have useful interchanges with the chief executive himself. Regarding the May 2017 report of a Donald Trump revelation of classified information to Russia, during which Powell was present in the room, she stated: "This story is false." However this soon-to-be infamous, unannounced meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was as it happened where Trump was later revealed to have disclosed Israeli intelligence. While she dissembled to cover up the president's error, he later admitted to having revealed these secrets. She was among the top officials escorting the chief executive on his first foreign trip, which in May 2017 started with a two-day stay in Saudi Arabia. She had been heavily involved in the planning for the Middle Eastern portion of the trip. She was involved in several negotiations with Middle Eastern parties, where she was sometimes the only woman at the table. She also ensured that one of the headliner speeches made reference to women's rights in Saudi Arabia. Powell's prior experience in government and her set of contacts in the Arab world played a key role in making the first part of the trip a successful venture, and she had done some of advance work prior to the trip. Powell was one of the key figures in securing the release of Egyptian aid worker Aya Hijazi. Beginning in June 2017, Powell involved U.S. efforts to free assorted American hostages held in countries overseas, particularly in agency of informing families. The following month she was one of those accompanying on the trip to Poland and Germany en toward the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit. She then went to the Middle East on the next Kushner peace process trip. This took place in late August 2017 and also made the involvement of envoy Jason Greenblatt. By this time the likes of Bannon and Gorka were gone from the White House while Powell was still an ascendant force there. The trip was viewed positively within the Administration, which continued to think that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal was achievable. This was followed by a secret trip to the Middle East made by Kushner, Powell, and others. By November 2017 she was part of a "core four" drafting a plan for a comprehensive Middle East peace, along with Kushner, Greenblatt, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David M. Friedman. Given that the other three were Orthodox Jews with various ties