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

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

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

saudi arabia indicates how weak and uninfluential saudi arabia is. there's no desperate to lash on to 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 s

to see the recent changes in saudi arabia. anybody who hasn't been there in the last five years wouldn't recognize the place in terms of just the public activity and the kind of social engagement and in many other respects. so i'm hoping that a press corps of what will probably be well over a hundred people will have a chance to get some sense of saudi arabia the country, particularly as it has evolved and changed in recent years. to me that would be a nice, positive secondary effect of having this visit take place. >> on a personal note, i first visited the country 40 years ago. i was just a baby. but it's a different country today. there have been many, many changes that are very attractive. we have about ten more minutes so let me ask if any of you have final thoughts or comments about something someone else had said. >> translator: i would like to quickly touch upon one issue. >> we need to move forward towards increased efforts to counter violent extremism through social media and other online platforms. we've seen an inc

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. 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

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 qaeda insurgents and this was all topped off at the end of 2004 with an attack on the u.s. consulate in jed da. i'm sure everybody here knows about benghazi. the fact that four americans were killed in benghazi. not many people know that the u.s. consulate in saudi arabia was overrun by terrorists in december and nine people were killed. so, this left a permanent scar on the state department and particularly on our diplomatic security people. so when i arrived in 2007, i found a security environment that really reflected

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

talk about trumps trip to saudi arabia. >> it is appalling to see trump in saudi arabia, amy, touting when$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 arabia. amy: and the fact that these precision guided weapons that president obama, under enormous eace activistsp and others for selling this to saudi arabia, finally stopped -- the fact that trump has resumed these weapons? >> yes, he has resumed those w

talk about trumps trip to saudi arabia. >> it is appalling to see trump in saudi arabia, amy, touting when$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 thos

he was in saudi arabia. they have just signed this deal. we believe that $110 billion arms deal. weapons package that will go to saudi arabia and conjunction with the united states. do stay close, we're back in just a moment. you hear these stories all the time. am i going to pass away like my mom did? and so you know this is something that's important. losing my mom to heart disease and then being diagnosed myself. it's like a war we're trying to fight against these diseases. resilience is in my dna. i won't die like my mom. it's a big challenge, but the challenge in it of itself is really what keeps me going. i could really make a difference in these people's lives. that would be my dream. i'm in vests and as a vested investor in vests, i invest with e*trade, where investors can investigate and invest in vests... or not in vests. this is my retirement. retiring retired tires. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*tr

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. this 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 o

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

came from saudi arabia. how much pressure does the president and for that matter, sort his staff and sometimes it's the staff level rather than leader to leader. how much pressure on saudi arabia, thanks for the welcome, for the $110 billion arms deal, but you have to get your house in order. can the saudis get their house in order? >> i'm -- you know, i'm not sure. this is such a heavy bar. this is so tough because the wahhabi establishment still dominates so much of what goes on in the kingdom. we're really talking about a country, let's remember this, where there's going to be a toby keith saudi concert. women can't attend that, women can't leave the country without their husbands or guardian's permission. they can't vote. there's no legislature. we are talking about a very different kind of country and it's very, very hard for president trump, who during the campaign talked again and again about the danger of radical isl islam. to be standard in this country and having to talk about working together abou

this president has an aunt too reset relations with saudi arabia and how the american and saudi arabia and 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

in saudi arabia. busy day for john in the next 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 l

it will not be resolved by an arms deal with saudi arabia. what do you make of the president ‘s trip and the fact that saudi arabia is his first stop? 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 pursu

. >> the king of saudi arabia. nic robertson was just telling us, an older gentleman. and nic was thinking he wouldn't come out in the sweltering heat. there it is, the symbolism. he did. he greeted donald trump right at the bottom of the steps of air force one. the king of saudi arabia, the president, the new president of the united states. a handshake. first few words. going to be interesting to see how this plays out. to comment on this are nic robertson and jeremy diamond, both of them covering the trip, first overseas trip of the u.s. president abroad. nic, it's interesting to watch these pictures. you were telling me about when barack obama was here. and it was a different picture from what we're seeing here. >> it was. none of the fanfare. there wasn't a arrival. there was a roster of dignitaries. but nothing to the level of the king. and for just to, if you will, hammer home that point, of how much the saudis are going out on a limb here. all that baggage that political baggage that president trump brings w

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

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

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

arabia, 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

saudi arabia is a status quo power, iran isa arabia is a status quo power, iran is a revolutionary power. saudi arabia sees iran 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

arabia -- a $9 billion saudi arabia and raytheon. withllion dollars deal saudi arabia using boeing and raytheon. tracey: we will be discussing that story more in the show the first saudi arabia's energy minister says all the oil producers he has been talking to our onboard for a nine-month extension of the production cuts of the agreement. willso said saudi arabia not pick up any producers that deviate from the agreed output limit. >> i have not spoken or heard any country against extension. everyone wants to the extension because we realize we're not achieved our objective. >> are you concerned the market is already pricing all the production cuts in? looking toward the market, i'm not looking for a specific price. what we're looking for is an agreement and a consensus and clarity for the market that we are steady as we go, we are committed to that five-year average. opec and non-opec working together and that should encourage investment. clarity of where the market is going so that people invest. i'm less concerned about prices and

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

saudi arabia appears to be a good candidate. john roberts pointed out the symbolism of the president flying from riyadh into israel. that's not without meaning in a setting like this. there is reason for hope, and of course the size of the summit, with 50 muslim nations gathered they are in common purpose and the president leading them with the speech, seems to have been quite well received. so far, so good, it seems looking in terms of impact of the trip. >> bret: quickly, brit, to the nitty-gritty. when the president steps up and says reporters don't leave the room. i never said the word israel about that story about what he told the russians in the oval office, does not step on what's a pretty good message overall for the past three days? >> certainly was picked up this afternoon here in washington by the news media who is on the air all day long. pointed to as kind of a blunder. a cnn noting that no one had ever reported, and i guess john roberts' had the same thing, no one reported israel was the source. as you recall, ther

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

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

neighbours of saudi arabia and dozens six neighbours of saudi arabia and d oze ns of six neighbours of saudi arabia and dozens of kings, presidents and 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

arabia and saudi arabia has been sponsors of terrorism. the president forgot that 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,

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

and saudi arabia. the business deals between arsenal, you know, and economic interests has been going on a very long time. why is this declaration signed today of this vision, strategic vision, any different? >> well, i don't know if it is a whole lot different from what we've done in the past with saudi arabia. obviously they have been a very important partner through various military and nonmilitary conflicts we've had in the muslim world, but the flip side of our relationship with saudi arabia has a lot of folks appreciate and understand, they are one of the main exporters of a radical strain of islam missile that is in some ways been the philosophical underpinning for a lot of terrorism that's been committed against the united states and our allies. so i think cooperation is important and we're not going to throw away the saudi arabia relationship that is very integral and important to our interests, we also have to appreciate there are some really difficult issues lying beneath the surface. they'v

arabia, but it seem as though the president's visit to saudi arabia was framed as a reset of u.s.-saudi relations. fair to say the israelis feel there's a been a reset from president obama to president trump now? >> without a doubt. you heard it at the arrival ceremony from president trump, israel's president said we welcome america back to this region. you had a president for about eight years under president obama, there was a feeling not just within israel but within the wider region, egypt, saudi arabia, you that america had is engaged. now a president who is involved, engaged, who managed to bring all of the sue any, arab and muslim leaders together in riyadh, took action in syria after chemicals were used. now you see him making a stop on his first overseas visit to the jewish state sends a clear message to the world that this president is engaged, involved, and to a large extent like he said himself, has israel's back. >> leland: you certainly saw prime minister netanyahu's body language so dicht than when he met with president obama. very different. real happiness with the

and saudi arabia. but more broadly with as many as 50 leaders from the islamic world who will be here for the speech tomorrow. so, we are seeing a bit of the hospitality and nitty-gritty playing out here in riyadh. >> kelly, real fast. following you on twitter. first of all, it is warm there. i believe it is 109 degrees today. i was looking at the overnight tweets where 1:30 a.m. it is about 90. so, we can talk about the weather and also give me a kick the can down the road for the vatican with you and the information about the vatican ambassador being calista gingrich or the hope to be calista gingrich. >> yes, first on the temperature, it is well above 100 degrees. but, as we love to say, it's a dry heat. and there is a breeze. but, boy, i can feel it from my head to my toes. but, it is also, it also tells us we are really here. and that's exciting. now, on the matter of a u.s. ambassador to the holy sea, which is the proper name of the city state that is the vatican. the vatican is its own country a

arabia, where isis right now uses saudi textbooks to teach their people. so at the ideological level, that kind of research needs to be done. i hope that the saudi takes that as a lesson that maybe we need to start looking into our curriculum. so that's one avenue of correction. but at the end of the day, president trump is a businessman, right? that's his whole thing. and it's about showing support for the saudis against iran, hence the billion dollar arms deal. the speech was very nice, the wording was very nice and yes, the muslim world does need to do more, this is something that is the responsibility of the muslim world. >> did these leaders hear a challenge of what's next? >> i think they did, at this level when a speech is made, it's a very basic generic message and then the details will begin to get ironed out. so visiting this counter terrorism center, saudi arabia, doing deradicalization programs, with some success, it is working towards that direction and it is a message that we hope was heard loud and clear. >> the architecture and got credit f

saudi arabia versus iran. to the extent that there is a problem with a sect here, it's one the president is not going to mention because he's in saudi arabia. and that is that a kind of gateway drug to extremism has been the wahabi islam that saudi arabia is frankly pushing throughout the muslim world. this has been a huge problem. i hear complaints from muslims all over north africa, the balkans, southeast asia, that the saudis are spending tons of money trying to push out their indigenous forms of islam, which are pretty moderate and saying only wahabi islam is authentic islam. so they are in a sense feeding extremism. it's too much to expect the president to say that while he's in saudi arabia, but it is a huge problem and it's something that i hope he is at least saying to them privately. it's really in the islamic world driving out moderate forms of islam and it's been doing that for decades now and it is one of the reasons for the rise of extremism. >> as we were seeing there and you can see wilbur ross,

how much can saudi arabia be trusted? where are the landmines, politically and those that come from attacks with potential military consequences? yes, that's a great question. one thing we know that i've seen and anybody seen in the middle east, when you demonstrate strength, when you demonstrate power, when you pull back a little bit on diplomacy and move in with dealmaking and a forceful hands, tribal based societies respond well. i think we will have a greater engagement with saudi arabia, more engagement directly person-to-person and better shoulder to shoulder and quite literally, then doing the right thing more often because the strongest tribe, the united states is there with them making sure everything is progressing in a direction that we all wanted to go. arthel: john to give us a report on iran. is iran the entry point to better relations between saudi arabia and us? can you anticipate or maybe forecast president to the appearance of a stronger more united front between the us and saudi arabia? >> secretary til

he was even given saudi arabia's highest civilian honour, a weighty thing. a marked contrast to the almost hostile reception afforded barack obama when he was last here. wherever you go in riyadh, this is what you see — pictures of president trump and king salman with the slogan "together we prevail". a year ago, donald trump said in an interview, "i think islam hates us." from the reception he's receiving, and the warmth of it, you wouldn't guess it. the new president's tough stance on iran has endeared him to the saudis and other sunni nations in the region. as part of that, a massive £75 billion arms deal was signed to supply the kingdom with weapons and know—how to meet the iranian threat. and this allowed the president to talk about what he likes most, jobs. that was a tremendous day, i just want to thank everybody. tremendous investments in the united states, and our military community is very happy, and we want to thank you and saudi arabia. but hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the united states and jobs, jobs, jobs. at a news

arabia, the —— the transformation in saudi arabia. this is a country where the majority of 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

i would have recommended that over saudi arabia. it's a different firm of 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

and saudi arabia. culminate in the blender $10 billion on which is spread to $350 billion over the next 10 years in a row focus on that for u.s. companies and president trump as saying jobs, jobs, jobs as well as regional security. it was time for levity in the evening. secretary tillerson, getting really involved there. something they've done this before and even president trump doing a little jig pit that was the end of monday and now we are into the next. the president has been incredibly busy meeting with gcc leaders one after the next. he said he would be visiting him at some point in the future in egypt. he said about president trump that he had a unique personality capable of doing the impossible to which president trump agreed he also met with the qatar today saying he would ask back to our start night u.s. jobs. he talked about the sense of resetting relationships between the u.s. in the region when he talked to the kingdom reign. have a listen. >> the countries have a wonderful relationship t

saudi arabia is the centre of islam. terrorist ideology is spread through targeting the centre of the 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 broth

we know the president has left saudi arabia. he is on route to israel. we expect him to land in tel aviv later this morning, maybe an hour, couple hours or so. so, what are officials there saying, oren? >> reporter: well, look, this should be an easy trip. it's a republican president, it's a conservative prime minister, and it should be easy for these two to get along, and they've certainly sent signals and messages to each other that they look forward to hosting each other and meeting with each other, trump even saying recently that he's a great lover of israel, looks forward to showing that. yet, there have been a number of these you call them hitches or misunderstandings or issues or even worse. one is netanyahu having to order his ministers to attend the arrival ceremony at tel aviv. many of them when they realized they wouldn't be able to shake the president's hand and get that photo op intended to skip. on the american side, there have been far more. first, confusion about what trump tends to do with the u.s. embassy here. is he going to move it? w