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Connect the World
U.S. and UK Reach $42 Billion "Tech Prosperity Deal"; Palestinians Flee as IDF Says Gaza City Ground Operation to Take "Several Months"; Sources: TikTok in U.S. to be Operated by Group of Investors; U.S. President to Meet with British Prime Minister Today; Trump Makes Unprecedented Second State Visit to UK. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired September 17, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Hello, and welcome to a special edition of "Connect the World" on this busy Wednesday. We're
keeping a close eye on Gaza City, where thousands are fleeing as the IDF claims to be launching its incursion there.
And the stock futures markets holding steady ahead of a big U.S. interest rate decision in the hours ahead. I'm Becky Anderson for you in Abu Dhabi.
ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: And I'm Isa Soares in Windsor, where Donald Trump is on an unprecedented second state visit to the United Kingdom. Thank you,
Becky. We'll be back with you in a few minutes from now, for all that are headlines and, of course, much more, as you heard there from Becky.
But taking you right here to Windsor, bringing you in because there has been no shortage of pageantry here today, with Mr. Trump arriving in
Windsor just a few hours ago. And he was greeted by King Charles and Queen Camilla, along with the Duke and the Duchess of Windsor.
The royal family are pulling out all the stops for the president's visit. Have a look. And the U.S. National Anthem you heard there was played for
the arrival ceremony after a carriage procession through the grounds of Windsor Castle. The day, as you can imagine, now, packed with meetings and
events and lunches and dinners.
We must say, not everyone, though, is happy here in London about the visit. These images we're showing you, we're about to show you of the president
with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, were projected onto the castle shortly after he touched down in the United Kingdom, you're seeing them
now.
Police, though, were very quick to take those down and arrested four people on suspicion of involvement. But it's this sort of thing that I'm sure the
UK government the royal family want to avoid at all costs of course. Sir Alan Duncan is the Former UK Minister of State for Europe and the Americas
under the first Trump presidency, and he joins me now live from London.
Alan Duncan, thank you very much for being with us. The day so far has been pretty spectacular. We've seen the pomp. We've seen the pageantry. The
choreography has been spotless. What do you think that President Trump wants to get out first of all of today's state visit.
ALAN DUNCAN, FORMER BRITISH MINISTER OF STATE FOR EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS: Well, I think he probably wants the dignity and the recognition of being
the only president to have had need anybody to have had a second state visit. I think that what we have laid on has been absolutely amazing. It
is, I think, the biggest display of ceremonial troops that we have seen.
I think he is going to be happier than a youngster in Disney World. Frankly, I think I hope that he is enjoying it, and I hope the First Lady
is due. So, I hope this demonstrates that there is a special relationship between the UK and the U.S., but also, actually on a personal level between
the president and the king.
And I think that he really is behaving impeccably. I think tonight's banquet will be absolutely amazing. So, I think these 48 hours will be sort
of heavy on dignity, politeness, friendship and light on politics, which is probably the way it should be. But there will be some politics tomorrow
when the president goes to checkers, which is the country home of the prime minister.
SOARES: Yeah, today really is about, Alan, you know this lavish hospitality, and we know how much, of course, the U.S. President, how much
he loves the royal family. He's an ardent, of course, anglophile. What do you think, then, as we look ahead in terms of Britain's role soft power
here.
The UK, will want to get out of this, because, as you said, tomorrow we focus on very much on foreign policy or on economy for the UK. What do you
think that can achieve you think the next kind of 24 to 48 hours?
DUNCAN: Well, I think most of what might result from this visit will follow afterwards, really, rather than within the 24 hours. We hope that the
president will leave with a glow of pleasure and happiness about the way he's been received and treated, and I'm sure he will.
There will be some politics tomorrow. I think, obviously trade is on the agenda. There are quite a lot of business people from the U.S. who have
accompanied it. That's good. I think there will be some talk about Ukraine. I think that is inevitable.
[09:05:00]
I mean, the big one that will be missing, even though it's the most important issue in the world, because it's quite toxic, is discussion about
Israel's conduct in Gaza. But I hope that at the end of this, there might be just a gentle comment to say, Mr. President, I hope you will think about
this further, because what is happening cannot go on.
SOARES: Yes, and I wonder whether we see more of that tomorrow and sir Alan, especially when there's a press conference where this opportunity for
the British media to press, of course, the U.S. President on this, but today, as we're looking these pictures, is very much about the pageantry.
DUNCAN: Yeah.
SOARES: And I wonder what kind of relationship you think, Alan, that we will likely to see and the rapport between the U.S. President and, of
course, the king, because they're so different, aren't they both men? But they've had, as we know, very strong rapport in the past. So, the
differences unite them in some way, you think?
DUNCAN: Yeah. And I'd add to that, our Prince of Wales, Prince William, who has really sort of stepped up brilliantly into the role of being a senior
diplomat.
SOARES: Yeah.
DUNCAN: Look, I think that sort of mutual respect and dignity is very, very important for us, by the way, I think you put your finger on it. I mean,
these visits are very, very carefully organized, and they're sort of hermetically sealed from any kind of awkward public demonstration, but the
awkward moment is the press conference, I think.
Because not only can that raise issues of foreign policy between the U.S. and the UK. It may be that some people will talk ask questions of the
president about what's going on in the United States. And, you know, so it is sort of open season for that little bit of the 48 hours when you have a
press conference.
So that, I think is, is the danger moment for anyone who wants to, you know, throw a grenade into the works and spoil it, if you like.
SOARES: Yeah.
DUNCAN: But that is free speech and open government, so that's part and parcel of the structure.
SOARES: Yeah, and he's talked about hermetically sealed. I mean, it is a moment made for TV, isn't it, sir Alan?
DUNCAN: Yeah.
SOARES: Because, as we have seen, the presidents very much shielded from a lot of these protests. Of course, we saw him coming in carriage, but that's
within the grounds. So, he wouldn't have seen you both see perhaps any of these protests. Or indeed, the images we were just talking before we came
to you, of a photo that was put on the walls here Windsor Castle, Jeffrey Epstein.
Those are the sort of moments that I'm sure the British government, the royal family, will try to avoid, will want to avoid.
DUNCAN: Yeah. I mean, look, we're focusing on the dignified and the ceremonial and the friendly side of this. And so yes, I hope the president
will feel very happy at the end of it. But you know, this is also a statement about the UK.
SOARES: Yeah.
DUNCAN: Not only are we the only country in the world which can do this, but also the whole world is watching. I mean, this morning, I've had calls
from the Middle East, from states, all who are watching this. I mean, it is box office, big television, which I hope is not just a benefit to both the
United Kingdom and the United States, but also just to the relationship between the two.
It is part of the glue. And I think it, you know, we can do all this in a nice way, and we can do the heavy politics on another occasion.
SOARES: Yeah, indeed. And today, very much doing what the Brits do best pomp, of course, pageantry and this lavish hospitality. Sir Alan Duncan,
appreciate it. Thank you very much for your time, sir.
DUNCAN: My pleasure.
SOARES: And you're very welcome. And as we mentioned, and not everyone, of course, is celebrating the U.S. President's visit. Yesterday, we did see
protests here at Windsor, and this hour, the stop Trump coalition is kicking off a demonstration in London. It's about 24 miles or so from where
we are with others also planned around the country.
London police say security has been ramped up in the capital you're looking now. This is Windsor's down the road from where we are, and you can see
crowds are gathering. But London police say security had been ramped up. Indeed, in London, the capital, more than 1600 officers were being
deployed.
This is Central London, I believe, looking at live pictures there. CNN's Nic Robertson is following all from London. And Nic, give us a sense of the
crowd the size, because it's something, of course, that as I was speaking sir Alan Duncan, and that the British government will want to try and
protect and shield the president from, of course.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, it's certainly shielded, because this is at least 30 miles away from where he is at the
moment, inside of Windsor Castle, behind those walls, and a long way from the center of London, where we're at the moment.
There are perhaps a couple of 1000 people gathered here so far. More are expected. I think one of the sides of this road is still open, but the
police are planning to shut down the roots.
[09:10:00]
People will be moving off here in a big March a mile or so away to the buildings of Parliament. The message here, it's all anti-Trump, and it's a
mixed bag. It's stop Trump, stop racism. Stop Trump, stop fascism. Go home. Pedophile. We saw one big flag that was expletive Trump.
People are pretty clear here. Stop the war in Gaza is another one we're seeing here. I saw an elderly lady with a placard saying, Granny's against
Trump. The mood here is pretty light, but pretty determined. The police are here. They're on the side streets. There's 1600 of them, by the way, the
police say they've committed to sort of manage this protest today.
It'll last several hours, and I think it is the counterpoint, if you will, to what's happening at Windsor, the sort of pomp and pageantry there that
the British are so famous for, yet they're also famous for protests, and pretty angry protests at times. This has been pretty good natured so far.
Group of drummers have just stopped drumming away in the background. Maybe if I step back here, cameraman Tom Nicholson can give you a few better
images of what's happening. But at the moment, I would say maybe -- up maybe close to 1000 a couple of 1000 people here, the center of London.
And to that point, though, this is not something President Trump is going to see unless he indulges in his passion for taking a look at what's
happening on social media. He'll get to see it then, but not in person.
SOARES: -- by the gold and the pump, Nic. But you know, this is very much a tale of two cities. It was interesting because I heard today the Mayor of
London who said, I'm going to quote him here. He's done. Trump has done the most to fan the flames of divisive far right politics.
Put that comment from the Mayor London with what we saw over the weekend, those large protests.
ROBERTSON: Yeah, there were about 150,000 people out in an anti-migrant protest. Elon Musk spoke to them, told them that they were going to have to
fight or die, essentially, to bring down their government, giving them the message that freedom of speech, despite the fact 150,000 of them were out
on the streets having the freedom of speech, that all that is at risk, but it does show you the polarity of opinion.
And look, not everyone, by any stretch of the imagination, who turned up to that anti-immigration rally would be a Trump supporter. Far from it. You
know, people may support the policies of Trump, some people may support the policies of Trump, but not the man himself.
This crowd obviously extremely turned off from the man himself and his policies as well, but those comments by Sadiq Khan as much as shot across
President Trump's bows, and by the way, these two have had social media spats going back a time. Trump has called Sadiq Khan a stone-cold loser.
There's no love lost between the two of them. But this will also have been a message from Sadiq Khan, a member of the Labor Party, to Keir Starmer, a
member of the Labor Party, that he is cozying up too close for the mayor's taste, to President Trump. What Keir Starmer hopes to get out of this
visit, of course, is jobs, money and investment.
And some of that, in the tune of tens of billions and thousands of jobs, could be in the offing over the coming days, only signatures on bits of
paper that would indicate it's coming, at least. But the mayor, obviously, the timing of his op-ed, the message is very clear.
He's the mayor of London. His message to Donald Trump, you're not welcome here, and that's the message of everyone here as well, Isa.
SOARES: Nic Robertson, there, live in Central London. I think it looks like Oxford Street near Oxford Street, Nic, I know you'll stay across these live
images for us. We'll touch base with you in the next hour or so. Thank you, Nic. And Becky, just throwing it back to you.
Really a split screen here from what we're seeing from Central London, 25 miles out, a lot of pomp pageantry as we focus on protest and as the royal
family, quite literally, rolls out the red carpet for the U.S. President, Becky.
ANDERSON: That's right. Good to have you, Isa. Back to you shortly. Thank you. Let's get you to the Middle East, folks and to tens of thousands of
Palestinians who are fleeing Gaza City today, one day after Israel's military announced its ground incursion to retake the city, had started.
Well, that exit is happening, as the IDF says it will target and defeat up to 3000 Hamas militants, it says are still in Gaza City. And the IDF is
again dropping leaflets, earning -- urging those who remain in the city to leave. It says the operation to take control of Gaza City will last several
months.
[09:15:00]
But while this is happening, civilians there are enduring massive aerial bombardments at a medical charity official says are wiping out entire
neighborhoods.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESPERANZA SANTOS SUAREZ, EMERGENCY MEDICAL COORD. IN GAZA AT MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES: Indiscriminate, I mean, we have seen how like bombardments
reach all over the city, how complete neighborhoods and full neighborhoods have been erased, and there is no sign at all of what it was -- what the
city of the neighborhood was a couple of weeks ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more now on Israel's military operation. Have to warn you, some of the images that you are about to see
are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The invasion of Gaza City has begun, at least according to the Israeli military. Israel
says its ground forces are moving toward the heart of the city with some 20,000 troops committed to conquering and occupying it.
But as smoke rises over its skyline, CNN has yet to independently confirm that ground forces have pushed into the city center. From above, the
Israeli military did deliver a terrifying night of bombardment, sending rescue crews into bombed out buildings. Outside Al-Shifa Hospital, one
child after the next is hurried into the emergency room.
All are bloodied and covered in soot, through tears and obvious signs of shock, doctors and nurses work to treat and comfort these young victims.
There is no comforting those in the hospital's courtyard where relatives arrive to discover their loved ones are among the 82 killed overnight.
My daughter, check her. My daughter, she's killed this mother cries out in disbelief. Someone checks her. As the military escalates its assault, it
says some 350,000 people have fled Gaza City. Israel wants to displace all of the city's population, of about 1 million people drawing accusations of
ethnic cleansing.
Israel says it is trying to move civilians out of harm's way as it takes on a Hamas force of just 2 to 3000 fighters, according to an Israeli military
official. But not everyone has the means or the ability to leave, including this pregnant woman. I don't want anything. All I want is to go south to
escape death, she says.
We're all injured and ill. It's difficult for us to move. For the first time, an independent United Nations Commission concluding in a 72-page
report that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a conclusion Israel categorically rejects.
CHRIS SIDOTI, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MEMBER: This is no minor matter. The extremity of what is happening is such, that we could come to no other
reasonable inference than genocidal purpose.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The global outcry blunted by diplomatic cover from the United States, which is now backing Israel's invasion of Gaza City and
casting doubt on prospects of a negotiated ceasefire.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, as you saw, the Israelis have begun to take operations there. So, we think we have a very short window of
time in which a deal could happen.
DIAMOND (voice-over): That rapidly closing window, driving hostage families into the streets fearing their loved ones will be caught in this latest
Israeli assault. Their government doesn't seem to be listening. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, you're watching "Connect the World" here on CNN. I'm Becky Anderson. There is a lot more ahead. Do stay with us, folks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:00]
ANDERSON: Well to the latest in the Charlie Kirk murder case now. And on Tuesday, prosecutors charged this man, 22-year-old, Tyler Robinson, with
seven counts, including aggravated murder in the conservative political activist's death. The prosecutors also announcing they would seek the death
penalty.
Robinson showed no emotion as the judge read the charges against him. Well, this charging document also revealed evidence collected by investigators,
including DNA consistent with Robinson on the suspected murder weapon and an alleged confession in text messages.
Well, CNN's Danny Freeman, following this story for us. That's some of the detail, what more are we learning, Danny, at this point?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Becky, it's really been a really remarkable 24 hours in this case. We first saw that court appearance
yesterday, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the main suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk. Throughout the course of that court appearance, he really sat
stone faced with no emotion, including when the judge told him that this very likely would be a death penalty case.
But to what you were saying, Becky, the amount of information that we got yesterday was truly just staggering, and it pointed to so many things like
potential motive, like DNA evidence on the trigger of the gun. I just want to run through some of the text messages also that we learned of as well.
The text messages were between Robinson, the lead shooter here, and his roommate, who was, according to court documents, a romantic partner and
also a male transitioning to a female. And on the day of the shooting, Becky, Robinson reached out to his roommate, essentially to say that he was
-- had -- the way that he put it was, he had an opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and he decided to take it.
And then here is part of the text messages when the roommate realized that, the roommate asked Robinson, you weren't the one who did this right? And
Robinson replied, I am. I'm sorry. And then the roommate ultimately asked the question, why? Robinson replied, why did I do it?
The roommate said, yeah. And Robinson said, I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out. And now the other thing that I want to
note, Becky, is another piece of new information that we got, which was concerning Robinson's parents. We learned that it was actually Robinson's
mom who when law enforcement officials released photos of the believed suspect.
His mom looked at those photos and thought, oh, man, I think this is my son. The mom conferred with the father, the father agreed. They tried to
get in touch with him, and Robinson said, initially, oh, I've just been sick the past few days, but the mother's intuition here seemed to be on
track.
At least according to court documents, they ultimately were able to convince Robinson to come back home and turn himself over to the police,
which is how we got to this point with him being in custody at the Utah County jail behind me. Now, Becky, I just want to explain for your viewers
what is going to happen next in this case.
Robinson's next court appearance is coming up on September 29th. And I'll note that classes at Utah Valley University where this shooting happened,
they are going to resume today as well, Becky.
ANDERSON: That's fascinating. Good stuff, Danny. Thank you very much indeed. Danny Freeman, in the house for you folks. Well, U.S. President
Donald Trump says the U.S. and China have reached a deal to save TikTok from being banned in the United States.
Sources say a group of investors would create a U.S. based company to operate the app in the United States. But the framework agreement isn't
final, and could change before President Trump speaks with the Chinese Leader Xi Jinping later this week. Well CNN's Hadas Gold joining me with
the latest on where things stand.
I mean, I guess you know, we could see this coming. There has been a delay, of course, on the ban being instituted, and that delay has been in place
since January. What more do we know at this point about who might be behind this group of investors?
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so as part of the bipartisan legislation, TikTok, in order to be able to continue operating, the United
States needed to be taken out of Chinese ownership, Chinese hands.
[09:25:00]
And part of this new deal, from what we understand from sources telling our colleagues at the White House, in part, is that this new framework would be
the -- company would be 80 percent owned by a consortium of American companies, and 20 percent owned by consortium of Chinese companies.
Those American companies include Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz and Silver Lake. Notably, two of those companies, at least, Andreessen Horowitz and
Oracle are owned and run by big Trump advisors and big Trump donors. Another element of this is that it will be an American Majority Board, and
one of the board members will actually be appointed by the Trump Administration.
One of the big questions, also in this new framework is about the TikTok algorithm, of course, because TikTok is nothing without its algorithm. And
one of their earlier sticking points was that it was pretty well known that the Chinese did not want to give up ownership of the algorithm.
They didn't want the algorithm to essentially live outside of China. But that does seem to have changed. And according to the "Wall Street Journal",
the algorithm will actually be licensed to this new company, and everybody in the United States will be asked to download a new version of TikTok, but
it should act and work in the same way, because it will have this license algorithm.
Now question of sort of, what changed? What softened? Well, we recently heard from the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said that in a recent
call with him and the Trade Representative and Chinese counterparts, they essentially said that President Trump is willing to pull the plug on TikTok
once again.
If you remember, it went offline on the first day of the Trump Administration for about 24 hours. And they were saying Trump is willing to
do that again, because they don't want to risk what they believe is national security. Now, this was national security concerns.
This was Becky, the fourth extension, actually, because the original law said that there could be a single, 90-day extension. This is the fourth
extension. It goes until December 16. There's a little bit of like a legal gray area, but whether they were even able to extend it these many times.
It appears as everyone is saying, just like, OK, you can extend it. The White House is saying that they believe they are legally sound. Of course,
nothing is over until it's actually over and a deal is announced, and President Trump and Xi Jinping are supposed to have a call on Friday, which
hopefully maybe will come with an announcement of this deal actually being firmed up and done, Becky.
ANDERSON: OK. Well, you are bang up to date, folks. Thank you very much indeed. Well, U.S. Federal Reserve set to cut interest rates for the first
time, of course, since December. But economists are divided on what this could mean for the U.S. economy. I want to get one expert's opinion up
next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
ANDERSON: All right, that is StubHub, and they are the folks ringing in the trading day there in New York. From StubHub today, it is top of the hour, 9
sorry, 09:30 there in New York. It is 05:30 here in Abu Dhabi. And in just a few hours, we are expecting a critical decision from the U.S. Central
Bank, the Federal Reserve.
Officials are expected to cut interest rates for the first time since December. Now that comes amid signs that the U.S. labor market is
weakening. And it is also the first vote for newly confirmed Fed Governor Stephen Miran, who is President Trump's Top Economic Adviser.
Well, joining me now is Joe Brusuelas. He's Chief Economist at the Consulting Firm RSM, and you tell me you're in San Francisco today. You're
speaking to investors. So, what are you telling investors today about what's likely to happen from the fed?
JOE BRUSUELAS, PRINCIPAL & CHIEF ECONOMIST AT RSM US LLP: Well, I'm telling investors that they should expect a 25-basis point cut out of the Federal
Reserve as it attempts to thread the needle between rising inflation and a softening labor market. You know, this is really where the fed just doesn't
want to be.
So, they're going to attempt to assuage markets concerns about rising cost pressures and a softening labor market, which means you might see some
volatility in the aftermath of that decision today.
ANDERSON: Should we get a 50-basis point or half of 1 percent, would you be surprised?
BRUSUELAS: Well, my sense is that's likely not to happen, but there will be voices on the fed that may entertain that, specifically the newly appointed
member that the fed has now taken from the White House, Stephen Miran, who's a PhD Economist from Harvard, who will make some very unorthodox
arguments about finance and economics in a way that may not resonate so well on the Federal Open Market Committee.
ANDERSON: We know that Donald Trump wants rates significantly lower, and he's looking for rates sort of 2, 2.5, 3 percent I think he wants them down
at 2 in fact. He doesn't want the costs of paying down on U.S. debt. And it's enormous to be any more with rates as high as they are at present.
Is there anything that the Trump Administration can do to pressure the fed to get those worlds fixed lower.
BRUSUELAS: Well, they already are. The open mouth operations out of the White House clearly have made some impact on the fed. The appointment of
Mr. Miran, the fact that next year, Jay Powell will exit, and there'll be a new Fed Chairperson who presumably will should have views that are aligned
with the Trump White House.
The erosion of the fed's independence is clearly at play here. I think that what the White House and perhaps the treasury is now thinking about is
something called yield curve control, which you normally wouldn't see outside of wartime or following a depression like shock say what we
observed during the great financial crisis.
What that would do was sort of pin the federal, federal funds rate, the policy rate, at 1 percent and then, say, the 10-year rate at 2, which would
then imply a long-term rate of somewhere around, say, 3.5. That would bring down mortgage rates significantly. And that's one of the real pressing
social and policy issues inside the United States.
And you're beginning to hear more economists, strategists and financial analysts, talk about yield curve control, or yield curve management. And
you know, Becky, that's one of the reasons why you've seen the long end of the curve, yields have fallen over the past couple of weeks.
And I think that's really at play as speculators jump in, expecting perhaps to realize great gains on that, if that policy were to come to pass.
ANDERSON: That is fascinating. Yield curve control, I haven't heard talk of that in the 30 years that I've been looking at these business and financial
markets. You know, quantitative easing, yes, yield curve control, no, likely to be something we are to hear about more, going forward.
Economist Joe Brusuelas, thank you very much indeed for joining us. When we come back today, the latest from Windsor and President Trump's historic
state visit. More on that after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:35:00]
SOARES: Welcome back everyone. Very much, a historic day here in Windsor for President Trump and the First Lady's second state visit to the UK. And
it's been a day of pomp and ceremony with a lot more to come. In this hour, the Trumps are viewing the royal collection in the castle, an especially
curated display of items relating to the United States and that relationship, the bond between, of course, the United States and the UK.
Still on the agenda is a visit to the late Queen Elizabeth's tomb and a military ceremony, as well as a bay estate banquet, as expected tonight, of
course. And with me here in Windsor is Jasmine El-Gamal, a National Security Expert, Middle East Analyst, and the Host of "The View from Here"
podcast.
I will discuss the implications of course of this visit when we talk, of course, foreign policy today is very much though Jasmine, and welcome, by
the way.
JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: Thank you.
SOARES: Very much about the pomp the British rolling out the red carpet.
EL-GAMAL: Yes.
SOARES: And this is something that President Trump will love, right? He loves a lot of gold.
EL-GAMAL: Yes, absolutely.
SOARES: He loves to be the center of attention. So, this will speak very much to him, right?
EL-GAMAL: Absolutely. I mean, this is all about showing him a huge welcome, making him feel really special. Each country really putting their best foot
forward, showing the crowd something really magnificent. President Trump loves that. As you said, I was just looking at footage of him riding in a
carriage.
I mean, it's something, you know, as someone from New York City, you know, a real estate guy, a sort of rough, tough guy. He's not used to this kind
of stuff, so he loves it. And I think obviously they know what he wants to see, and they're giving it to him, and I think he's having a really good
time.
SOARES: Yeah, and I think, that's very much the aim of today.
EL-GAMAL: Yes.
SOARES: To keep the focus on him and the pageantry. And we know how much that speaks to him, because of his relationship and his ties to the UK, and
how much his mother loved the royals, and he has spoken openly about that. But as we have seen the last hour, and just in this hour, in fact, on the
show, really a split screen, because in London, we have seen protests.
EL-GAMAL: Yeah.
SOARES: Here, he's very much shielded from those protests. Why do you think that is so important to shield him at this moment? What is the UK trying to
get out of this?
EL-GAMAL: Look, I mean, I think first of all, it's about not wanting to embarrass your guests. And they know that President Trump doesn't do well
with criticism. He doesn't do well with these kinds of protests. And I think trying to put him in the right frame of mind to have these really
serious discussions that they're going to have during his visit.
[09:40:00]
A lot of the discussions are going to be really positive. They're going to be about economic prosperity and tech cooperation and job creation, but
there are going to be tough issues on the agenda as well. They're going to be talking about Ukraine. They're may be talking -- to be talking about
sanctions on Russia. They're going to be talking about freedom of speech, potentially.
SOARES: And I see a lot more of that tomorrow a check is right?
EL-GAMAL: Tomorrow is going to be the big policy day.
SOARES: Yeah.
EL-GAMAL: Today, like you said, is the show, but one leads to the other, and so they want to make sure that, to the extent possible, the Brits want
to say, let's just get him in the best mood as possible, in the most forgiving kind of generous mood as possible, so that when we do have to get
into these tough discussions, we get the most out of it.
SOARES: Yeah, I wonder, though, you know, given Starmer's position, what we've seen in the last week or so, of course, several members of his
cabinet have even been fired or stepped down. We've seen protests here in the UK. We've had the London Mayor issued kind of, you know, scathing
rebuke of just, not just President Trump, but also of Musk. This is for Starmer. This is quite a delicate balancing act too.
EL-GAMAL: For both leaders, I would say.
SOARES: Yeah.
EL-GAMAL: I mean, they both are dealing with domestic issues that are quite serious and very tense, with the assassination of the Right-wing Influencer
Charlie Kirk and all of the political violence conversations happening in the U.S. Trump has had to deal with that.
And also here in the UK, as you mentioned, Prime Minister Starmer is under quite a bit of pressure. So, I think both leaders have reason to try to
focus on the good things and try to minimize these domestic sorts of tensions a little bit. It'll be interesting to see how they do that in a
press conference, and how they answer some of those tough questions.
I think in the conversations between the two of them, they're really going to be focusing on prosperity, jobs, AI tech the future.
SOARES: Yeah, and I think today, it's such a different picture from what we're likely to see tomorrow, even a press conference of British media will
press them down.
EL-GAMAL: Yeah.
SOARES: Press the U.S. President on all the foreign policy, even domestic aspects of this. But today, I think we'll see probably the president his
best behavior, because this is the sort of environment that he loves. He loves the attention. He loves hyperbole. He, I think, loves gold as we sing
from the White House.
EL-GAMAL: Yeah.
SOARES: So, no doubt we'll see that today as the red carpet continues to be rolled out, the next hour.
EL-GAMAL: Yeah.
SOARES: I know you're staying with us.
EL-GAMAL: Yeah.
SOARES: Thank you very much, Jasmine. Appreciate it. Becky, I'll be joining you for much more, of course, at the top of the hour for more "Connect the
World". For now, "World Sport" with Andy Scholes is after the short break. Do stay right here. You are watching CNN.
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[09:45:00]
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