world and muslim leaders is a tremendous achievement for saudi arabia and shows that the relationship is very strong and enduring. what do you think? is this causing worry in teheran? i think that the us saudi reset is the more natural e

saudi arabia welcomed u.s.nald trump with agreement of deals worth tens of thousands -- tens of billions of dollars. let's get back to kevin cirilli for more in riyadh. there's so much fanfare around trump's visit to saudi, do we have any indication that his reception there, really a glowing reception is going to detract -- distract from some his problems on the ground in the u.s.? >> it was a glowing reception. president trump met with leaders of the kingdom last night during a very much celebratory dinner. i spoke with one saudi-based ceo at the form yesterday who told me this is a president who campaigned with bruising rhetoric against the muslim community but now they are hopeful he will govern in a different way and they do a lot of emphasis on president trump decision to make it the first country he visits. i interviewed u.s. commerce secretary wilbur ross to get some perspective on just how much of a historic day it was for president trump to the meeting with ceos and business leaders here in saudi arabi

and dozens six neighbours of saudi arabia and d oze ns of six neighbours of saudi arabia and dozensand prime minister is from across the arab and islamic world. lots of talk of new alliances, even reports that some arab states will start steps to bring down the walls of hostility with israel. the talk will be different but the big question, as always, will be actions be different? this is truly a moment to watch. that is all from riyadh, back to you in london. the headlines... the us president flies to saudi arabia but there is another twist in the controversial sacking of fbi directorjames comey. disagreement within labour after the shadow foreign secretary says the party should abandon support for trident. the tories defend their pledge to cut net migration after it was criticised by former chancellor george osborne. the wedding has taken place of pippa middleton, the sister of the duchess of cambridge. she married the financierjames of cambridge. she married the financier james matthews in berkshire. in sport, millwall hope to make it second time lucky in the league i play—off fi

it will not be resolved by an arms deal with saudi arabia.op? it is notjust his first stop but his first foreign trip as president. the last couple of administrations, both democratic and republican, president obama and george w bush went to the more traditional... oh... obama went to nine different countries before he set foot in saudi arabia. a lot of people would say that having the president of the us showing up in saudi arabia, it is an unusual choice compared to both democratic and republican recent administrations and it may fit together with the deemphasis of democracy and human rights under donald trump. we did lose the line for a second. there is an indication that the trump administration is not going to bring up human rights here. is that a departure from previous administrations? it definitely is a departure. mr tillerson said publicly that we were not looking to expand american values any more overseas. each country should be able to pursue their own or reaction. it is more about us policy and interest rather than whether they a

we want to thank you and saudi arabia. hundreds of billions of dollars in investments including the united states in jobs, jobs, jobs. reporter: tomorrow is a very important day for president trump. you mentioned this at the top, kelly, will be giving a speech to the arab, islamic, american summit. if the leaders from arabic leaders around the world will be talking about terrorism and talking about islam. talking about the importance of rooting out radicalism and extremism, saying this could be the dawn of a new chapter in the middle east if all of these countries get together. it's interesting, kelly, that after spending 18 months on the campaign trail and in office, pictures of the president leading the banquet tonight after seeing how important it was to acknowledge that there is radical islamic terrorism that is plaguing the world and those words will not be in the president's speech. according to a draft. it is still a number of hours before he delivers at the beach and it could change but at the moment those words, r

why saudi arabia? >> because you are fighting isis and trying to counter iranians, ambitions aggressions in the region. you want not arab country, the custodian of the two holy mosques, the heart of sunni islam. to get the world's largest oil producer on your side. the israelis were a little bit uncomfortable, but they understood it, they are second, and this is a very important moment and a very important decision. judge jeanine: what do you think of the fact that the first lady did not wear any head covering, what does it say? >> michelle obama did not wear head covering. under sunni islam, foreign women who are not muslims do not have to cover their hair or wear a veil. when i worked there for the first gulf war and the second gulf war, i was not required to dress that way. i think as a woman, though, you have to be aware of the huge gap that remains still between western human rights standards and that country. even though they have made progress, they have a long, throng way to go. but this trip i

sold saudi arabia $115 million worth of arms.would not have done that if he didn't think saudi arabia wasn't make progress in the area of human rights. president obama wasn't stupid. he could see things clearly. the big difference between saudi arabia and president obama was in his attitude to iran. because saudi arabia found president obama to be somewhat naive inover lo overlooking nef activities around the middle east in his quest to sign -- >> i don't want to get into a debate on that. i think president obama was verbal about dealing with some of the progress he wanted to see made about human rights and about challenging that that move forward. that is totally absent so far from what we're seeing in the prepared remarks of president trump. >> well, yes, but at the end of the day you have to look at what he did also. >> since you raised it, let's give the whole contrast. but give me -- enlighten me on mr. trump and his relationship to saudi arabia. >> well, i will. there is actually a zero business relationship between preside

arabia. president trump has a big mission on his first foreign trip, reestablishing american leadership, repair relations with allies were cool to his predecessor, and make concrete steps toward an elusive peace deal. he is also trying to rally the saudis and the gulf states to stand together against terrorism and extremism and to stand up against a common foe, iran. the president left riyadh 15 hours ago for another historic leg of the trip. we begin our coverage with chief white house correspondent john roberts traveling with the president in jerusalem tonight. hello, john. >> good evening. so far, the president's first foreign trip, this went to the middle east, has been a success, citing new economic and military cooperation deals, recruiting help in the war on terror, stoking optimism of a mideast peace deal. about the only departure happened earlier today here in jerusalem. it was one of those unscripted moments, a shouted question from the press that creates a headline when israeli pri

arabia, how much comfort do that given terms of what the future holds, do we work to saudi arabia? >> what is the broad strategy against islamic extremism? one key piece is educating and empowering girls and women. look around the world, women are empowered in civil society and politics, extremism doesn't thrive. we need a powerful alliance with the saudis but we need to hold them accountable and have serious discussions about this one hobby form of islam they push around the world. they made strides around their government but need to make it within their society as well. one thing that was lost in the coverage is then announcement secretary matus made from the pentagon friday that we are going to accelerate donald trump's accelerating the fight against isis as we will not seek to just push them out of locations, we seek to annihilate them. that position of strength will sell well in the middle east. >> the military in that region, the strategic location of the bases we have, the argument usama bin laden used, our presence in saudi arabia was the reason he launched the attack on 9

president trump is in saudi arabia. you know he is putting more money into their pockets because he has not been to any other muslim country. he bent everybody but them, and that is where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from, saudi arabia. i want to see some tax returns. new. day is something when is he going to start acting like a precedent? host: what else do you want to see in the trip, he goes to israel, meets with the pope, italy persimmon meetings, what else are you looking for? toler: he is just trying escape what is going on in the united states for much. another,drama after every day, just a big drama queen. host: george, what are your expectations about the president's trip overseas? from virginia, george is calling from. caller: i watched c-span, all the news, everything, just about every day, and i was so relieved to see a foreign country welcome our president and first lady the way they did compared to our own country, the way you are treating all the presidents. they are treating him as it he is in a prec

and saudi arabia has been sponsors of terrorism.hat last night. >> i think president obama remembered that. go ahead. what about iran being a state of -- terrorist state. >> they're not getting an arms deal, mercedes. >> what i'm saying is here's one of the things they did work on. it was saudi arabia, the fact of prosecuting individuals who are going to be financing terrorists. that was part of the agreement they made during this visit. also we saw the establishment of this global counterterrorism and extremism center in saudi arabia. these are positive steps to eradicate radical islam in this region. now with that being said, this is not what we saw under president obama where president obama decided to stand with iran and basically what have we seen with iran? iran's involvement in syria? seen a stronger russian-iranian alliance and seen the fact that iran basically is continuing to finance terrorism. >> what we did see in iran is they don't have the ability to acquire or attain or develop a nuclear weapon, that is a step in the

, it can help saudi arabia move in that reform. now, the saudi leadership, obviously, is embarked on particularly with the crown prince has embarked on an economic reform in that country that's trying to liberalize its economy, for employment for youth and those measures are not seen by critics of the kingdom. and that's something you're not going to hear president obama raise in his meetings consistently because, in fact, there has been a shift in the way president trump has conducted some of his foreign policy leaders like strong men and leaders in the foreign east and the philippines president, as well. so there is this criticism that president trump, perhaps, is trying to find more strategic interests that work with these countries than to find a set of american values when it comes to the middle east and that region. >> steve, i'd like you to weigh in here because we are expect 9 president trump to ask saudi arabia for more help in the anti-terrorism effort. do you think that that will actually come to fruition? do you think s

at the same time, saudi arabia is sitting on something of a l volcano. there. americans are still being targeted and the saudis are doing the best they can to stabilize. this look at it this way. the problem, fred, is all the violence around saudi arabia which should worry us. syria. iraq. lebanon. yemen, of course. so they're getting it from all sides. and, you know, i've been very critical of saudi arabia over the years, but i have to say that better off than we were on 9/11. >> and when you look at this and you see the multiple screens the king has apparently already pressed the buttons, you see some imagery of key words, words terrorists are using in recruitment on social media, what's the equivalency of this in the united states? would it be like headquarters of cia or something else? >> well, the fbi is for instance looking at sovereign nation, people that are american home grown radicals that reject the federal government and they do the same thing, run through their internet searches and the rest of it. it's a real problem here. you've got to get

we want to thank you and saudi arabia. hundreds of billions of dollars into the united states and jobs, jobs, jobs. >>> nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us from riyadh. is the white house happy with how the first day went? >> reporter: the first day is a win asefined by the white house. that's something they've been sorely needing. the president's experience on the first day is positive, well received here in saudi arabia. the coverage from this part of the world has been favorable. all the lights behind me is because the president's hotel is behind me. there have been many motorcades and lots of security. the president is able to claim this is historic and there are big successes here. day one gives them an opportunity to define the visit on those terms. now, among the things they were able to accomplish, knowing it going in as well. they were able to formalize it today, a chance for the u.s. and saudi arabia to come together on some new efforts to slow or prevent terror financing, also to work on the information part of the i

saudi arabia is the centre of islam.he weight of muslims. we have succeeded in confronting terrorist actions, following many terrorist actions, following many terrorist attempts. we have also helped our brothers and friends around the world to avoid plots targeting the security and stability. dear brothers and friends, in our continued efforts in confronting terrorism, the gcc states concluded today a historic agreement with the united states of america to adopt stricter measures to target financing terrorism by establishing a centre in riyadh to target terrorism financing. we look forward to more countries joining the centre in the future as this agreement will be a model to follow based on air existing efforts in this regard. i confirm on the half of my brothers, the attending leaders of the islamic countries, that we will be firm in prosecuting anyone who finances or supports terrorism in any shape or form and bring him tojustice. mr presidents, dear brothers and friends, in our continued war on terrorism, we confirm

, the —— the transformation in saudi arabia. people are at your age, very active social media, the highest per capita usage of twitter and youtube, is that a lot of excitement about this visit? i'm not sure about excitement, but there is high indeed city, but also an elephant in the room about what is going to happen. there is an excitement, the city is branded with this visit, it's not just a state to state visit, it is for the city. everybody is involved, the ceos are involved, social media community is involved, what do you think the elephant in the room?” guess what he has to say about islam. you worry about what he said before? i mean, he's always unpredictable. though you don't know his stance and the muslim communities, towards the muslim communities. his visit in saudi does determine so much, butjust for the saudi society but for the muslim community in general. we will find out tomorrow. thank you forjoining us out tomorrow. thank you forjoining us here in riyadh. as they won of this first visit is coming to an end, you

to the obama went to bow king of saudi arabia. there is a reason why america aligns itself with them. it is because the 9/11 -- the bushhowed administration -- host: are you still there? caller: the bush administration also wanted to -- uncovered 28 pages that showed -- saudi arabia almost $1 trillion in debt. the funding [indiscernible] host: we will finish out the session of open phones. in our next session, we take a look at how the trump administration might impact not only truckers but the rigs they drive and what they do as they drive along the road. eugene on transport topics up next and later in the program, we will hear from the chicago tribune college -- columnist clarence page. he will make those comments as washington journal continues after this. ♪ the person who is unique, amazing, terrible characteristics were put on to h specifically for me appreciate or unappreciate or

during his big speech yesterday in saudi arabia. >> he helped himself today.ecause he didn't sound like the guy at the end of the bar popping off, he sounded like some one who thought about what he was going to say before he said it. he kept a hold on the tweets, he stuck to the script, and he sounded much different. not only than he sounded all of last week, but throughout the campaign. >> leland: john mccormick, senior writer for the standard, and investigative author and fox news contributor, always news to see you both. ladies first. juldy, you agree with bob schieffer, you did yesterday. >> i do today as well. consistency. and i totally agree, look, he received the royal so to speak treatment in riyadh, because in part the king was so happy to see anybody other than barack obama in his king dom. donald trump is -- >> leland: are you surprised by how universally positive the coverage is in the u.s. media, even publications that give the president a very hard time are very positive. >> well, considering the harvard study said that the coverage of the mainst