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One World with Zain Asher
Cassie Ventura Takes The Stand In Sean Combs Criminal Trial; French Actor Gerard Depardieu Guilty Of Assaulting Two Women; Kim Kardashian Testifies In $10 Million Burglary Trial. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired May 13, 2025 - 11:00 ET
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ZAIN ASHER, HOST, "ONE WORLD": All right. President Donald Trump gets the royal treatment in Saudi Arabia.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, HOST, "ONE WORLD": One World starts right now.
Donald Trump is in the Middle East this hour with a big goal in mind, new business. We'll speak with a former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
ASHER: Plus, nearly a decade after she was tied up and held at gunpoint, Kim Kardashian tells her story in a Paris court.
GOLODRYGA: And a new report is out that says one in five people in Gaza is facing starvation. We'll take you live to the region for a look at the
humanitarian efforts on the ground.
Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. You are watching One World.
U.S. President Donald Trump wants to return home later on this week with a lot of money for American businesses.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And any minute now, he is set to speak at a Saudi investment forum in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is the first stop in his four-day
trip to the Middle East, the first international one of his second term. Obviously, he did attend the Pope's funeral, but this one had been planned.
Earlier, alongside members of his cabinet, he signed documents with his Saudi counterparts. President Trump says that he wants to make trillions of
dollars with a "T" worth of deals during this trip.
ASHER: Yeah. Ahead of the forum, both Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeted tech CEOs at the royal court, including Elon
Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman. After his stop in Saudi Arabia, the President is then going to head to Qatar and the UAE. In both places, the White House
has said he'll be focused on new trade deals and investment in the U.S. economy.
GOLODRYGA: We've got Anna Stewart in London, but we begin with our Becky Anderson in Riyadh, covering this all for us.
And Becky, we heard the President say that he is interested in a deal worth trillions of dollars. He has had to settle thus far for a little bit less,
still a jaw-dropping $600 billion in deals with Saudi Arabia, including over $100 billion worth in U.S. arms sales to the country.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. I mean -- so, we're beginning to see some of the detail here ahead of the U.S. President's keynote speech at this
U.S. Saudi investment conference, which should happen any minute now. And the fact sheet, as you rightly describe, sort of scoring out some of what
is -- some of what has been agreed on or certainly agreed on in terms of sort of MO use. But, there will be quite a lot of window dressing, even
local sources tell me. I mean, the detail, perhaps, is going to be less robust at this point.
The point being, I think, is what you are seeing from these deals, is an effort for the U.S. President to say this country ticks all the right boxes
as far as my America First policy is concerned. It serves my national interests. It brings money back to the states across trade and defense,
very specifically, through AI and advanced technology, but also that these are bilateral partnerships and deals that you are seeing also what the
Saudis will get out of this deepening partnership. They are looking to extract as much benefit from what is a very good relationship with this
Trump administration, as it was back in the first term for Donald Trump, and also a recognition by the U.S. administration.
This is a completely transformed country, societally and economically. This has a very ambitious Vision 2030. Budgets are tight. FDI is tight. Foreign
Direct Investment is tight, and this is an opportunity for Donald Trump to see a country transformed over the last eight years with huge ambition
going forward, not least to complete on some of these projects by 2030. And it is very important for the Saudis that they see mutual benefit from this
relationship, both across business and investment, including defense investment and business, but also across geopolitics and security.
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It is still incredibly important to Saudi Arabia, this kingdom, and other countries around this region, that they have a U.S. security commitment
from this administration, which many around the Arabian Gulf have felt was lacking somewhat in the past administration. They want to see that security
tightened up between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and that they feel comfortable that this is, to a degree, a reciprocal relationship going
forward.
ASHER: All right. Becky Anderson, stand by.
Anna Stewart, let me bring you in, because just in terms of the U.S.-Saudi investment forum, it's going to focus on everything, in terms of AI,
energy, manufacturing, and there is a slew of major CEOs speaking, including Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon; Larry Fink, the head of BlackRock.
I mean, the list goes on, Jensen Huang, obviously, the head of Nvidia. Just explain to us what they're looking for just in terms of this partnership
with the Saudis.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we've actually just had the warm-up act on stage at this investment forum from Elon Musk, who was announced a
Starlink partnership for maritime and aviation in Saudi Arabia. And this is what we're going to get from all these different big U.S. companies, is
announcements, commitments for investment. The question is often, of course, where some of these investments already in the pipeline, where some
of them -- how much is new money, how much is old money, and it does take time to kind of go through the detail and figure out what's actually new
and how significant some of the investments are.
But, so far, we have this big $600 billion investment number in terms of how much Saudi Arabia will invest into the United States. That is something
the White House has put out a fact sheet about. They're very pleased about it. I believe it's over a four-year timeline. As part of it, Becky was
mentioning this big defense agreement. So, clearly, this will be a huge benefit for U.S. companies as well as Saudi Arabia. The White House is
calling it the largest defense sales in history in terms of an agreement.
Nvidia has announced a partnership with a new AI company that was launched this week by the PIF, which is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. So, a
partnership there. This one is possibly the most interesting because it says that HUMAIN will build AI factories powered by hundreds of thousands
of Nvidia's most advanced GPUs over the next five years. This, to me, suggests that we could see an easing of a current U.S. policy to curb and
restrict the export of highly advanced AI chips from the likes of Nvidia to Gulf states. So, that could be something that we hear in the keynote from
the President. I believe is talking shortly.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. He is running a little bit behind, but we're expecting it any moment, and of course, when he begins speaking, we will take that live
for our viewers.
ASHER: All right. Becky Anderson, Anna Stewart, live for us. Thank you so much.
Let's get some more perspective now on this Middle East trip from Donald Trump. We're joined by Joseph Westphal. He served as U.S. Ambassador to
Saudi Arabia during the Obama administration.
Ambassador, one thing that I'm curious about is how the U.S.-Saudi relationship continues to evolve depending on who is running the show in
the White House. I mean, obviously we saw a very different U.S.-Saudi relationship under President Biden, who at one point had vowed to make the
kingdom pariah. A lot of sort of Democratic presidents sort of looked at the kingdom as, as you know, having major issues when it comes to human
rights. And obviously we think about Jamal Khashoggi being really a symbol of human rights issues when it comes to Saudi Arabia, but they have a very
different relationship under U.S. President Donald Trump. Talk to us about that.
JOSEPH WESTPHAL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SAUDI ARABIASHER: Yeah. It's a very -- it's a much more positive relationship, and now it's evolving into
a relationship based on investment, economic -- critical economic priorities for both countries. The thing we mustn't forget is that so much
of this is on the U.S. side, investments for the U.S., investments for U.S. companies.
But, the fact is that Saudi Arabia is really suffering an economic problem right now. They have low oil prices. Their economy is spending a lot of
money on infrastructure development and so on. So, they need foreign investment. They need U.S. investment in Saudi Arabia. And I think that
they're probably going to make an effort to get some of this and to tone down some of the rhetoric about the trillion dollar Saudi investment in the
United States.
GOLODRYGA: Right, because that is something that the President had reportedly been wanting to see happen upon this trip, and the fact that a
trillion dollar deal has yet to be announced with the Saudis is something that speaks to the point you making right now, as to the issues that they
are suffering. This is a leader who has been keen on diversifying their investments away from natural gas and oil and other resources and more
towards technology. Can you talk about the difference, in your view, between this first trip that President Trump took also -- and we're looking
at President Trump's arrival there in Riyadh with the Crown Prince MBS walking in just moments before he is expected to speak.
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If we have a few seconds before he does, if you could speak to the difference between this trip and the first trip that he took when he was in
office in 2016 and 2017, and the difference now in terms of investments that the Saudis are hoping to make.
WESTPHAL: Right. I think President Trump has always looked at this as a possible connection on investment and an economic resources, rather than on
politics or on international relations. But, the fact is that this trip differs in that he is bringing all these business people with him. He is
bringing four cabinet members, but two of them are on the business and trade side. So, it's really not focused on policy. And yet, policy is one
of the biggest issues facing the region. You've got the war in Gaza. You've got, obviously, the whole situation with Syria, with Lebanon, and we could
go on and on. And I think that there hopefully are going to be some discussions about the role that Saudi can play with respect to negotiations
with Iran, how they can help with the whole situation with Gaza.
Saudi Arabia is a country of 38 million people and it's still a very conservative population, very strong Muslim culture. They're not going to
take an opportunity -- they're not going to take the controversial position of neglecting the situation in Gaza and in the West Bank. So, at some
point, that's going to have to be discussed, either on this trip or in future trips, by the Secretary of State.
ASHER: And talk to us how -- about how Donald Trump's sort of financial interests in the region, as it pertains to American prosperity, really
dovetails with his sort of personal financial interests in the region, as it pertains to the financial interests of his family, because his family,
as I understand it, has pending deals with a majority Saudi-owned real estate firm. And when it comes to the region, he is looking at new golf and
luxury village projects that backed by the government of Qatar. So, when you think about it, yes, obviously he is keen to get the Saudis to invest
billions of dollars, if not hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe up to a trillion, which is what he is really looking for in the United States, but
also, there are personal financial interests here as well.
WESTPHAL: Absolutely. And he is -- as a President and as a leader, he is not going to be concerned about what public opinion in the U.S. might be
about that. I think public opinion in the U.S. is going to be pretty weak on his personal investment side, whether it's crypto, resorts, hotels,
whatever it may be, I don't think that's going to be a big issue back home from a public opinion standpoint. Normally, it would be, but we live in an
era where that's not something that the American people are concentrating on.
I think that on the economic side, the investment that he is seeking in the United States, Saudi investment from the sovereign wealth fund and so on,
is really because he has a big plan throughout his administration to continue the tax cuts that he initiated in his first term. That's going to
cost billions of dollars that are not right now in our economic equation, simply because we've got such a huge deficit in the public debt continues
to rise. So, the tariffs and any investment that he can get from the Middle East into the United States will help resource more, tax more -- excuse me,
revenue to the government that will help defray those costs of his priorities.
So, it's a very, very, I think, a very smart strategy from his standpoint, from the things that he wants to achieve, whether you agree with him or
not, but I think this all plays into that idea that he wants to get his priorities funded in the United States, and this is one way to help make
that happen.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And as you're speaking, we're looking at live images of the President walking around with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, meeting
other dignitaries there at the investment forum site before he is expected to speak. So, just want to let our viewers know these are live images that
you're looking at. As soon as he begins to speak, we will take his conference.
But, I do want to ask you about sort of the continuity that we have seen between two administrations, between President Biden and now President
Trump, because there has been very little continuity. But, on the issue of Saudi-Israel normalization, that is something that President Biden had been
hoping to establish.
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The question of whether or not that is on the table now is still looming. Of course, MBS has since said, while he has expressed interest in
normalization with Israel, that could only happen after the Gaza war ends, and there at least would be some announcement of a path to a two-state
solution. How much time and emphasis do you think will be spent on that issue from the President of the United States?
WESTPHAL: I don't think a lot of time will need to be spent on that. I think that the Saudis -- I think Prince Mohammed, first of all, and I know
him very well, I worked with him extensively when I was ambassador, is a very -- he is a brilliant guy, and he understands the politics that's
happening inside his own country. He understands the importance of the Palestinian situation. It's certainly very important to an older generation
of Saudis, less so to the newer generation that didn't grow up with all of these issues in the past.
But, I think they're going to basically say, until this is resolved in some positive way, we cannot normalize relations with Israel. We want to have
relations. I think they wanted those relationships when I was there, to normalize those. It's important. It was also a buffer for them. With
respect to Israel, that's less so of a factor today. But, I think it'll come up, but I don't think it's going to be the main focus of this
particular meeting.
I think the other piece of this, of course, is the President's ability to learn from them, by listening to what they have to say, what Prince
Mohammed and others have to say about what's happening in Syria, because that's important, Syria and Lebanon, and how to then he can turn around and
work with Netanyahu in Israel to show some progress that the Saudis can then move forward, and perhaps in the future, open up diplomatic relations
with Israel.
ASHER: Before I mention -- before I ask you my next question, which was going to be about the sort of personal relationship between Mohammed bin
Salman and Trump himself, we are getting word that President Trump is actually going to meet the new Syrian leader in Riyadh this week, I believe
tomorrow, if I got that correct for my producers. And so, obviously, Syria is a country that has been mired in conflict. And obviously there has been
sort of -- we talked and reported on so many issues when it comes to Syria. But, when it comes to the particular sort of personal relationship between
Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump, this is a relationship that also has evolved. I mean, Mohammed bin Salman didn't even greet President Biden
when he visited Riyadh in 2022.
So, just walk us through how he is trying to position himself as a key U.S. ally here.
WESTPHAL: Yeah. I think it's very important. I mean, I think he is playing a role with Ukraine and Russia. They still remain in good relationships
with Russia, and that's important to us, because they can be a key to trying to persuade Putin towards a peace agreement with Ukraine. I think
their relationship with China is hugely important to us as well, that China is their leading trade partner. We used to be -- when I was there, we were
their trade -- leading trade partner. That's no longer the case, and China is a very important player in the region as well. So, I think there is a
lot of reasons for this relationship to strengthen, and I think President Trump has been keen on that, and I think very smartly so.
The other thing that I think I always felt was not right with the way President Biden addressed this, you don't call people dictators, and you
don't say the things that you say about leaders, which he did with respect to MBS and he also did with respect to the President of Turkey. You need to
hold back on those things and be able to negotiate with them in the future. Otherwise you cut out your opportunities. And I think President Trump is
being very smart about that. He knows how to play that well so that he can remain -- have some leverage.
With respect to Syria, Syria is still a really big issue. It's very -- there is quite a bit of strife within the country, and this leader has yet
to be seen as whether he'll be positive for the future. So, I think a meeting with him is absolutely fantastic. I think if the President can be
with him and get a sense of him, and I think President Trump is pretty good at that, that may speak a lot to what will happen in both Lebanon and with
respect to our relations with Turkey, and the President has already said that he may even take a side trip to Turkey after he visits the UAE.
[11:20:00]
ASHER: All right. Ambassador Joseph Westphal, appreciate you joining us. Just once again, we are standing by for President Trump to speak in Riyadh
at the U.S.-Saudi investment forum. He has obviously arrived there, and he is standing there with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They are just
greeting dignitaries. But, we will, of course, take that speech as and when it happens, hopefully any moment now.
GOLODRYGA: Lots of people to meet there.
ASHER: Yes.
All right. Star witness Cassie Ventura is on the stand right now in the case against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, Kim Kardashian delivers chilling testimony in a Paris courtroom about the multi-million dollar armed robbery she suffered nearly
nine years ago. We have a live report, just ahead.
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ASHER: All right. Happening right now in a New York courtroom, the prosecution star witness has just taken the stand on day two of Sean
"Diddy" Combs' criminal sex trafficking trial.
GOLODRYGA: A testimony from Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, was highly anticipated. Ventura told the court some of their arguments would be
violent and result in, quote, "some sort of physical abuse". She went on to give details, saying Combs would smash her in the head, drag her, kick her
and stomp on her if she was down. We will continue to follow this, at times, really troubling testimony, which is ongoing, and we'll bring you
updates as we get them.
Meantime, French actor Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. Earlier today, a court in Paris
handed him an 18-month suspended prison sentence and ordered that he be put on a sex offender's register.
ASHER: Yeah. He is a towering figure of French cinema whose case has been one of the highest profile trials in France in the #MeToo movement. In
court, Depardieu said he did not believe his actions were assault and that some women were too easily offended. His attorney says he will appeal the
court's decision.
All right. Staying in Paris, Kim Kardashian faced the nine men and one woman accused of duct taping and robbing her at gunpoint during Paris
Fashion Week back in 2016. The reality TV star arrived at court with her mom and provided some really emotional testimony about the events of that
night.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. She was robbed of cash and other jewelry worth millions more. 10 defendants face multiple charges, including armed robbery,
kidnapping and conspiracy.
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Joining us live from outside the Paris court is CNN's Saskya Vandoorne. And Saskya, as Zain noted at times, this was emotional testimony. Kardashian
even saying she thought she was going to be killed that evening. What more did we hear?
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Yes, Bianna. Well, Kim Kardashian has been testifying for over two hours now, and she is painting such a
vivid picture of what happened that night. She says that two men dressed as police officers barged into her room. One of them had a gun pointing at the
concierge's head. The other one screamed at her, asking for (inaudible). Kim Kardashian did not understand what he meant. She turns to the
concierge, asking him to kind of translate, and he says, I think he is after your engagement ring. So, she hands over this $4 million worth
engagement ring. Then the robbers asked for more jewelry, for cash. She gives them all of that, and then they duct tape her, they handcuff her, and
they put her in the bathtub and make off into the night.
So, very emotional testimony from Kim Kardashian. She said she thought she was going to be raped. She said she thought she was going to be killed. She
believed that her sister, Kourtney, who was at a night club whilst the robbery was taking place, would come home to find her dead on the bed. Now,
inside that courtroom with Kim Kardashian are those 10 people who are on trial.
The alleged ringleader, Aomar Ait Khedache, he has actually pleaded guilty to kidnapping and to armed robbery, and he has asked Kim Kardashian for
forgiveness in a letter that he wrote to her. Kim Kardashian has just responded, saying that she does forgive him, and I'm just going to read you
what she said inside the courtroom. She says, "I believe so much in second chances and I meet people who have done horrible crimes and I try to have
empathy for them. But I do also fight for victims who have been through horrific crimes." She is now being questioned by defense lawyers, and we
expect that to go on for another hour.
ASHER: And Saskya, we hear that one of the defendants has actually written a book about the robbery. What can you tell us about that?
VANDOORNE: Yes. His name is Yunice Abbas. He has written a book entitled, "How I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian", and yet he is pleading not guilty to the
kidnapping charge. In his book, he goes into great detail about what happened that night, making off with a big bag full of jewelry. It doesn't
sound like they were a bunch of elite robbers. He talks about leaving on a bicycle, falling off his bike, the bag full of jewels spills out, and all
the jewels end up on this Parisian pavement. Now, Kim Kardashian was also speaking about this book just now, saying that she was horrified that it
had been published, and shocked that someone was capitalizing off this very violent heist, Bianna and Zain.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Saskya Vandoorne, thank you so much.
And with all these high-profile legal stories happening today, we have a special guest for you in the next hour of One World. Former state and
federal prosecutor David Weinstein will be our guest.
ASHER: All right. Still ahead, a joyful reunion, 19 months in the making. An Israeli-American is released by Hamas after Washington bypassed Israel
to make the deal. We will have details for you just ahead.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, a new report warns of the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as Israel continues to block all aid entering the Palestinian
territory. We will talk to an aid official about the situation there.
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[11:30:00]
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ASHER: All right. Welcome back to One World. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
As Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza stretches into a third month, we're getting a stark new warning from an UN-backed report. One in
five people in Gaza are facing starvation as the entire Palestinian territory edges closer to famine. According to the report, prices for
basics such as flour have skyrocketed by some 3,000 percent.
ASHER: An Israeli blockade has prevented aid from entering Gaza since March 2nd, as the Enclave lies in ruins amid continued Israeli assault. Israel
says it's trying to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages. International organizations accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon
of war.
GOLODRYGA: All right. We want to get a closer look at the situation in Gaza now. Mahmoud Alsaqqa is Oxfam's Food Security and Livelihood Coordinator,
and he joins us now from Gaza City. Thank you so much for joining us.
First of all, just give us your sense and some of what you are seeing there in Gaza City in terms of how civilians are impacted now by this blockade,
as we noted, in its second month.
MAHMOUD ALSAQQA, FOOD SECURITY & LIVELIHOODS COORDINATOR, OXFAM: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Just to confirm that the report that
has been released yesterday about the food security and malnutrition is confirming the warnings that we have repeatedly issued regarding the
potentially catastrophic situation, the current situation the Gaza Strip. We are insisting, and we are repeating that Gaza is on the brink of a man-
made famine. People are struggling nowadays in securing one meal per day, and we are saying that the only lifeline for food assistance is just the
community kitchens for the people, and more than 60 percent of these community kitchens has been closed and shut down because of the lack of
supplies.
We, as organizations, our food supplies have been depleted. Our last batch of distribution was since month ago, and the other organizations are the
same. So, now the people are struggling in finding a meal per day, and we are seeing the pictures how the people are crowded in front of this
community kitchens that we are expecting within 10 days to be also closed again. So, the situation has become unbearable for the people, and they are
facing all these kinds of struggles every day.
ASHER: Obviously, a lot of people are inside the Enclave, and actually, internationally, are really hoping for some kind of ceasefire, just to, at
least, give the Palestinian people some kind of temporary reprieve. As it is now, there has been 70 days, 70 days or so with pretty much almost no
food, medication entering the Enclave. I'm always saddened when I see sort of situations like this about what happens to children. Children,
obviously, as you know, are particularly vulnerable when it comes to the potential for famine or any kind of starvation or food insecurity. What is
happening to the children of Gaza right now?
[11:35:00]
ALSAQQA: So, when we are talking about 70 days without having anything in, this includes the nutrient supplements and also the therapeutic food that
was for treatment for malnutrition in Gaza Strip. What we are seeing and observing right now is an acute malnutrition is rapidly worsening. And this
is from our experience. This -- the malnutrition is rapidly worsening. So, we are talking about the increases in a daily basis. And according to the
reports, and according to our observation, we are expected this decree worsening to persist, and also will likely to reach a critical levels.
When we are talking about critical levels, we are talking about extreme, challenging in having food and they didn't have an adequate dietary intake
and food insecurity, and also limited access towards the health and nutrition services. All these compounded together, the public health
struggles that of using the unsafe clean water will also increases, endorsing the situation in the coming period, and we are expecting the
worst is coming without having a solid action in that regard, because --
GOLODRYGA: Yeah.
ALSAQQA: -- our children here are already in starving at that time. That needs any quick action immediately in that regard.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. We even heard from President Trump just a few days ago, suggesting that perhaps the U.S. would step up and have more of a leading
role here in providing some of the aid. It's a very serious situation there. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much for taking the time.
And speaking of President Trump, he is now speaking at the Saudi-U.S. investment form in Riyadh. Let's listen in.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- make relationship closer, stronger and more powerful than ever before. It is more powerful
than ever before. And by the way, it will remain that way. We don't go in and out like other people. We will remain that way.
I have come this afternoon to talk about the bright future of the Middle East, but first, let me begin by sharing the abundance of good news from a
place called America. In less than four months, our new administration has achieved more than most other administrations accomplished in four years,
or even eight years. We've actually done, for the most part, more. The day I took office, we inherited -- thank you. Thank you. The day I took office,
we inherited a colossal invasion on our southern border, an invasion like you never want to see here. Nobody should ever want to see it. But, within
weeks, we slashed illegal border crossings to an all-time low, down 99.999 percent. That's good even for this great gentleman standing right in front
of me. That's a good number.
We had hundreds of thousands of people. They came in at the same time last year, and last month, we had, in this massive border, three people that got
in. That's quite a difference, and we have no choice but to get a lot of the people that came in, because they were not the best people. They were,
in many cases, very bad people. We're getting them out. We're getting them out very fast. We're bringing it back to where they came from. We have no
choice.
After years of military recruiting shortfalls, enlistments in the U.S. armed forces are now the highest in 30 years, because there is such an
incredible spirit in the United States of America. We have tremendous spirit again. Just about a year ago, it was a big story, front page on
every paper all over the world, that nobody wanted to enlist in our military, meaning we were way under enlisted. And just last week, it came
out that we had the strongest enlistment they say, 30 years, but probably it's maybe ever. They don't go back that far. It's the best, and that
includes police officers, firemen, everything else, is a great spirit in the United States right now.
A brand new poll from Rasmussen just showed that the number of Americans who believe the nation is on the right track, they have a right track,
wrong track, is now the highest in over 20 years, and it hasn't been anything like this, because for many years it was the wrong track. And I
can tell you, for the last four years, it was definitely the wrong track, but it's the highest it's been in many, many years.
[11:40:00] We renamed the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America. That was very popular, other than perhaps with Mexico.
And most importantly, for the people in this room, the days of economic misery under the last administration are rapidly giving way to the greatest
economy in the history of the world. We are rocking. The United States is the hottest country, with the exception of your country. I have to say,
right? I won't -- I'm not going to take that on. I won't -- I'm not going to take that on. No, Mohammed, I'm not going to take that on. Wouldn't that
be a terrible thing if I made that full statement? But, I will not do it. You're hotter. At least as long as I'm up here, you're hotter.
But, groceries, gasoline, energy, and all other prices are down with no inflation. We have no inflation. In a few short weeks, we've created
464,000 brand new jobs. Think of that, almost a half a million jobs created just in a matter of weeks.
We just reached a historic trade agreement with the United Kingdom, and over the weekend, we reached a breakthrough agreement with China, both
outstanding deals. China has agreed. We have to get it down. We have to get the little details down. Scott, you're going to work on that very hard, but
China has agreed to open up to the United States for trade and everything else. But, they have to do it. So, we'll see what happens. But we had a
very, very good meeting with both of those countries.
We are cutting 10 old regulations for every new regulation. We're getting rid of all of the red tape that is so many, frankly, countries, as they get
older, they develop a lot of red tape, and we're getting rid of it. We're getting rid of it at record levels. And I'm pleased to report that the
United States Congress is on the verge of passing the largest tax cut and regulation cut in American history. We think we're in good shape to get
that, and if we get that, that will be like a rocket ship for our country.
In the first quarter of the year, the investment in America was up an astounding 22 percent. More than $10 trillion of new investments have been
announced or are coming just since the election on November 5th. So, think of that. In a very short period of time, we have over $10 trillion and it
could be much higher than that. Not everybody comes to the White House to have a news conference that they're going to be opening up in America, but
they're all coming in at numbers that we've never seen before. If you take a look at other presidencies, they wouldn't do $1 trillion sometime in
years. We did this in essentially two months, because you have to say, we got into office, and they gave me about a month to clean up and fix up the
Oval Office. And after that, we started working, and we -- the money is pouring in.
The jobs are pouring in. The companies are pouring into our country like we've never seen before. There has ever been anything like it. And we let
other people tariff us into losing a lot of money, a lot of jobs, and now we're tariffing them, and it's at a level that nobody has seen. It's a
level that is making us a very much different country and a very different Republican Party. We won a tremendous victory in November. We won all seven
swing states, the popular vote, by millions and millions of votes. The Electoral College, we won by 312 to 226. Remember, they said, well, we
could get to 270. We got to 312. That's a big difference. And very importantly, we won counties throughout the United States, 2,660 to 451.
That's why, when you look at a map, they're all red. So, the whole country is red. Red stands for Republican.
From the moment on, and from the moment we started, we've seen wealth that just poured and is pouring back into America. Apple is investing $500
billion. Nvidia is investing. And I see my friend is here, Jensen. That's very good, wherever you may be. Thank you very much, because he is putting
in $500 billion.
TSMC is investing. Where is Jensen, by the way? Where is he? He is standing here. Where is he? I just saw. Thank you very much, Jensen. I mean, Tim
Cook isn't here, but you are. What a job you've done. He said he has got 99 percent of the chip market. I don't know. That's a big -- that's not easy
to beat.
[11:45:00]
But, what a job you've done. Thank you. We are proud to have you in our country. You know that. Thank you for the investment. TSMC is investing
$200 billion and with this trip, we're adding over $1 trillion more in terms of investment and investment into our country and buying our
products. And nobody makes military equipment like us. We've the best military equipment, the best missiles, the best rockets, the best
everything, best submarines, by the way, most lethal weapon in the world. In addition to purchases of $142 billion of American-made military
equipment by our great Saudi partners, the largest ever.
This week, there are multi-billion dollar commercial deals with Amazon, Oracle, AMD, they're all here, Uber, Qualcomm, Johnson & Johnson, and many,
many more. So, I want to congratulate everybody, so many great business executives, many of you, most of you I know, and they're coming in. About a
month ago, they weren't that happy when they saw me, and now they're saying, sir, you're doing a great job. Thank you very much. It's amazing
what a rising market will do. Well, it's going to get a lot higher.
In fact, I told people five weeks ago, it's a great time to buy. I got criticized for that. Now they don't criticize me anymore. People should
elicit. But, it's going to go a lot higher. See, we've never had anything like this happen. It's an explosion of investment and jobs and great
companies are coming in. Never seen anything like it. There is no better place to make a future, make a fortune, do anything, frankly, than what we
have in the United States of America under a certain President, Donald J. Trump. I have the right attitude. I have the same attitude that the people
in the front row, second row, third row, have. As you get back, perhaps they start to wane a little bit in terms of their view, but they
understand.
And we're doing what a lot of smart people would do, and we're not necessarily being politically correct. You saw what we did yesterday with
healthcare. We've cut our healthcare by 50 percent to 90 percent. You're going to see drugs and pharmaceuticals come down at numbers that nobody has
ever seen, and drugs, pharmaceuticals, we think, will be dropping and it'll be a redistribution of costs with other nations, which really took
advantage of a very nice group of people that ran our country.
But, not only is this a time of incredible excitement in the United States, it's also an exhilarating period right here in the Arabian Peninsula,
beautiful place, by the way, beautiful place. Exactly -- thank you. Exactly years ago this month, I stood in this very room and look forward to a
future in which the nations of this region would drive the forces of terrorism and extremism, drive them right out of existence, and take your
place among the proudest, most prosperous, most successful nations anywhere in the world, as leaders of a modern and rising Middle East. So exciting.
So exciting.
Mohammed, you sleep at night? How do you sleep? Thank you. What a job? He tosses and turns like some of us, tosses and turns all night. How do I make
it even better? All night? It's the ones that don't toss and turn. They're the ones that will never take you to the promised land. But, you have done
some job. But, critics doubted that it was possible what you've done. But, over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally
wrong. The transformation that has occurred even by these incredible business leaders,
I mean, you had the biggest leaders in business anywhere in the world standing right before us, but the transformation that has occurred under
the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed has been truly extraordinary. Such a thing has I don't think ever happened before. I've
never seen anything at that scale happen before. And I guess maybe you could say the United States is doing pretty well too. But, I don't think
too many people have seen that happen before, majestic skyscrapers, the towers that I see, the difference between now and eight years ago and eight
years ago was very impressive.
[11:50:00]
But, the towers that I see rising, some of the exhibits that I was shown by Mohammed. If -- what I've seen there is just an amazing -- it's amazing
process, an amazing genius of so many people, architecture. But, I have a feeling I know where many of those ideas came from, happens to be sitting
right in this room, right before me. But, the towers and the -- all of the different -- I've seen a lot of different towers. I didn't think there is
any version of a tower that I haven't seen in one form or another. I just passed four exhibits. I have never seen anything like any of them.
So, it's going to be very exciting. And they sit among the ancient wonders of a growing and exciting city. It's really amazing. Riyadh is becoming not
just a seat of government, but a major business, cultural and high tech capital of the entire world. The World Cup is here. Gianni, just stand up.
Gianni, thank you, Gianni. Great job. Gianni, great job. But, the World Cup and the World Expo will soon be coming here. It's just like the World Cup
is coming to the United States. It's going to be really exciting next year. The engines of Formula One racing now roar through the streets of Jeddah.
In a historic milestone, other industries recently surpassed oil. Think of it. All of your other industries now have surpassed oil. I don't know of a
lot of people will understand what that means. It's so big to make up a majority of the Saudi economy for the very first time ever. So, think of
that. Other industries are now bigger even than oil, which is always going to be a big monster. It's a big one, but that's a great tribute to you and
economic development properly used.
In other cities throughout the peninsula, places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Doha, Muscat, the transformations have been unbelievably remarkable. Before
our eyes, a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past and forging a future where the Middle East
is defined by commerce, not chaos, where it exports technology, not terrorism, and where people of different nations, religions and creeds are
building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence. We don't want that.
And it's crucial for the wider world to note this great transformation has not come from Western interventionists or flying people in beautiful
planes, giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs. No. The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created
by the so-called nation builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars, failing to develop Kabul,
Baghdad, so many other cities. Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that
are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions and charting
your own destinies in your own way. It's really incredible what you've done.
In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies
that they did not even understand themselves. They told, you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves. Peace, prosperity and
progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same
heritage that you love so dearly.
GOLODRYGA: All right. You've been listening to the President of the United States speaking at the Saudi-U.S. investment forum, just moments after
hearing from MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince there, introducing him, and the Crown Prince acknowledging that while there is a $600 billion
deal now that the two had signed, obviously wanting to please President Trump and his goal of getting to a trillion dollar announcement, also
suggesting that the path is still open to hopefully getting to that trillion dollar figure.
[11:55:00]
And also, the difference is notable between the last trip and this trip to the Kingdom, and that is the focus on investments of the future, with a lot
of technology companies, CEOs there in the room present there and ready and willing to sign deals now with the Gulf states.
ASHER: Yeah. It is extremely notable. This is the first major international trip of Trump's second term. Obviously, the first during his first term,
his first major trip was also to Saudi Arabia as well.
Let me bring in Anna Stewart, joining us live now from London. So, Anna, during this speech, he went off on a tangent multiple times, but --
GOLODRYGA: And speaking about the U.S. election.
(CROSSTALK)
ASHER: -- so very Trump. But, when it comes to the reason why he is obviously in the region, I mean, he has been talking about $1 trillion
worth of deals. He ended up signing about $600 billion worth. That's certainly not chump change. But, there are a whole host of CEOs who came to
Riyadh with him, be it the head of BlackRock, be it the CEO of Amazon. I mean, the list goes -- Elon Musk. We saw him sitting in the front row. Just
talk to us about why this particular sort of economic partnership is important for America's top CEOs as well.
STEWART: Well, they are very much there in town to drum up investment for their own businesses, but also to support U.S. President, and I suspect,
hopefully have some horse trading around the sides in terms of the ever changing trade policy of this Trump administration.
You would be pleased to know that some of the CEOs did get name dropped in the speech. The keynote was wide-ranging, but there were moments where he
focused a bit on business. He said, where is Jensen, the CEO of Nvidia? He wanted to do a shout out to the CEO of Nvidia, who has announced a deal
with an AI company in Saudi Arabia. He did say, Tim Cook isn't here, but you are. So, I think Tim Cook might be in trouble, CEO of Apple. And he
also mentioned that TSMC, a Taiwanese company, is investing $200 billion in the U.S. And he is very proud of these investments.
Most of the keynote so far has been about the U.S. economy, about his various policies, everything really from DOGE to the tariffs. On tariffs,
he said we allowed everyone to tariff us into losing jobs, and now we are tariffing them. So, despite some of the reprieves we've seen around
tariffs, he is still going quite strong on tariff policy as well. Lots to mention. But, this is a very important forum. CEOs are there. They are
doing big deals. And this is a big moment both to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And as you noted, some of them even getting shout outs from the President of the United States.
Anna Stewart, thank you so much for joining us.
ASHER: Thank you, Anna.
GOLODRYGA: And stay with us. We'll have more One World after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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