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One World with Zain Asher
Trump Welcomes Saudi Crown Prince To The White House; Later: House To Vote On Bill To Release Epstein Files; Investors On Edge Amid Big tech Concerns; Roblox Introduces A.I. Age Verification; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired November 18, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:41]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of "One World."
We begin at the White House where an important and controversial meeting is happening right now. The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is
meeting with Donald Trump.
For Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, it's the first visit to Washington since 2018. He's hoping to come out of this visit with a deal to buy
American F-35 fighter jets. President Trump is trying to convince the Saudis that it's time for them to formally recognize Israel.
So why is this meeting so controversial? Well, for a time after 2018, Mohammed bin Salman was considered an international pariah. That was
because of the murder of "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi that year in the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
U.S. intelligence concluded that it was probably Mohammed bin Salman who had ordered Saudi agents to assassinate Khashoggi, but the Crown Prince has
always denied it.
We are covering the important visit from multiple angles. CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. Our international diplomatic editor Nic
Robertson is in Jerusalem.
Kevin, let's start with you. President Trump and Mohammed bin Salman have a close relationship. This was the first visit for President Trump overseas
in both of his terms now to Saudi Arabia. Walk us through what the president is hoping to take away from this meeting.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And it's clear just looking at how this visit has been orchestrated, the importance that
President Trump is placing on this relationship. You know, it's a state visit in all but names.
Mohammed bin Salman is not the head of state in Saudi Arabia. That's his father, King Salman. But every aspect of this visit closely resembles sort
of the highest level of American diplomatic trappings. So you had this big welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn with the horses and the flyover and
the military bands.
And tonight, you'll have a black tie dinner that in any other circumstance would be called a state dinner. And so it's clear that the president is
intent on deepening this relationship, but also welcoming MBS back fully into the diplomatic fold after those years sort of out in the cold.
And certainly President Trump, even as it was happening back in 2018, this sort of isolation of MBS following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the
president was never necessarily fully on board with that.
And even though President Biden said that he would make Saudi Arabia a pariah when he was campaigning, he also sort of cultivated MBS during a
visit to Saudi Arabia to try and get them to increase oil output. And so this is clearly the culmination of all of that.
And they will have a number of issues that they want to discuss. They're in the Oval Office now and we should see them shortly.
Security very much at the top of the list. They're expected to agree to a new defense agreement. It stops short of a full treaty that would require
ratification in Congress, but it does deepen their ties there.
President Trump has also said that he will allow the sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia. We saw them fly over the White House earlier. That's something that
could cause some consternation in Israel, which at this point is the only country in the Middle East that has the F-35s and there had been some
concern that this could potentially erode their military edge, but clearly President Trump not necessarily swayed by those concerns. And it has said
that he will allow that to go forward.
Also expecting them to talk about A.I. to talk about civilian nuclear power, which is something that the Saudis have looked for a partnership
with Washington for quite some time.
President Trump, for his part, is hoping that eventually Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords. That's his signature diplomatic agreements
whereby Muslim and Arab countries normalize their relationship with Israel.
It seems certain that that's not going to be finalized on this trip. Saudi Arabia has said that a precondition for that is a clear irreversible
pathway for Palestinian statehood, which at this point doesn't seem as if it's happening.
But certainly President Trump's efforts to end the war in Gaza, in his mind, pushed those efforts forward. And it's something that he's made clear
he wants to see happen before the end of his term, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: And let's go to Nic Robertson to pick up what you just noted there, how closely Jerusalem and Prime Minister Netanyahu is watching this
meeting unfold, specifically given that by congressional law, Israel has the qualitative advantage in the region in terms of any sort of military
and technological assistance that the sale of these F-35s raises some question, I would imagine, in Jerusalem. And whether or not the president
is able to extract even the idea now following the war in Gaza to revisit where these two countries were just days before October 7th of 2023. And
that was very close to some sort of normalization deal.
[12:05:46]
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and there are those people who would say -- analysts in the region who say that the
reason that Hamas attacked when they did on October the 7th had some symbolism for them that day, but it was came at that time because --
because the normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia was getting close, that was going to marginalize the Palestinian cause, marginalize
Hamas. That -- that was one analysis at the time.
But fast forward to where we are today. Yes, Mohammed bin Salman may give some kind of indication. And I -- and I think there's sort of a bit of
groundwork been prepared for this, that at some point in the future, Saudi Arabia could normalize Israel.
And as is said in the past, that would be when there is a clear pathway to a Palestinian state. It's not clear that the language within the Security
Council resolution that the United States penned that was passed last night, that the language there goes far enough for the Saudis.
The Saudis have been supportive of this resolution, supportive of the idea of the 20-point plan, but a bit lukewarm about engaging too deeply. They
weren't there in (INAUDIBLE) when that plan was signed by President Trump when he traveled to the region just a month or so ago, indicative of
perhaps where they stand on this.
But -- but for Saudi to say at some point in the future, it would be right to normalize Israel may not be too much of a stretch to expect.
However, behind the scenes, the message will be very clear, the -- the one that the message that's public, that doesn't happen without -- the
normalization doesn't happen without recognition of a Palestinian state, something Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet are avowedly and
publicly against.
And therefore, by implication, what I understand from sources behind the scenes, at least, MBS will be able to say to President Trump, look, we just
don't feel confident going forward with the current political makeup in Israel. There may be a point in the future. I don't think that is very
unlikely, not going to come out in some part of a public statement.
But I think that's the broadening understanding. And in that context, the F-35s, which have been the real eyebrow razor here in Israel, that -- that
Saudi Arabia could get some kind of uplift in its military ability to potentially sort of threaten that qualitative military advantage that as
you say there, very clearly, the U.S. has, and the president has a legal obligation to uphold in support of Israel's military superiority in -- in
the region.
And the analysis here from the opposition, always looking for a chance to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu, is that because Prime Minister
Netanyahu is not gutting on as well as he could with President Trump, because he hasn't found a way to say I, an Israel, can recognize a
demilitarized Palestinian state at some point in the future, because he can't do that.
Therefore, this has led President Trump to take the expediency of making these deals, which are important to him with Saudi Arabia, and therefore
Saudi Arabia on a track to get the F-35s and not beat the qualitative military advantage that Israel has. But it's changing the dynamic
significantly and raising eyebrows here.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, no doubt.
I do want to, Kevin, if I can just go back to, because we spent a little bit of time showing President Trump as he was giving a tour to MBS of the
White House and where you could see them looking at presidential portraits.
And it appears, as you see right there, there's President Trump's current portrait. And then you see in the middle of both his first and second term,
what should be a portrait of President Biden is instead a portrait of an autopen, I believe.
I don't know if you were able to see that, Kevin, but the two spend quite a bit of time talking about that. Just how unusual and norm-breaking that
alone is?
LIPTAK: Well, just this installation that the president has put in the West Colonnade is unusual on its own. That used to be just a blank wall.
And you're right. It's a lineup of portraits of presidents past, except for the president that served just ahead of President Trump, which was
President Biden. And there he has a picture of an autopen, which is an illusion to his accusations that President Biden essentially was out of his
right mind and delegated all sorts of important tasks to advisors who then approved it by autopen.
[12:10:12]
Although we should say that President Biden has said that he approved all of the pardons, for example, that President Trump has claimed were signed
via proxy. And so, you know, it is unusual that the president would take a foreign leader and sort of put him into this position where he's talking
about all of these conspiracies and political attacks that he has on his rivals.
Obviously, MBS had his own relationship with President Biden and will be able to assess for himself whether or not he was in his right mind during
their meetings when he was in office. But yes, it's an unusual thing to see the president of the United States sort of deepening this political attack
alongside a leader on the world stage.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House for us. Our thanks to Nic Robertson in Jerusalem as well. Thank you.
Well, the last time the Crown Prince was in the U.S. Capitol was seven years ago, just months before the murder of "Washington Post" journalist,
Jamal Khashoggi.
The CIA concluded that it was probably Muhammed bin Salman who ordered the assassination, though the Crown Prince has denied having anything to do
with it. Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
His widow spoke to CNN about what it feels like to see the Saudi leader welcomed once again at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANAN ELATR KHASHOGGI, WIDOW OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI: It's very painful for me. It's very painful. It will be better if Jamal was here and receiving the
Crown Prince by himself and meet with him and share with him his vision and mission and all of his idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The Saudi Crown Prince has gone to great lengths to paint himself as a reformer. But human rights campaigners say that masks a dark
reality. Over 300 people have been executed this year alone, according to Human Rights Watch, meaning at this rate, judicial killings could reach an
all-time high in 2025.
My next guest is Joey Shea. She's the Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch. Joey, thank you so much for joining us.
So as we noted, this is MBS's first visit since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. And from your vantage point, has there been anything done, any
meaningful accountability to that killing? Or has the world seemingly just moved on?
JOEY SHEA, SAUDI ARABIA RESEARCHER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: There has been no meaningful accountability whatsoever since the brutal murder of Jamal
Khashoggi in 2018.
And in fact, despite a very brief period of international isolation for Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman, he's only doubled down on the rights
abuses that have occurred under his governments.
And what's notable actually is just a few months ago, in June of this year, the Saudi government executed yet another journalist, a man by the name of
Turki al-Jasser. And he was a Saudi journalist. And he was responsible for an anonymous Twitter account that poked fun at the Saudi royal family and
actually exposed their corruption.
And for that, Saudi authorities executed him earlier this year. And it shows really how far we have come since 2018. But in 2018, there's
international outcry at the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. And barely anyone would know the name of Turki al-Jasser.
GOLODRYGA: Much has been made of MBS' investment in social opening for Saudi Arabia over the last several years. That includes concerts, tourism,
women driving. But that has happened alongside increased oppression, political repression and oppression in the country.
Can you just talk about that strange dichotomy?
SHEA: Absolutely. So you're exactly right. Muhammed bin Salman has embarked on a very robust economic and social reform program over the last decade or
so. He's opened movie theaters. He did indeed grant women the right to drive. But that was also coupled with the worst period for human rights in
the country's modern history.
And for all of the openings in the economic and cultural space, there have been closing -- closings in the political and civil rights spaces.
So if we go back to the lifting of the ban on women driving in 2018, Muhammed bin Salman decreed this himself despite years of campaigning from
very brave women's rights defenders.
And in fact, just months before this ban was lifted, Saudi authorities rounded up and arrested the very same women who had been advocating for
this ban to be lifted for many years. Those women were arbitrarily arrested. They were detained. They were tortured in prison. Most of them
have since been released.
But at least a few remain on illegal and abusive travel bans. For example, very well-known human rights -- women's rights defender by the name of
Loujain al-Hathloul, she remains on a travel ban and is unable to leave the country. So it's a very complicated picture of Saudi Arabia in -- in 2025.
[12:15:07]
GOLODRYGA: As we've already noted, the rehabilitation campaign for MBS around the world and even here in the United States began long before
President Trump won a second term. We remember President Biden, who called him a pariah said that he wouldn't meet with him and then subsequently then
flew to Saudi Arabia in that infamous fist bump moment between the two where the president was hoping to convince MBS to increase oil production
to bring oil prices down globally.
But when you look at what's on the formal agenda today between these two presidents who were -- who spent a lot of time talking about F-35s, nuclear
development, defense cooperation, A.I. chips, human rights are not part of even this formal agenda.
What do you make of that? And how big of a setback do you think that is for those who are champions of human rights around the world?
SHEA: It's unfortunately completely unsurprising that human rights are not on the agenda of this administration or even on the previous administration
as well as you mentioned.
President Biden came into office with very lofty promises of making Mohammed bin Salman a pariah. And despite our advocacy efforts, he did very
little to follow through with that promise.
Under President Trump, you know, we've seen these promises of the F-35s. That's something that the Saudi government has wanted for a very long time.
But let's just remember Saudi Arabia's horribly abusive campaign in Yemen that started a decade ago where Saudi authorities carried out scores
indiscriminate and disproportionate airstrikes on Yemen civilians and civilian objects including homes, schools, hospitals and the like.
So, you know, it's -- it's unfortunate that -- that we're here today, but it -- it really shows the moment that we're in where rights abusing states
are making friends with other rights abusing states and making really paving the pathway for authoritarian governments to assume more power on
the global stage.
And I really think this speaks to the economic power of the Saudi government. Something like Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund which is
one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, nearly a trillion dollars, really wields its economic investments as a way to further its
political and security power of the Saudi state.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Saudi Arabia, we should note, pledged $600 billion in U.S. investments back in May for President Trump's trip to the kingdom.
Joey Shea, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
And we are waiting for President Trump and the Crown Prince to make remarks from the Oval Office. We will bring that to you live when it happens.
On the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, just hours from now, House lawmakers are expected to vote for a bipartisan bill calling for the
release of all of the Epstein files.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who resisted bringing up a vote until recently now says that he will support it, but he says that he still has concerns about
the bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): With so many pressing issues on our plate, just very frustratingly to us, the Democrats are delaying that work even further
with a political show vote. They're forcing a political show vote on the Epstein files.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, it comes just days after President Trump abruptly reversed his position saying that he would support the call for transparency after
spending months trying to block the vote.
Meantime, those who have been impacted the most by Epstein's crimes made their voices heard on Capitol Hill earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY ROBSON, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I know everybody sees us today as grown adults, but we are fighting for the children that were abandoned and left
behind in the reckoning. This is who you're fighting for.
JENA-LISA JONES, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I was a child. I was in ninth grade. I was hopeful for life and what the future had held for me. He stole a lot
from me at 14.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Annie Grayer joins me now live from Capitol Hill.
Quite stunning about-face from the president and from the speaker in just the last 48 hours. Now that the president has given his blessing for this
discharge petition vote to move forward, what are we expecting to hear from Republicans? Are the majority of House Republicans expected to vote in
favor?
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're expecting not just the majority of Republicans to vote for this, but potentially all of them. The speaker said
at this press conference that the vote later this afternoon could be unanimous, which is really striking given how this started.
Remember, at any point, the president could have called on his Department of Justice to release these files. At any point, the speaker could have
called up this vote to happen, but instead without Republican leadership's blessing, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna had to go this
other procedural route that was months in the making.
[12:20:12]
There was only four Republicans that signed on to the effort that even allowed for this floor vote to happen. And up until the last minute, the
White House Trump ally's members of Congress were trying to negotiate with those four Republicans to see if there was -- they could take their names
off. And then when that didn't happen, when the 218 signatures were needed to lock in to create this vote to happen, the avalanche of support from
Republican lawmakers started to come out.
And that is why we've seen the president make his reversal and the speaker come out today and publicly say that he will now back this effort. Take a
listen to what he said in his press conference earlier this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: Congress should give the attorney general broader authority to redact all the victim information. The discharge doesn't do that.
Now you have some very brave women who have come forward and -- and put their names and faces out there and -- and done press conferences and
explain that justice is overdue. And -- and our hearts go out to them and they are heroes.
But you have as many as a thousand women by some of the accounts who may be caught up in this. And the vast majority of them have not come forward,
probably for obvious reasons. They don't want to be unmasked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRAYER: So that was the speaker laying out his concerns with the bill. But at the end, he said he would support it. He said he spoke in with the
Republican leader in the Senate about his issues, hoping that they can be addressed once it passes the House to this -- today and heads of the
Senate.
And just remember, the vote today is the first step. It's also to get through the Republican controlled Senate Leader John Thune has said that
he's not going weigh in officially until the House votes complete. And then the president will have to sign this into law.
Now, he said he is in support of the release of all the Epstein files, but the dynamics have been changing so much here that we will have to watch
what happens if this does eventually hit the president's desk.
And it really just is a shocking moment for this House vote today. I mean, think about the Republicans in Congress and the House specifically that
have been in lockstep with the president every step of the way. And leading up to this vote, we saw that Republicans were coming out against the
president in his position. And that is just a rare moment for us to see here up on Capitol Hill.
GOLODRYGA: I mean, we'll call it was in August that the House Speaker sent Congress home, members of Congress home early for recess to avoid just this
happening. It is quite stunning how quickly this all changed. We will bring you that vote later this afternoon when it happens.
Annie Grayer, thank you so much.
And coming up for us, a look at U.S. markets ahead of two key reports this week. NVIDIA's earnings and September's jobs report.
Plus, America's air traffic controller shortage is pushing the limit to -- it's pushing the system to its limits. Could artificial intelligence help
keep the sky safe?
And millions of children around the world are playing on the gaming platform Roblox. But what's being done to keep them safe? We'll here from
the CEO about how Roblox is now using A.I. to protect younger users.
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[12:25:44]
GOLODRYGA: All right. Let's get a check of U.S. markets now. All down in the red. The Dow down over one percent and 550 points. The S&P 500 down
nearly nine-tenths of a percent. And the NASDAQ also down over one percentage point.
Let's get more from CNN's Matt Egan. A lot of concern, Matt, not only about earnings, but also about that important September jobs report that we have
yet to get.
MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Bianna. Those are among the reasons why the ride has gotten a bit bumpier for U.S. stocks, the VIX
Volatility Index, which is the Wall Street fear gauge, up by another 7 percent today. That was after a 12 percent spike yesterday. And it's
approaching levels that we really haven't seen since the spring during a lot of the turmoil around the president's tariffs.
And, yes, the Dow has done another 500 points, about 1.2 percent, almost the same amount as yesterday.
And, yes, one of the questions here, one of the concerns is about the underlying health of the U.S. economy and what the Federal Reserve is going
to do, right? Just about a month ago, it looked like kind of a slam dunk that the Fed would be cutting interest rates at the next meeting in
December.
But then Fed Chair Jerome Powell, he did sort of tap the brakes on the idea that we need another interest rate cut. And now it's kind of 50/50. So a
lot of uncertainty about interest rate cuts.
I should note though that one of the Fed governors, Christopher Waller, who's looked at as a front runner to become the next Fed chair, or at least
a contender, he has said that the Fed should still be cutting interest rates because he described the job market as weak and approaching stall
speed.
So there is this growing divide at the Fed and all of that coming ahead of the jobs report that's due out on Thursday. Of course, that's the delayed
September jobs report that got delayed by the government shutdown.
The other thing here is what's going on in the A.I. world ahead of NVIDIA earnings tomorrow. Obviously, there's been some air let out of the A.I.
trade. A lot of these stocks are down. You see NVIDIA down another two percent today.
I talked to veteran investor Bob Elliott (ph) just a few moments ago, and he said, look, the market for the first time is questioning whether the
A.I. hype will turn into reality.
And he said, NVIDIA's earnings are going to take an even bigger weight in this environment. And he said, if NVIDIA does not confirm high expectations
built into the market, then watch out below.
And we are seeing some other tech stocks fall today. You see Microsoft down 3.5 percent, Meta down two percent as well, Palantir, CoreWeave. A lot of
the other tech names have been down today.
But I would just note, Bianna, that we do get bouts of market volatility. And the U.S. markets, they still remain significantly up on the year.
You're looking at the S&P 500, it's about 12 percent up on the year. That's a pretty solid year for the market. So we do have to put all of this into
context. But clearly, investors are a bit more on edge than they were just a few weeks ago.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And concerns about an A.I. bubble have been looming large now for a few months, for sure, among investors.
Matt Egan in New York, thanks so much. We'll be looking at all of those reports in the days to come.
Well, after Roblox became the target of numerous lawsuits, the gaming firm says that it's introducing new A.I.-based age verification to try to
prevent grooming of younger gamers.
The online gaming platform is being sued by U.S. states and families of users who claim that it enables sexual predators to connect with and abuse
children. Roblox says the new tools will help to keep them safe.
Players who want to chat with other users will now be required to upload an I.D. If they don't, they'll have to photograph their face like you're
seeing here. And then it will be A.I. that's going to estimate their age.
The founder of Roblox told CNN that that's just part of a raft of safety improvements.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BASZUCKI, FOUNDER AND CEO, ROBLOX: We're going to use A.I. to do a facial age check for everyone on Roblox who uses communication.
And I want to highlight that this goes hand in hand with a lot of other things we do on Roblox. We filter all the text. We don't allow image
sharing. We monitor everything for critical harms. So we -- we continue really to believe we want to innovate and lead into the future of safety on
the internet.
[12:30:10]
GOLODRYGA: The CEO of Roblox there. We do want to take you now to the White House and the Oval Office where we're hearing from President Trump. It's
his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: An amazing man. I met him early on. He greeted me at the airport at an age that was pretty high up
there and it was about 117 degrees and he was standing on the red carpet as I came out of the plane. And he's amazing.
And when I met his brilliant son, he was at the Oval Office. Shortly thereafter, you came in representing the country and I called the father. I
said, this guy is fantastic. And I don't know if that helped you or hurt you, but obviously couldn't have hurt too much because here you are, right?
So we had a great meeting and the office has changed quite a bit. And we inherited a mess. You actually told me. You thought the country was in big
trouble. I'm not going to use the exact word that you use. I refuse to say that you thought our country was dead a year and a half, two years ago. But
our country was in trouble and now we have the hottest country in the world. You said that also.
And we do. We have the United States, as right now, the hottest country in the world. And between the tariffs and the election, November 5th election,
we've done things that nobody can believe.
$21 trillion will be the amount invested in the United States or committed to invest in one year. So I'm here nine months. We're up to almost $18
trillion.
Biden, as an example, the Biden administration, if you call it that, it's not to me, it was the Biden lack of administration. They were less than $1
trillion for four years. We're going to be $21 trillion for one year. I think that's hard to believe. The biggest in history was a certain country,
$3 trillion. We're going to be $21 trillion.
On top of that, prices are coming down. We inherited a mess with high prices. The worst inflation in the history of our country. We had inflation
that was a single four years. The worst inflation in the history of the United States.
A gas crisis through the roof. And that's after destroying our petroleum reserve, which was meant for wars and big emergencies not to try and win an
election.
They opened up the reserve so that people get $3 less in gasoline. And it didn't work. They got about $0.3 less. Because as big as those reserves
are, the peanuts, when you're talking about that kind of traffic. And we're rebuilding the reserves. We're doing all of this. And we've done a job.
We're also bringing down prices very substantially. And we've already brought them down very, very substantially. Gasoline is way down. I think
you'll be seeing $2 gasoline. But we're now at $250, $245, some are lower than that. It was $4.55, $6, $3.50, $3.75, under by no different numbers,
but way high. And we have energy way down.
But the biggest thing to me, because I know what it means in jobs, is the fact that we're at over $17 trillion, Scott. And we expect to be around
$20, $21 trillion in one year. And that's many times bigger than -- in history, the highest number was $3 trillion. And we're going to be at $21
trillion.
That means new plants, new A.I., new auto plants. We have auto plants coming in from Canada, from Mexico, from Germany, from Japan. Toyota just
agreed to invest $10 billion on new auto plants, all American workers.
We've never been in a position like this. You can go back to the beginning. Our country has never been in a position like this. And it really is
because of the fact that we use tariffs to bring all this money in. And you're going to see the results in a year when these plants start to open
up.
We have more plants under construction now than at any time in the history of our country. And these are big plants. These are the biggest plants
anywhere in the world.
And I want to thank you because you've agreed to invest $600 billion into the United States. And because this is my friend, he might make it a
trillion, but I'm going to have to work on him.
But it's 600. We can count on 600 billion. But that number could go up a little bit higher, yes or I don't know. We'll see. But we appreciate it
very much.
So, Saudi is going to be investing at least $600 billion. And that means investments in plants, in companies, money on Wall Street. And what it
really means for everybody that really counts as jobs, a lot of jobs. We have a lot of jobs.
So I just want to thank you. We've been really good friends for a long period of time. We've always been on the same side of every issue.
[12:35:05]
I think we've done a great job in wiping out the nuclear capacity of Iran. Nobody else could have done that. No other president would have done it. We
had the pilots in the Oval Office right here. We were celebrating a very successful attack.
So I had them in with that beautiful B-2 bomber that's over there. And they said, sir, for 22 years, we practiced this attack. Our predecessors, these
were very young guys. So 22 years, they said our predecessors and us practiced the attack on Iran, but no president ever gave us to go ahead.
Three times a year, they went out and they practiced the attack. Nobody let us do it until you came along. And I let them do it because it was the
right thing to do. You can't have a nuclear Iran. And so we put you in a very good position.
But I just want to say, it's an honor to be your friend, and it's an honor that you're here. And if you'd like to say a few words, but thank you very
much.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE: Thank you, Mr. President. This relation for about nine decades. And we've been working together for a long
time. But today, it's a very important time in our history because there is also a lot of things that we're working in in the future.
We believe in the future for us for America. And we believe -- and what you're doing, Mr. President, is really creating a lot of good things and
good foundation to create more economic growth, more business in America. And it will also work for the world peace.
I believe, Mr. President, in today and tomorrow we're going to announce that we are going to increase that $600 billion to almost $1 trillion for
investment, a real investment, a real opportunity by details in many areas.
And the agreement that we are signing today in many areas in technology, A.I., in rare earth materials, magnet, et cetera, that will create a lot of
investment opportunities.
TRUMP: So you are doing that -- now you're saying to me now that the $600 billion will be $1 trillion?
BIN SALMAN: Definitely. Because what we are signing, it will facilitate that and -- and -- and --
TRUMP: I like that (INAUDIBLE). Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We worked hard for it.
TRUMP: No, that's great. That's -- I appreciate that. That's great. It's -- no, we're doing numbers that nobody's ever done.
And in all fairness, if you didn't see potential in the U.S., you wouldn't be doing that.
BIN SALMAN: Definitely.
TRUMP: You don't want to lose money.
BIN SALMAN: As you said, Mr. President, it's the most hottest country in the -- in the -- in the planet. But what you're creating is not about
opportunity today, it's about also long-term opportunity.
And I said to America that would affect the American economy positively in the next coming decades, preparing the light foundation of emerging
technologies. That -- that's a game changer for America in a good way and we want to be a part of it.
TRUMP: Yes. We're doing really well. I guess, you know, you don't see what we're doing so much because we have, although the construction industry
sees it. If you look at Caterpillar, who's been incredible, the -- you know, the tractors, everything else. The numbers that we're doing in
construction are -- are unbelievable.
You know, some of the plants that we're building, A.I., and they're building their own electric with the plant. I gave them the right to build
their own electric with the plant because no country, frankly, will -- will have this.
China's working very hard to produce enough electric, but we're beating China substantially at A.I., which is a big thing. And we had a great
meeting two weeks ago with President Xi, but on A.I., we're -- we're doing well.
And I have a man, David Romel (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: David, could you say a few words about what you're seeing on the job front and all of the -- some of the assets? And also how we've been helped
by the Saudis in terms of the kind of investment they've made, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, certainly. Thank you for the opportunity. I am a facility leader for GE Vernova. And if you look at the landscape for GE
Vernova investment, over $750 million in the U.S. focused on true manufacturing jobs here stateside.
We're looking at tripling the output of our Greenville, South Carolina facility, where we make the gas turbines that are supporting U.S. needs as
well as the Saudi Arabia needs.
TRUMP: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So real jobs, $300 million in gas investment, resulting in over 500 pieces of new equipment being installed in the Greenville,
South Carolina facility. That translates into roughly 1,800 jobs across the board for GE Vernova, as we try to scale capacity to be able to meet this
demand.
Along with that, we're -- we're partnering with local communities to build the skill set that's required to -- to meet these capacity needs. So that
talent pipeline is incredibly important, so it's real jobs in -- in the manufacturing space.
TRUMP: Well, you've been great. And thank you very much. And we love that state. I won that state by record numbers. I won a lot of states by record.
Texas. A lot of them by -- Indiana. We're working with Indiana, something right now. We won that. We won a lot of them by records, but that was one
of them.
[12:40:01]
I want to thank you very much. Say hello to everybody. Great job. You're doing a great job. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Appreciate it.
TRUMP: So, just in wrapping up, we'll take a couple of questions, but I want to just tell you what an honor is to be your friend. And I very much
appreciate the investment of now $1 trillion, OK? That sound good. You cut that out.
I didn't want to be the one to tell them, but that's great news.
BIN SALMAN: Keep increasing, Mr. President.
TRUMP: I know.
BIN SALMAN: You know, each time, the opportunity is just increasing more and more.
TRUMP: Well, the opportunity, sort of. You know, we're doing better. If -- even if you look back six months ago, I mean, all of a sudden, you feel
even better. So -- and I think we're only going to go in one way.
Does anybody have any questions?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, have you approved the export licenses for advanced checks to Saudi Arabia, the export licensing?
TRUMP: We are working on that. We're negotiating that right now.
Marco, do you want to talk about that or Scott?
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I mean, that's part of what we may have announcements on that later today. But that's what we've been
working on is -- is the mechanics by which something like that could be achieved and it's part of the broader process, part of this broader
engagement and cooperation between our two countries.
TRUMP: Certain levels of chips. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the crown prince, Royal Highness, talking about a trillion dollars of investment. Could the kingdom continue to do that with
oil prices in the mid 60s?
BIN SALMAN: We are not creating a fake opportunities to, you know, please America or please Mr. President Trump. It's -- it's real opportunities.
For example, when you ask about the A.I. and the chips, Saudi Arabia have a huge demand of -- huge need of computing power. And we're going to spend in
the short term, around $50 billion by consuming those semiconductors for our needs in Saudi and Saudi Arabia.
And with the agreement that we're going to have with the United States of America, that will allow us to focus that consuming power in short term by
$50 million from the -- from America and long term with hundreds of billion dollars in the -- in the long-term.
So -- so there's a lot of free opportunities that fit to all of need in Saudi Arabia and fit to all of our investment strategy.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President -- is it appropriate, Mr. President, for your family to be doing business in Saudi Arabia while your president? Is
at a conflict of interest? And Your Royal Highness, the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11
families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office.
TRUMP: Who are you with? Who are you --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why should Americans trust you?
TRUMP: Who are you with?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the same to you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Now, who are you with?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm with ABC News, sir.
TRUMP: You're with who?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ABC News, sir.
TRUMP: Fake news. ABC fake news. One of the worst -- one of the worst in the business. But I'll answer your question.
I have nothing to do with a family business. I have left and when I've devoted 100 percent of my energy, what my family does is fine. They do
business all over. They've done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually.
I'm sure they could do a lot. And anything they've done has been very good. That's what we've done. We've built a tremendous business for a long time.
I've been very successful. I decided to leave that success behind and make America very successful.
And I've made America more successful by far than it ever was, and that it ever could have been no matter who was president. There would be nobody
bringing in $21 trillion that I can tell you right now.
As far as this gentleman is concerned, he's done a phenomenal job. You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people
didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about.
Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that. You don't have to embarrass our
guests by asking a question like that.
BIN SALMAN: Just ask, Mr. President --
TRUMP: Please. Go ahead.
BIN SALMAN: If you allow me to answer. You know, I feel painful about, you know, the families of 9/11 in America. But, you know, we have to focus on
reality, reality based on CIA documents and based on documents that Osama bin Laden used Saudi people in that event for one main purpose is to
destroy this relation, to destroy the American-Saudi relation. That's the purpose of 9/11.
So whoever buying that, that means they are helping Osama bin Laden's purpose of destroying this relation. He knows that strong relation between
America and Saudi Arabia is bad for extremism, it's bad for terrorism.
And we have to approve him wrong and to build our relation -- continue developing our relation. It's critical. The safety of the world is critical
against extremism and terrorism.
About the journalist, it's really painful to hear, you know, anyone that's been losing his life for, you know, no real purpose or not in a legal way.
And it's been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We've did all the right steps of investigation, et cetera, in Saudi Arabia.
And we've improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it's painful and it's a huge mistake. And we are doing our best that
this doesn't happen again.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President, the Crown Prince has been instrumental in helping lifting the sanctions on Syria. Will be -- will
there be any joint investment between the U.S. and Syria? And will you visit Damascus --
[12:45:06]
TRUMP: Are you from Syria?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, but --
TRUMP: Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Palestine.
TRUMP: Oh, I'm making a lot of progress, huh? Very good. They liked it. Palestine is like me. Palestinians are doing very well, actually. I think
we're working very closely with a lot of people that make everybody happy, including Israel, the Palestinians, and everybody. That's very interesting.
No. I think that I will tell you the Crown Prince called me, and he specifically asked me if I would lift the sanctions on Syria, because he
wants to see Syria make it.
As you know, the leader of Syria was just here. We had a great meeting. And he's a strong guy. And I guess you'd need a strong person to run it. And I
think Syria has made tremendous progress. We did lift the sanctions at the request of the Crown Prince.
Also the President of Turkey, Erdogan, called me specifically. He said, you know, if you don't lift the sanctions, Syria doesn't have a chance. If you
do, they have a very good chance. And between the two of them and some others, I lifted the sanctions. And the results so far have been pretty
good.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, can I ask you a question about the F- 35s that are being sold --
TRUMP: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- to Saudi Arabia? Are these the same ones that are being used by the Israeli military? And if so, how does that allow for the
qualitative military edge for Israel?
And then I want to ask you, because you brought up the -- the flight of the Palestinians. Are you aware of relocation flights to South Africa that are
taking place right now?
TRUMP: Which flights?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The relocation flights that are taking place. Some Palestinians are being charged up to $2,000 a sit.
TRUMP: I'm not going to South Africa for the G20, because I think their policies on the extermination of people are unacceptable. So I'm not going.
So I won't refer to anything having to do with South Africa. South Africa has behaved extremely badly.
But I will say that when you look at the F-35 and you're asking me, is it the same? I think it's going to be pretty similar, yes. You know --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How will that happen?
TRUMP: This is a great ally. And Israel is a great ally. And I know they'd like you to get planes of reduced caliber. I don't think that makes you too
happy. They've been a great ally. Israel's been a great ally. And we're looking at that exactly right now.
But as far as I'm concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line.
Yes, please.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: It's all right. Steve, one second. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you reached an agreement on a U.S.-Saudi defense treaty today? And are you going to bring up the Abraham Accords in your
discussion?
TRUMP: I already brought them up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say?
TRUMP: I think I got a positive response. Would you like to respond?
BIN SALMAN: Yes. So, yes. So definitely, we believe -- we believe having -- having a good relation with all of these new countries is a good thing. And
we want to be part of the Abraham Accords.
But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path of two-state solution. And today, we have a healthy discussion with Mr. President that
we're going to walk on that to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible to have that.
TRUMP: I think we're -- you know, I don't want to use the word commitment. But we've had a very good talk on the Abraham Accords. We talked about one-
state, two-state. You know, we talked about a lot of things in a short period of time. We'll be discussing it further, too.
But I think you have a very good feeling toward the Abraham Accords.
BIN SALMAN: Yes, definitely, Mr. President. We want peace for the Israelis. We want peace for the Palestinians. We want them to coexist peacefully in
the region. And we will do our best to -- to reach that day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the defense agreement, have you reached agreement on that?
TRUMP: We pretty much have.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, for the Crown Prince, if I could just finish --
TRUMP: We have reached agreement on that. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to ask you about the direct talks between the United States and Iran. Have you been fully briefed on that? And are you
concerned at all about how this might impact Saudi security interests?
BIN SALMAN: When -- we are close, and I will be working closely together on that issue. And we will do our best to help to reach a deal between the
rest of America and Iran.
And we believe it's good for Iran future to have a good deal that -- that would satisfy the region and the world and rest of America. So we will do
our best to see that they happen.
TRUMP: And, by the way, Iran does want to make a deal. I can say I think they very badly want to make a deal. I am totally open to it. And we're
talking to them, and we start a process. But it would be a nice thing to have a deal with Iran. And we could have done it before the war, but that
didn't work out. And something will happen there.
But they would very much like -- I mean, they may say something else, but they would very much like to have a deal.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to sell F-35 jets.
TRUMP: Say it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You -- you are planning -- you said you are planning to sell the F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia.
[12:50:00]
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it part of the security agreement? And how you assess the defense partnership between Saudi Arabia and the United States?
And the question for the third --
TRUMP: I understand it. I mean, I'm going to -- we are going to sell them F-35s. That's the end of the question, I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it part of the security agreement or no?
TRUMP: No. We're going to have -- no, we're going to have a deal. They're going to purchase F-35s. They're buying them from Lockheed, and it's a
great plane.
We make, by the way, the best military equipment. You saw that during the Iran little skirmish. We make the best planes, the best missiles. We make
the best offensive missiles. We make the best military equipment in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice. For (INAUDIBLE) I'd like to ask you about how you see the cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia and the
technology -- advanced technological field, especially A.I.? And how it will support Saudi Arabia to serve its goal to achieve the vision of
(INAUDIBLE)?
BIN SALMAN: Well, I will try to answer that in short, but definitely, there's a lot of interest in many in this, between Saudi Arabia and
America, and we are signing a lot of agreement in different areas that would really add value to American economy, but also to add value to us in
Saudi -- in Saudi -- Saudi Arabia.
And A.I., it's critical for us because one of the long-term problems that we could have is lack of workforce.
As you've seen in the past few years, some of them have reached 30 percent of the global migration to Saudi Arabia. So we know that to assure the
Saudi Arabia GDP growing, with the lack of workforce that we have, we need to use a lot of computing power to replace the job in the long term.
So that's huge demand in Saudi Arabia. And we want to link it to American private sectors and getting the supply from America. So there's a lot of
opportunities in that area.
TRUMP: And we're also involved in A.I. and Saudi Arabia. So we're working. And we're -- again, we're leading by a lot on A.I. I -- actually a lot.
China would be in second place, but we're leading by a lot.
And -- and I have to say this -- and our relationship with China has been very good. And as far as buying our farm products, they're pretty much on
schedule.
Scott, I'd like you to call them, say if they could speed it up, it would be good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: OK. But they're pretty much on schedule.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President (INAUDIBLE). I may have a question for both the Crown Prince and --
TRUMP: Go ahead. Who are you with?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) from Arab News Saudi Arabia, Your Excellency.
TRUMP: It should be a friendly question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your, Royal Highness, just picking up on something you've just mentioned about how some people tried to destroy the
relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Perhaps, you know, since the launch of the vision, we've been used to having a bigger picture and that everything fits into the bigger picture.
Might you want to elaborate a little bit about where is the relationship, the bilateral relationship, the strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia
and the United States heading? And what's the big picture there?
BIN SALMAN: Well, I don't think it's a relation that we can replace it from the Saudi side or the American side. It's a critical relationship for our
political attempt, for our economical attempt, for our security, for our military, for -- for many things.
And it has been, therefore, nine decades and the opportunities that we have today, it's huge and seems that we're going to be getting deeper in the
next few decades.
And what we are having today and tomorrow with President Trump, it's -- it's really a huge -- huge new chapter on this relation that will add value
to both of us.
TRUMP: You know, when you think about it, I'm just sitting here. You're with the future king, a man who's respected by everybody, a man that
doesn't have to be doing this, really. I don't have to be doing it either.
And yet, we're sitting here taking questions. Any quite -- we didn't say, oh, you can't talk about this. And there's never been transparency like
this, even in his country. But there's never been -- in our country, that's been acknowledged.
But we didn't put restrictions. And I'm saying it's sort of wonderful to be taking questions from all over the world. Everybody's here. This is just a
small group representative of tremendous numbers of media that are outside, that are very jealous that these people were so selected. But they're
representing a lot of people that are outside.
I think it's terrific that we can be sitting here being this open. And, you know, I think it's really a wonderful thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't mind, I have a personal question for you --
TRUMP: Uh-oh. OK. Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). So, apart from everything you mentioned in your opening remarks, you forgot to mention that you've de-escalated seven
wars since you started.
At least in our part of the world you are seen as a peacemaker. And adding that to all the executive orders and if, as you've mentioned, I really have
to wonder, you -- in your speech in Saudi Arabia, I was there. You said that his Royal Highness does not sleep at night, thinking how he does
things better.
We wonder -- we wonder in Saudi Arabia, how do you manage your own time? And what's your formula for management?
TRUMP: He does not sleep much and I don't sleep much. I think we have the same schedule. We're thinking about our countries.
And if you sleep a lot and you're president -- we just had one that slept more than any president. He broke every record. He -- he sleeps all the
time, during the day, during the night, on the beach. The only guy could fall asleep on the beach with the press watching.
[12:55:09]
No, he's not asleep. I'm not asleep. But we don't -- we talk at night. We can talk. I can call him almost anytime. Because hi, how you doing? It's
like a crazy stunt.
But, no, when you love your job, when you love your country, and when you're in a position like we are, future king, highly respected, Crown
Prince, and in my case, President, you're thinking about your country. You're thinking about making America great again. We're thinking about
keeping Saudi Arabia strong and vital.
And in a pretty tough part of the world, tricky part, right? Tricky part. A lot of tricky people. But they -- he thinks about his country, and I think
about my country. I don't want to sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump, do you expect a formal civil nuclear deal to be reached soon? Can you talk to us about that aspect of today's --
TRUMP: With whom?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With Saudi Arabia.
TRUMP: I can see that happening here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that that will -- an agreement will happen today?
TRUMP: It's not urgent, you know. It's -- it's always -- when you have civil nuclear, but you have more oil than almost anybody else, we -- we
actually have more oil and gas than they do but I refuse to say to that.
We have more than -- we have more anybody. Can you imagine?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And on the F-35s, are those sales -- Israel have reportedly wanted those sales to be conditioned on Saudi Arabia -- Arabia
moving to normalization.
TRUMP: Israel will be happy. Israel is going to be happy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, it's conditioned of the effort by the --
TRUMP: Israel's aware, and they're going to be very happy.
Yes, please. Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, hello. My name is Amanda (INAUDIBLE) newspaper. From the outpost.
I have a question for the Crown Prince and for the president.
And Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, what -- how much you expected from developing the cooperation with the United States in the field of new
energy, A.I., supply chains, how much you expected from that?
BIN SALMAN: No limit. We just continue pushing forward. There's no limit. So we just push forward for all the opportunities that we have.
TRUMP: This is -- you have to understand. This is really a great ally. Just the fact that they're now doing -- I came in here at six -- I did not know
that I was pushing for the one trillion, but he didn't tell me that. Now, he's telling me.
This is a great ally of ours. You know, when you invest a trillion dollars, that's national security for us, too. Because it creates jobs, it creates a
lot of things.
And I would say, Scott, right? When you hear one country is putting a trillion dollars into the United States, that creates national security.
And, you know, I think that -- they don't have to say that, but I think a big part of that is also the fact that tariffs are in play. But even beyond
tariffs, that's a real ally that will do that creates a lot of power for the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are also (INAUDIBLE) Saudi Arabia very happy for this month (INAUDIBLE) Saudi.
TRUMP: Great. And your question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) and, of course, it's -- come back for ask for benefits. So it's -- it's complimentary interest. So this is -- this is
-- I think it's different -- the friends and the ally do.
TRUMP: Well, look, I love the country of Saudi Arabia. I know the people very well. The level of treatment that we go when we go to Saudi Arabia is
something that is incredible.
And the people like us. And I think they really like America, especially when I'm president. I don't think they like America so much, maybe, for
four years recently. I think Obama treated Saudi Arabia very, very badly, very badly, as you know.
But -- and I think Biden didn't have any idea where the hell he was. I don't think Biden knew the difference.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you describe the future (INAUDIBLE) with Saudi Arabia? I mean that from the strategy of aspects, how would you describe
that?
TRUMP: I would say the relationship is with?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes. I think (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: I would say top of the line. It's as good as it can -- I don't think it can get much better.
We have -- look, we have a country that trusts us, and that's why they make that investment. If they didn't trust us, they couldn't make that
investment. And we trust them. They've been very reliable.
Now, we -- you know, we are -- I rebuilt our military in my first term, and we spent trillions of dollars. And we gave away some of it in Afghanistan,
stupidly, because we had stupid people running our country. But we gave away.
But that's -- as much as it was, it's a tiny fraction of what we -- what we put here. And we're -- again, we're bringing our military to a new level,
the highest level ever. Oh, we're -- we have those -- those plans to go now.
And again, it's all American jobs and everything. So it's good for a lot of reasons. But as far as Saudi is concerned, now, I don't think our
relationship could be better.
I don't think they had a great relationship under Biden, and I don't think they had a great relationship under Obama, but they have a great
relationship under Trump. When we did the presidential walk of fame, you saw that, right? And we're walking, and I asked the crown prince, so
outside of Trump, outside of Trump, because I blow everyone away, who was the best president for Saudi Arabia? And you could -- maybe, it's an
interesting answer, I don't know.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, SAUDI CROWN PRINCE: It was Roosevelt who started it, who is a Democrat. And Reagan, he's one of the historical presidents that
have close ties with Saudi Arabia. But we've worked with all presidents.
TRUMP: Does Trump blow them all away?
BIN SALMAN: No, you, it's not about me, Mr. President.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President --
TRUMP: And Trump doesn't give a fist pump. I grab that hand, I don't give a hell where that hand's been, I grab that hand. When -- remember Biden? He
travels for 20 hours, he gets out, and he gives a fist pump. No. When you get out of the plane and you got the future king and a man who's one of the
most respected people in the world, you shake his hand. You don't give him a fist pump, right? We don't want to ask you about that, but I can't
imagine you were thrilled. You were like a little bit surprised. He's a fantastic guy. You don't do that. Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're getting closer to the end of the year. Have you started the interviews for the Fed chair?
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who have you interviewed?
TRUMP: I think I already know my choice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is it?
TRUMP: Well, I liked him, but he's not going to take the job. He refused. You like Treasury better, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Much better, sir.
TRUMP: So, we are talking to various people. And the -- I mean, frankly, I'd love to get the guy currently in there out right now. But people are
holding me back. He's done a terrible job. Hurting housing a little bit. The truth is we've been so successful, we've blown past his interest rate
stupidity. He's been wrong. That's why I call him too late. He's too late. Jerome Too Late Powell. He was recommended to me by a guy that made a bad -
- you know, bad choice. And it's too bad.
But despite that, it's having very little impact because we have -- you know, we have all of these things happening. But it has an impact on
housing to a certain extent. He's a fool. He's a stupid man. But we have some very good people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. You'll be sitting down with them in the near future?
TRUMP: We have some surprising names and we have some standard names that everybody's talking about. And we may go the standard way. You know, it's
nice to -- every once in a while go politically correct. But we have some great names. Steve, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you talked to the President Maduro of Venezuela yet? Are you still open to that?
TRUMP: No. He wants to talk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: Yes, I'm open to talk. I talk to everybody. But no, he wants to. They treated us very badly. They sent all of their prison population into
the United States. And we're getting them out rapidly. But he sent all of his -- and he sends drugs into the United States and other things. No. He
treated us badly. He was dealing with a bad president. And he was able to get away.
We have -- now, I think we have the strongest borders anywhere in the world. Nobody is coming in unless they come in legally. You know, we're
taking very weak borders where millions of people can -- for the last six months -- I mean, I don't do these reports. They say zero people have been
able to come in. Is that pretty good? I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?
TRUMP: You know, it's not the question that I mind, it's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions.
You start off with a man who's highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question. And you could even ask that
same exact question nicely. You're all psyched up. Somebody psychs you over at ABC. You're going to psych -- you're a terrible person and a terrible
reporter.
As far as the Epstein files is, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick
pervert. But -- and I guess I turned out to be right. But you know who does have? Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, who ran Harvard, was with him every
single night, every single weekend. They lived together. They went to his island many times. I never did. Andrew Weissmann, I hear. All these guys
were friends of his. You don't even talk about those people. You just keep going on the Epstein files.
And what the Epstein is a Democrat hoax to try and get me not to be able to talk about the $21 trillion that I talked about today. It's a hoax.
[13:05:00]
Now, I just got a little report, and I put it in my pocket, of all the money that he's given to Democrats, he gave me none, zero, no money to me,
but he gave money to Democrats. And people are wise to your hoax, and ABC is -- your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. And
I'll tell you something --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: -- I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and it's so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, the
chairman, who should look at that, because I think when you come in and when you're 97 percent negative to Trump, and then Trump wins the election
in a landslide, that means obviously your news is not credible, and you're not credible as a reporter.
So, I've answered your question, you should go and look at the Democrats who received money from Epstein, who spent their time. Larry Summers was
with them all the time. That creep, the fund guy, was with them all the time. What's his name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reid Hoffman.
TRUMP: Who? Reid Hoffman. I don't know Reid Hoffman, but I know he spends a lot of money on the radical left. Reid Hoffman, in my opinion, should be
under investigation. He's a sleazebag. And those are the people, but they don't get any press, they don't get any news, and you're not after the
radical left, because you're a radical left network.
But I think the way you ask a question with the anger and the meanness is terrible. You ought to go back and learn how to be a reporter. No more
questions from you. Who else has a question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very quickly, I want to ask you, how much money is Saudi Arabia giving for Gaza reconstruction?
BIN SALMAN: We are in discussion about that. Still, there is no amount being named --
TRUMP: It will be a lot.
BIN SALMAN: -- but we will definitely have it.
TRUMP: Yes. He's got -- it's very important to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And a quick follow-up. The International Security Force, given your pledge there would be no U.S. boots on the ground, what
is the U.S. role going to be in that, and how do you ratify the allegations that this could undermine Palestinian sovereignty and even the path to
statehood?
TRUMP: Look, I think we're going to get along great with the Palestinians. You know, we know their leadership. We just had a very -- you hate to say
war, but it was a war, very, very successful. And you could say, really, it was on behalf of everybody. We did that on behalf of everybody. And the
outcome was extraordinary because we have the best pilots, the best equipment, the best planes and best everything. And Israel bought the best
equipment. They bought it from us. Everything's from us. It all starts here. This office.
I was talking to the crown prince a little while, you walk into this office for somebody from the outside, the Oval Office, its most powerful place in
the world. You're standing right now in the most powerful place in the world. And no matter how big you are -- these are the biggest people, the
richest people, they walk into this office. It's special, isn't it? Look at him. He's so happy to be here. But you walk into this office, it's the Oval
Office, and we've done a lot of good with this office.
I've stopped actually eight wars. I appreciated your question before, but I've actually stopped eight wars. I have another one to go with Putin. I'm
a little surprised at Putin. It's taken longer than I thought, but we stopped India and Pakistan. I could go through the list. You know the list
better than I do. I'm very proud. And I stopped one that was almost ready to start again, you know, there was one that was ready to start and they're
doing very well.
So, it all took place right here in the Oval Office, whether by telephone or whether by they came in. Many of these leaders have come in and, you
know, they signed their peace deals right here in the Oval Office. So, no matter if it's the biggest business people in the world or the greatest
leaders in the world, the biggest leaders in the world, like the gentleman on my right, everybody walks into the Oval Office and they say, wow.
And now, by the way, the Oval Office is in the kind of condition that it should be in. Whether you look at the walk or the marble floors or anything
down the road, we're fixing the White House and we're building one of the greatest ballrooms ever to be built.
You know, we have an event tonight and we're going to have about 118 people because we have a very small room. For 150 years they've wanted a ballroom
and now you're going to get a great ballroom. And I have to say, I probably made a lot of enemies because in your honor, we're having a dinner tonight,
a beautiful dinner tonight. And we have a very small room, right? It's called the East Room. And it's beautiful. It's lovely. But it's like for a
little cocktail before you go into a ballroom. It's a very small room.
They've wanted a new ballroom for 150 years. We could have sold the big ballroom out three times in honor of this gentleman.
[13:10:00]
So, I made a lot of enemies because I have a lot of people that are invited tonight or are unable to come because of the size constraint. But you know
what we'll do before I leave office? We'll have another dinner because we'll have it ready long before I leave office. And it's going to be
beautiful. It's -- you know, it's a very popular thing what we're doing. And by the way, no government funds. It's all put up private money, all
private money. And in the case, I think it's -- there's a restriction on foreigners. Otherwise, I could have asked you just for a check. OK. But
there's a restriction.
These are all private individuals that put up a lot of money to build the ballroom. Not one penny is being used from the federal government. So, it's
really a nice thing. But I look forward to it. I just pointed it out. This would be a perfect night to have that ballroom open, Susie. If we had that
open, we'd have a lot of people very happy. Right now, we have a lot of unhappy people because they all want to be with us tonight to honor this
great man. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've been listening to a wide- ranging press conference there, a Q&A between the president and reporters in the Oval Office as he is meeting and welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman.
They covered a number of issues. I want to get to New York columnist -- New Yorker columnist and author Robin Wright. And, Robin, they began with an
investment that was at 600 billion. Now, the crown prince saying $1 trillion worth of investments in the United States. The president was asked
about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and those 9/11 families who are still outraged at the president and the United States have close ties with Saudi
Arabia. The president sort of fielding those questions himself, but the crown prince also weighing in and expressing his sympathies, I would say
even more sympathetic to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi than some of the president's own remarks, though, of course, he said he had nothing to do
with it.
And then most notably, perhaps the U.S.-Saudi defense treaty, the president said that has been already agreed to. And MBS saying that he is open to
joining the Abraham Accords. They want peace in the region, but that a pathway towards a two-state solution and a Palestinian State need to be
established. What stood out to you?
ROBIN WRIGHT, COLUMNIST, THE NEW YORKER AND AUTHOR: Well, first of all, it was shocking that the president of the United States talked about Jamal
Khashoggi as a bad person. I mean, that's just so demeaning and awful. I thought it was really interesting the way -- this is kind of a standard
Trump Oval Office press gaggle in which he lauds himself and how much he's accomplished, demeans the previous administration and doesn't let his
guests speak very much. But it did underscore the transactional nature that this is about getting investment for the United States. This is about
selling military equipment.
There's some U.S. military equipment that the United States can't afford to make, at least efficiently, cost efficiently, unless it sells that same
equipment overseas to defray the cost. And some of the Saudis have been very active in buying some of that equipment.
Now, on the Abraham Accord, I do not believe that the kingdom will agree until there is a Palestinian State. I just think that they agree in
principle that it'll happen someday. But who knows when?
GOLODRYGA: All right. Well, we will continue to cover any developments on that front. We've got a lavish dinner ahead for the two of them tonight. In
the meantime, that does it for One World. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thanks so much for watching. "Amanpour" is up next.
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