With his first trip abroad as president behind him, when President Trump Donald John TrumpRobert De Niro, Ben Stiller play Mueller and Cohen in 'SNL' parody of 'Meet the Parents' Trump order targets wide swath of public assistance programs Comey says Trump reacted to news of Russian meddling by asking if it changed election results MORE lands in Washington overnight Saturday he arrives to a slew of controversies besieging his administration. It may be a rude awakening after what Trump called a "home run" of a trip. 
 
 The White House has remained largely quiet on controversies swirling at home and will likely seek to emphasize the president's traveling successes in coming days. Trump and his aides hope to take a victory lap over his first overseas trip — a sweeping nine-day excursion through five different countries across the Middle East and Europe. 
 
 In Saudi Arabia, the president's first stop abroad, Trump secured a massive arms sale, worth about $110 billion. 
 
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 In Jerusalem, he shored up the United States' relationship with Israel and reaffirmed his commitment to Middle East peacemaking. 
 
 And in Brussels, Trump ratcheted up his call for NATO members to bolster their defense spending in order to meet their treaty obligations. 
 
 Here are five takeaways from the president's tumultuous trip. 
 
 Trump took a softer tone on Islam 
 
 Trump moved away from his once-strident rhetoric on Islam during an address in Riyadh to leaders across the Muslim world last Sunday, calling instead for unity in the fight against Islamist extremism. 
 
 "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," Trump said. "This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life and decent people, all in the name of religion, people that want to protect life and want to protect their religion. This is a battle between good and evil." 
 
 Not once in his speech did Trump revert to his once-frequent use of the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe the extremist groups and militants he has vowed to combat. 
 
 But he also called on Muslim leaders to "drive out the terrorists and extremists" from their societies, and urged them to do more to combat extremist ideologies in the Muslim world. 
 
 He reaffirmed support for Israel and pressed for Middle East peace 
 
 The president arrived in Israel amid revelations that he had divulged highly classified intelligence provided by the key ally to Russian officials. But Trump quickly managed to ease the controversy and reaffirm U.S. support for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raved on Twitter about Trump's "taking such a strong stand for Israel and the Jewish people." 
 
 Trump paid a solemn visit to the Western Wall in East Jerusalem, where he stayed for a moment of silence before placing a note between the wall's stones. It was the first trip to the wall by a sitting president, though other presidents have visited the holy site either before or after leaving the White House. 
 
 But he also expressed the hope of making peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and never declared his intention to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a move that would be certain to anger Palestinians, please Israel and complicate peacemaking. 
 
 "I’ve heard it’s one of the toughest deals in the world,” he said, referring to Middle East peacemaking. "But I’m sure we’re going to get there eventually." 
 
 Trump berated NATO over defense spending 
 
 Trump's "America first" approach to foreign policy was on full display in Brussels when the president addressed a gathering of fellow NATO members at the organization's headquarters in Belgium. 
 
 At the heart of his speech was his assertion that the U.S. is shouldering an unfair burden of NATO's defense costs, and that member countries must spend at least two percent of their GDP on defense, a target that all members agreed on in 2014. Currently, only five NATO countries meet that spending target. 
 
 "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States," he said, speaking directly to the world leaders during a ceremony in Brussels. "And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years." 
 
 The complaint that other countries aren't doing enough to provide for their own defense is one that Trump frequently touted on the campaign trail. 
 
 But after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last month, Trump pivoted on his claim that the treaty organization is "obsolete," leading some to question whether the president would take an approach to NATO more typical of past presidents. 
 
 Nevertheless, in his address to NATO leaders, Trump refused to reaffirm U.S. support for the organization's principle of mutual defense, and failed to address growing European concern over Russia's intentions in the region. 
 
 He declined to pledge support for the Paris climate agreement 
 
 Trump refused to join Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Saturday in taking a pledge to support the Paris climate deal, leaving it unclear as to whether the U.S. will remain part of the agreement. 
 
 If the U.S. withdraws, as Trump has floated in the past, it would be the first to do so among the 195 countries that have agreed to the deal. Trump's decision not to take the pledge further highlighted a stark division between the U.S. and its allies on the issue of climate change. 
 
 But as a presidential candidate, Trump campaigned on bolstering American fossil fuels, particularly the coal industry. 
 
 Still, the president's aides left open the possibility of Trump sticking to the climate agreement, saying that his views on the issue are "evolving" as he speaks to other leaders about it. 
 
 “I think his views are evolving,” National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn Gary Davivd CohnTop Trump security adviser Tom Bossert resigning BET co-founder credits Trump tax cut with bringing black workers back into labor force What happened to the ‘best and most serious people’? MORE said. “He came here to learn, he came here to get smarter and he came here to hear people’s views.” 
 
 Trump never held a press conference 
 
 Trump broke from tradition in never fielding reporters' questions in a news conference during the trip, which is unlike his predecessors. In the week leading up to his departure on the trip, the White House faced a series of controversies that began with the president's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey earlier in the month. 
 
 Those scandals continued to mount throughout his trip, and White House officials have remained largely silent on them, although aides took a few questions in media gaggles and conference calls. In a press conference on Saturday, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Cohn declined to answer questions about the growing controversy surrounding Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. 
 
 Cohn also insisted that Trump had simply been too busy on his trip to address members of the news media. 
 
 "The president, since he left [Washington] has been dealing with foreign leaders, he's been dealing with jobs, he's been dealing with economic growth, he's been dealing with diplomacy, he's been dealing with unfair trade, he's been dealing with Paris, he's been dealing with China," Cohn said. 
 
 "His agenda has been overflowing. He's been fully consumed with what's going on here." 
 
 Senior White House officials on Saturday continued to remain quiet in response to revelations that Kushner discussed with Russia's ambassador establishing a backchannel line of communication between the Trump transition team and Moscow. 
 
 Meanwhile, Trump has hired attorney Marc Kasowitz as an outside lawyer to help him navigate the sensitive legal ground surrounding ongoing federal investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin. 
 
 With daily press briefings expected to resume, the White House will likely face questions on those controversies among others within Trump's first days back in the U.S. ||||| In this May 26, 2017, photo, leaders of the G7, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this May 26, 2017, photo, leaders of the G7, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japan's Prime Minister... (Associated Press) 
 
 TAORMINA, Sicily (AP) — As he dashed through the Middle East and Europe, Donald Trump looked like a conventional American leader abroad. He solemnly laid a wreath at a Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, had an audience with the pope at the Vatican and stood center stage with Western allies at the annual summits that dominate the diplomatic calendar. 
 
 But when Trump spoke, he sounded like anything but a typical U.S. president. 
 
 On his first overseas tour, the new president made no attempt to publicly promote democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia, instead declaring that he wasn't there to lecture. In Israel and the West Bank, he pointedly did not back America's long-standing support for a two-state solution to the intractable peace process. And in the heart of Europe, Trump berated NATO allies over their financial commitments and would not explicitly endorse the "one for all, all for one" defense doctrine that has been the cornerstone of trans-Atlantic security for decades. 
 
 To the White House, Trump's first trip abroad was an embodiment of the promises he made as a candidate to put America's interests first and break through the guardrails that have long defined U.S. foreign policy. Trump advisers repeatedly described the trip as historic and groundbreaking, including one senior official who brashly said without evidence that Trump had "united the entire Muslim world." 
 
 Addressing U.S. troops Saturday at a Sicilian air base moments before departing for Washington, Trump himself declared: "I think we hit a home run." 
 
 Trump boarded Air Force One without having held a single news conference on the trip — a break in presidential precedent that allowed him to avoid facing tough questions about his foreign policy or the raging controversies involving the investigations into his campaign's possible ties to Russia. Instead, the White House hoped to let the images of Trump in statesman-like settings tell the story of his first trip abroad, and perhaps ease questions about his preparedness for the delicate world of international diplomacy. 
 
 Yet those questions are sure to persist, particularly given Trump's remarkable lashing of NATO allies in Brussels. Standing alongside his counterparts, the president effectively accused countries who do not meet NATO's goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product of sponging off American taxpayers. He left some allies, already nervous about Russia's saber-rattling and Trump's public affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, further flummoxed when he ended his remarks without making an explicit statement of support for Article 5, the common defense clause that underpins the 68-year-old military alliance. 
 
 "The mood of Article 5, the idea that we are all in this together, is not the mood he conveyed," said Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The mood he conveyed is you guys are a bunch of freeloaders." 
 
 Some European leaders believe Trump can still be coaxed away from his controversial campaign positions. At the Group of 7 summit in the coastal town of Taormina, leaders launched an aggressive, behind-the-scenes campaign to get him to stay in the Paris climate accord. 
 
 While Trump emerged from the summit without a final decision on the Paris pact, he declared in a tweet Saturday that he will make a final decision next week. 
 
 Trump's return home Saturday night also shifts attention back to the storm clouds of scandal hovering over the White House. In a briefing with reporters Saturday, White House officials shifted uncomfortably and refused to comment when asked about reports that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, tried to set up secret communications with Russia after the election. 
 
 Trump's nine-day, five-stop international tour resulted in few tangible policy achievements. The U.S. inked a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and unveiled numerous business commitments in the region, though the White House never provided specific details about the scope of the agreements. At NATO, the White House touted the alliance's commitment to boosting defense spending, though the resolution was essentially a continuation of a pact agreed to two years earlier. 
 
 Still, the trip offered the clearest picture to date of how Trump plans to put his imprint on America's relationship with the world. 
 
 From the start, he set a new direction. Instead of following presidential tradition by making his international debut in a neighboring democracy like Canada or Mexico, Trump flew to Saudi Arabia, the repressive desert kingdom. 
 
 He appeared particularly comfortable in the setting. In Riyadh, he received a lavish, gold-plated welcome: His image was projected across the facade of the luxury hotel where he stayed, horses flanked his motorcade as it moved to one of the king's desert palaces and an extravagant celebration was held in his honor, complete with a traditional Saudi sword dance. 
 
 Trump betrayed no awkwardness at relishing the warm embrace of one of the world's most oppressive governments. Instead, he reciprocated with a pledge to not publicly chastise the ruling royal family for its crackdown on political dissent. 
 
 "We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship," Trump said. 
 
 Trump was lavishly feted in Israel as well, embraced by a prime minister who despised his predecessor and was eager to flatter the new president. Trump received multiple standing ovations — one of his favorite measures of success — during a speech on U.S. relations with Israel. The photo of his solemn visit to the Western Wall was splashed across the front pages of Israel's newspapers. 
 
 Like many of his predecessors, Trump made a personal appeal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But he never uttered the words "two-state solution," the longtime U.S. policy plan that would create a separate homeland for Palestinians. He also made no mention of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a major point of contention for the Palestinians. 
 
 The smaller moments of the president's trip were endlessly dissected as well, from first lady Melania Trump's apparent reluctance to hold her husband's hand on occasion to his shoving aside of Montenegro's prime minister to get to the front of a pack of leaders at a NATO photo opportunity. At the G-7, it was Trump's interactions with other leaders that commanded attention. 
 
 The six other heads of state took a short walk from one event to the next, chatting convivially as they strolled through the narrow Sicilian streets. Trump hung back, deciding against joining his peers. 
 
 Instead, he got in a golf cart and the American president's mini-motorcade drove the route alone, Trump once more having charted his own course. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jonathan Lemire at http://twitter.com/jonlemire ||||| Little matters more to Donald Trump, the brander-turned-American president, than imagery. Trump staffed his government out of central casting, and this past week it was time for him to audition for his role: leader of the free world. 
 
 In Washington, Trump is mostly seen only when he chooses: at a lectern in the Rose Garden. Saluting as he boards Marine One. Behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office signing jumbo-size executive orders, pushing his red button to summon a butler with Diet Coke or flashing a thumbs-up from his high-backed cherry leather chair. 
 
 But a nine-day marathon foreign trip that concluded Saturday in Sicily has offered the first extended — and often unfiltered, thanks to the steady stream of raw camera footage provided by his host countries — look at Trump on the world stage. 
 
 Trump was charming and boorish. He was deferential to the ­berobed king of Saudi Arabia and Pope Francis, yet aggressively rude to his European colleagues, brushing aside a Balkan prime minister to get to his place lining up for a photo shoot at NATO. The French newspaper Le Monde admonished Trump for “verbal and physical brutality” toward NATO allies and said he “lectured them like children.” 
 
 [Trump chastises fellow NATO members, demands they meet payment obligations] 
 
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 He strode around hulkingly. He nervously buttoned and unbuttoned his suit jacket. He sometimes seemed unsure whether to smile his toothy grin or glare, as he does when posing for portraits, so he alternated. At formal events, Trump did not always know where to go or what to do. 
 
 “What is the protocol?” he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they walked down a red carpet at an airport arrival ceremony in Tel Aviv. 
 
 “Who knows?” Netanyahu replied. “I think they’ll just tell us where to stand.” 
 
 Trump was visibly comfortable in environs that evoked his own, such as Saudi Arabia’s gilded-and-chandeliered palaces, yet appeared out of place in others. He arrived like a wrecking ball at the new NATO headquarters, a glass-and-steel behemoth that stands as a symbol of globalism and ­bureaucracy. 
 
 Trump’s family members took center stage. Daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, both White House advisers, stood behind or next to the president when he delivered his speech to Muslim leaders, prayed at the Western Wall, addressed Israeli-Palestinian peace and met the pope. They peeled off from the trip in Rome, midway through. 
 
 First lady Melania Trump was omnipresent, although largely silent and emotionless. She and her husband were rarely seen exchanging words, and he sometimes walked ahead of her, almost as if she were an ornament. 
 
 But the first lady came out of her shell at solo events, handing out Dr. Seuss books and coloring with children. She was especially moved by her visit to Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, where she read a book to and held hands with a boy who was awaiting a heart transplant. A few hours later, the first lady learned that the hospital had found a donor. “Receiving that news is a moment I will never forget,” she said. 
 
 (The Washington Post) 
 
 A Slovenian-born former model, Melania received considerable attention for her fashion. The Saudi media fawned over her attire in Riyadh as “conservative” and “classy,” although she raised eyebrows strolling the streets of Sicily in a colorful floral jacket by the Italian designer Dolce & Gabbana that reportedly retails for $51,500. 
 
 [Trump summons Muslim nations to confront ‘Islamic terror of all kinds’] 
 
 Although critics at home had predicted major gaffes, the president made none. And Trump participated in and contributed to substantive meetings on issues from counterterrorism and trade to climate change and migration. 
 
 “A president becomes presidential,” said Fred Davis, a Republican media strategist. “I’m hoping this trip brings him a level of personal peace, confidence and gravitas that he can use back home.” 
 
 In Saudi Arabia, Trump’s call for cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State unquestionably pushed the issue forward, with renewed emphasis on stopping terrorism financing and blocking militant messaging and recruitment. Beyond any substantive accomplishment, Trump revitalized Arab leaders, particularly in the Persian Gulf, who felt they had been disrespected and ignored by President Barack Obama. 
 
 “The United States shifted over the last eight years as a neutral player, at best, that looked the other way at Iranian aggression around the world,” said Ari ­Fleischer, a White House press secretary under former president George W. Bush. “We are now where we should be.” 
 
 In Israel and on the West Bank, Trump repeated his pledge to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in a peace deal, although no progress was made on starting that process. He delighted Netanyahu, and probably discouraged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, by not mentioning a two-state solution as a goal. 
 
 [Amid a chillier welcome in Europe, Trump keeps pining for Saudi Arabia] 
 
 In Europe, Trump’s badgering remarks on defense spending — during a NATO ceremony memorializing the joint alliance response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — left a bad taste. There was widespread disappointment at Trump’s failure to use the occasion to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the alliance’s joint defense pact, Article 5, although national security adviser H.R. McMaster said that “of course” Trump supports it. 
 
 Trump’s behavior, said Stefan Leifert of Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF, was “a slap in the face of all other alliance members.” 
 
 But there were also positive reactions. Germany’s Die Welt newspaper commentator Christoph B. Schiltz wrote that Trump’s “urging, his bugging and his persistence have left the alliance finally engaging more in the fight against international terrorism.” 
 
 The White House appeared to step on its own media applause lines by failing to provide timely fact sheets or copies of signed agreements Trump was touting in public as “historic” and “epic.” Media spokesmen sometimes were ill-equipped to provide basic information. And unlike virtually every president on similar journeys, Trump held no news ­conferences. 
 
 On the campaign trail, as Trump assessed Obama’s foreign policy, he fixated on an image from China that he thought symbolized America’s declining power: Obama disembarking Air Force One in Hangzhou, where he was attending a Group of 20 summit, on a metal ladder extending from the plane’s belly. 
 
 “They have pictures of other leaders who are . . . coming down with a beautiful red carpet. And Obama is coming down a metal staircase,” Trump said at a stop in Ohio. “If that were me I would say, ‘You know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let’s get out of here.’ ” 
 
 Trump did not have to make that call on this trip. At each stop there were better-than- satisfactory staircases from which he could descend. At the Riyadh airport, trumpets blared, soldiers stood at attention, fighter jets flew overhead and a spotless red carpet stretched across the tarmac. The aging King Salman, arriving in a golf cart and aided by a cane, warmly greeted the president at the foot of the staircase. 
 
 “It was very spectacular,” Trump later told European leaders, using his characteristic hyperbole to describe his welcome in Saudi Arabia. “I don’t think there was ever anything like that. That was beyond anything anyone’s seen.” 
 
 [What scandal? In Saudi leg of foreign tour, Trump escapes ‘that Russia thing.’] 
 
 On his arrival in Tel Aviv, another band, another red carpet and another head of state stood waiting. Even in Rome and Brussels, which are hardly Trump-friendly locales, the president received a grand welcome. 
 
 Trump often found himself the center of attention, both because of America’s place in the world and his singular standing as an international curiosity. But he seemed most at ease playing the undisputed leading man, such as in Riyadh, where the Saudi royal family treated him as one of their own, or in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu lifted him up at every opportunity. 
 
 “It is disturbing to see how impressionable he is,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a former communications adviser to Obama and Hillary Clinton. “His standard for whether or not a visit went well is how well he was treated. It is unnerving to see the leaders of other countries attempt to outdo each other in appealing to his ego as a means of bending the United States to their will.” 
 
 Trump’s confidence was less apparent at the Vatican, where he played the supplicant to the pope, sitting across a wooden desk as if he were interviewing for a job. 
 
 As the trip went on, Trump seemed to be having less of a good time, perhaps in part because scandals were brewing in Washington that would await him. 
 
 [Pope welcomes Trump to the Vatican despite past disagreements] 
 
 In Brussels, where he attended events celebrating NATO, Trump looked downright bored. As the king of Belgium and other leaders took turns at the lectern, Trump got fidgety, shifting in his seat, looking up to the sky and down to his feet, and crossing his arms over his chest. 
 
 The president — who aides say has little patience for listening to other people speak — then endured a dinner session in which the leaders of all 28 NATO partners gave remarks. 
 
 And here in picturesque Taormina, at the Group of Seven summit on the rocky Sicilian coast, Trump struggled to look interested during long meetings with allies in a room decorated with the flags of other countries. As the other G-7 leaders strolled the streets of this ancient fortress town, Trump followed along in a golf cart. 
 
 A weight seemed to lift from Trump’s shoulders when he touched down by helicopter at the U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Sicilian island, for a pep rally with military families before flying home to Washington. 
 
 The need for diplomatic niceties was over. The music playing was his campaign soundtrack. The American flag hanging behind him was several stories tall. Trump could be Trump. 
 
 The president riffed about winning — “you’re going to do a lot of winning!” — and, evoking President Ronald Reagan, said his trip would pave the way for “peace through strength.” 
 
 “That’s what we’re gonna have,” Trump said. “We’re gonna have a lot of strength and we’re gonna have a lot of peace.” 
 
 Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin; Stefano Pitrelli in Giardini Naxos, Italy, and Michael Birnbaum in London contributed to this report. ||||| Taormina, Italy (CNN) Swinging over the green Ionian sea Saturday, his first foreign trip behind him, President Donald Trump was in a valedictory mood . 
 
 Behind him, perched on the hillside, was the former Dominican monastery where G7 leaders had just finishing haranguing him to abandon his campaign promises to withdraw from a major climate agreement. He didn't give in. 
 
 Ahead was a crowd of US troops stationed on this rocky Italian outpost, eager to hear their commander in chief reprise the foreign agenda he'd spend the last nine days considering. 
 
 After nine days of talks with calculating foreign leaders, Trump was eager for the affirmation of an applauding audience. 
 
 "We have been gone for a long time," Trump declared at the Sigonella Air Base here. "Everywhere I go -- we have been gone close to nine days, this will be nine days -- I think we hit a home run no matter where we are." 
 
 It was an upbeat message for a leader fresh from meeting with his new club of foreign counterparts for the first time. But underneath the point-by-point recap of his trip lay uncertainty over his agenda and disputes with his foreign counterparts. 
 
 Trump's first voyage abroad was a story told in chapters, each successively less pleasant for a President still taking stock of his standing on the world stage. 
 
 Beyond a scattering of formal remarks, none of the story was told by Trump himself, who refused to hold a news conference and, by his advisers' own admission, revealed little of his thinking to top aides as he hopped from nation to nation. 
 
 Instead, it was a trip told in pictures with the volume on mute . By the time he departed Sicily, Trump had delivered four major addresses but clarified none of the questions that surround his foreign policy. 
 
 In some ways, uncertainty amounted to a win, at least in the minds of Trump's aides. As Trump prepared to depart Washington last Friday, there was little surety among his staff that the nine-day odyssey could proceed without failure. Trump himself, who hadn't slept in a bed that wasn't his own since taking office, remained skeptical a five-country itinerary could end well. 
 
 A homebody with little appetite for discomfort, Trump was imagining the worst. Unpleasant foreign food, withering jet lag, and an unfamiliar bed had been his experiences as a businessman abroad. Even in the days leading up to his departure, Trump asked whether the trip could be truncated. He vented about the ambitious schedule to his senior advisers in the days leading up to his departure. 
 
 But by then it was too late. With meetings locked in and the world anticipating his global debut, Trump settled into his quarters on Air Force One for a flight four times longer than any he'd taken as President. 
 
 JUST WATCHED President Trump receives Saudi gold medal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump receives Saudi gold medal 01:43 
 
 A king's welcome 
 
 Fourteen hours later, Trump was tucked into the back of his armored limousine, speeding into central Riyadh alongside King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and watching billboards plastered with both their faces whiz past. 
 
 Any concern about an uneasy touch-down abroad disappeared quickly. Welcomed with horse parades, draped with a gold medal and lured into a male-only sword dance , Trump had finally found a country to treat him like a king, if only for a weekend. 
 
 For the first time in his presidency, he was regularly accompanied by the first lady, who consulted with the US State Department before packing her wardrobe and emerged as the unlikely subplot of Trump's debut on the world stage. 
 
 Trump's aides selected the Middle Eastern kingdom as the first stop, partially because the lavish lifestyle lived by its monarchy was bound to be extended to the President. Launching the President's trip from Saudi Arabia also underscored its critical importance in the eyes of the White House, particularly for son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who hailed the business deals reached on the trip. 
 
 Yet an air of naïveté hung in the air after the President's speech to leaders of more than 50 Muslim majority nations. The White House described it as something of a fait accompli, with a top official twice declaring that the President had "united the Muslim world." 
 
 In truth, Trump had done nothing of the sort, even with his well-received Riyadh address. Trump's policy adviser Stephen Miller -- whose role writing the speech raised eyebrows -- had drafted a conciliatory address that replaced Trump's "radical Islamic terror" watchword with the milder "Islamist extremism." 
 
 As Trump delivered his opening argument to a room packed with leaders of Muslim nations, however, the newly sedate language didn't entirely come through. 
 
 "There is still much work to be done," Trump said. "That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamists and Islamic terror of all kinds." 
 
 The slip-up occurred because the President was exhausted , his advisers later explained, only two days into what would become a nine-day slog through meetings and ceremonies. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers 02:39 
 
 Terror intrudes 
 
 Awaking in Jerusalem two days later to news of a suicide attack in England , Trump found himself confronting at close range the thematic underpinnings of his trip. 
 
 Huddling with aides in his suite at the storied King David hotel overlooking the old city, the message on extremism he'd delivered in Saudi Arabia -- which came with few details -- suddenly appeared more difficult. In Israel, a country intimately familiar with the scourge of terror and the entrenched politics of peace, the problem appeared even more insurmountable. 
 
 Trump was unsatisfied with the language his advisers had prepared for a speech later that morning. The condemnation of the attack lacked verve, Trump believed. Describing the attackers in ordinary terms wouldn't suffice. Instead he wrote up his own description, using the insult he's long considered the most cutting. 
 
 "I will call them from now on losers because that's what's they are. They're losers," Trump said a few hours later standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We'll have more of them. But they're losers -- just remember that." 
 
 The message was well received. But hours later, it was clear Trump faced a steep climb before bridging the gaps that have long stymied American presidents' attempts at fostering stability in the Middle East. 
 
 "I hope this heralds a real change," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of Trump's remarks at the Israel Museum. "Because if the attacker had been Palestinian and the victims had been Israeli children, the suicide bomber's family would have received a stipend from the Palestinian Authority. That's Palestinian law. That law must be changed." 
 
 It was an intrusion of real-world obstacles into Trump's vision for peace, which he once deemed easy, but which this week he declared the hardest deal of all. 
 
 JUST WATCHED President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts 01:20 
 
 Climate controversy 
 
 When the President arrived at the Vatican on a sun-splashed morning on Wednesday, Pope Francis didn't lecture Trump. He gently encouraged him to do something else: Read. 
 
 The Pope presented Trump with a bound copy of his encyclical on protecting the environment, "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home." 
 
 For all the underlying tensions setting the stage for their first visit, given their unusually harsh exchange last year over immigration and whether the building of walls is a Christian thing to do, the Pope took another tack. 
 
 A skilled politician in his own right, Francis honed in on the President's pending decision whether to pull the US from the Paris climate accord. It was the first of several conversations Trump conducted this week on the landmark carbon reduction agreement, which he vowed as a candidate to scrap. 
 
 Departing the G7, Trump said he would make a decision next week. But to leaders he met with in Sicily, his intentions already seemed clear. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the group held unsatisfactory conversations on the matter . The US refrained from signing onto a joint statement endorsing Paris after the summit closed; other leaders said Trump wasn't prepared to take that step. 
 
 At the Vatican, though, Trump insisted his mind was open. 
 
 "I'll be reading them," Trump said of the essays from the Pope on the environment and creating peace. 
 
 Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, weighed in with the direct message urging Trump and his team to stay true to the Paris agreement. 
 
 The President's first meeting with Francis was steeped in symbolism, the final stop in visiting the three homes of the Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. 
 
 He's the second American president to visit the Vatican under Francis' papacy. While President Barack Obama's meeting was 20 minutes longer than Trump's, the Holy See wasted little time comparing the two. 
 
 As he left the Apostolic Palace, Trump told the Pope: "I won't forget what you said." 
 
 If he meant climate change, the Pope will have won round one. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up 02:04 
 
 Selective lecturing 
 
 Flying north from Rome, Trump found the temperature quickly cooling. He arrived at NATO's headquarters on the outskirts of Rome under a cloud of suspicion on multiple fronts. 
 
 After sensitive British intelligence about the Manchester attack appeared in American media outlets, Prime Minister Theresa May fumed , saying she planned to speak her mind when she met Trump at the meetings. It was the second time a foreign government expressed concern about sharing intelligence with their US counterparts: Trump himself revealed secret information to Russian officials earlier this month that could be traced back to Israel. 
 
 In one of the only off-script moments of his trip, Trump declared in Jerusalem that he hadn't mentioned Israel by name with his Russian visitors. But at NATO, the concerns still boiled. 
 
 It was just one of the rifts between Trump and his European counterparts. After open-arm welcomes in Riyadh and Jerusalem, Trump's foreign swing took a distinct tonal shift. Instead of banquets and horses, Trump was suddenly flung into tension-filled meetings with leaders deeply skeptical of his foreign agenda. 
 
 Subsequent sessions proceeded similarly. Trump reportedly griped about the hurdles in opening golf courses in Europe with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. European Council President Donald Tusk said after his meeting with Trump that they weren't able to bridge differences over Russia. 
 
 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One on Saturday, May, 27, 2017, at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. They were headed back to the United States after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe. Hide Caption 1 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump greets people on May 27, after speaking to US troops at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide Caption 2 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump addresses US troops and their families on May 27, at the Sigonella Naval Air Station. Hide Caption 3 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive on May 27, to address US military personnel and families at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide Caption 4 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Leaders of the G-7 and some African nations pose for a photo on May 27, on the second day of the G-7 summit in Taormina, Italy. Hide Caption 5 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump gestures on May 27, during a G-7 session. Hide Caption 6 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for a concert of the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra while in Taormina, Italy, on Friday, May 26. The Trumps are in Italy for a two-day G-7 summit. Hide Caption 7 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and other leaders pose for a group photo at the G-7 summit on May 26. From left are European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Hide Caption 8 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and Trudeau walk together after the group photo. Hide Caption 9 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip G-7 leaders congregate during a walking tour on May 26. Hide Caption 10 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump embraces new French President Emmanuel Macron on May 26. Hide Caption 11 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The leaders watch a French air squadron. Hide Caption 12 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump arrives at the City Hall in Catania, Italy, on May 26. She was wearing a $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket as she met with other spouses of G-7 leaders. Hide Caption 13 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump shakes hands with Macron in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, May 25. They were attending a NATO summit as the alliance officially opened a new $1 billion headquarters. Hide Caption 14 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands with other world leaders during a NATO photo shoot on May 25. Hide Caption 15 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with British Prime Minister Theresa May during a working dinner at NATO headquarters. Hide Caption 16 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the NATO summit. Hide Caption 17 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump visits the Magritte Museum in Brussels with Amelie Derbaudrenghien, partner of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Hide Caption 18 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip A girl takes a selfie with Melania Trump at a children's hospital in Brussels on May 25. Hide Caption 19 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with Macron in Brussels. Hide Caption 20 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump walks with European Council President Donald Tusk, center, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, after they met at the European Council in Brussels on May 25. Hide Caption 21 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump, third from right, attends a meeting with leaders at the European Council. Hide Caption 22 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with King Philippe of Belgium as Queen Mathilde and Melania Trump chat during a reception at the Royal Palace in Brussels on Wednesday, May 24. Hide Caption 23 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Tusk talks to Trump as he welcomes him in Brussels. Hide Caption 24 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel while the national anthem is played during Trump's arrival in Belgium on May 24. Hide Caption 25 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Protesters in Brussels demonstrate with effigies of Trump and Michel on May 24. Hide Caption 26 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome on May 24. Hide Caption 27 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Pope Francis stands with Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican on May 24. Joining the President, from left, are Trump's son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner; Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump; and first lady Melania Trump. Hide Caption 28 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and the Pope exchange gifts. Trump presented the Pope with a first-edition set of Martin Luther King's writings. The Pope gave Trump an olive-tree medal that the Pope said symbolizes peace. Hide Caption 29 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and his wife look at the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Hide Caption 30 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks to reporters in Rome during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, right, on May 24. Hide Caption 31 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The first lady visits a pediatric hospital in Vatican City on May 24. Hide Caption 32 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump arrives at the Vatican on May 24. With Vatican protocol in mind, she wore a black veil and long-sleeved black dress draped down to her calf. Ivanka Trump wore a similar outfit with a larger veil. Hide Caption 33 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wave at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday, May 23. Trump gave a speech there, reaffirming his country's commitment to Israel while also holding up Judaism's historical ties to the United States. Hide Caption 34 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip People take pictures of the message Trump wrote at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, on May 23. Hide Caption 35 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip With the help of US Marines, Trump and his wife lay a wreath at Yad Vashem. Hide Caption 36 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, on May 23. Trump met with Israeli leaders the day before and said he believes both sides "are ready to reach for peace." Hide Caption 37 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip A Palestinian security official takes position before the arrival of Trump's convoy in Bethlehem, West Bank. Hide Caption 38 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Israeli and American activists hold signs Monday, May 22, during an anti-Trump protest next to the US embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hide Caption 39 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump and Israeli first lady Sara Netanyahu speak to children during their visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem on May 22. Hide Caption 40 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump talks to reporters as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 22. Trump sought to rebut claims that he damaged Israeli intelligence capabilities by revealing highly classified information to Russian operatives earlier this month. "Just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel," Trump told reporters as he began the second leg of his first foreign tour. Hide Caption 41 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, while in Jerusalem on May 22. Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the wall. Hide Caption 42 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands in the Western Wall plaza. To his left, in black, is Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall. Hide Caption 43 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First lady Melania Trump, in white, visits the Western Wall. At far left is Ivanka Trump. Hide Caption 44 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first lady plant a tree in Jerusalem with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Hide Caption 45 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is welcomed by Netanyahu upon arriving in Tel Aviv on May 22. Trump started his trip with two days in Saudi Arabia. Hide Caption 46 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip On the way to Tel Aviv, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One. Hide Caption 47 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump attends the inauguration ceremony for the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. Joining him here are Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, center, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, left. Hide Caption 48 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks in Riyadh during the Arab Islamic American Summit on Sunday, May 21. Trump looked to make it clear that the United States is not at war with Islam. "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," he said. "This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil." Hide Caption 49 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump sits at the summit, which included leaders from 55 Muslim-majority countries. He urged them to do more to eradicate terrorist groups that claim the mantle of Islam. "We can only overcome this evil if the forces of good are united and strong and if everyone in this room does their fair share and fulfills their part of the burden," Trump said. "Muslim-majority countries must take the lead in stamping out radicalization." Hide Caption 50 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump poses with other leaders at the Arab Islamic American Summit. Hide Caption 51 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Saudi King Salman shakes hands with Trump on May 21. Trump is the first US president to start his first foreign trip in the Middle East. Hide Caption 52 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with other heads of state in Riyadh on May 21. Hide Caption 53 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Hide Caption 54 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First lady Melania Trump chats with children during a visit to the American International School in Riyadh on May 21. Hide Caption 55 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip While in Riyadh, President Trump meets with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on May 21. Hide Caption 56 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi share a laugh during a meeting on May 21. El-Sisi complimented Trump on his "unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible." Trump exchanged pleasantries back, praising el-Sisi's shoes. Hide Caption 57 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is handed a sword during a welcoming ceremony at Riyadh's Murabba Palace on Saturday, May 20. Hide Caption 58 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump sits with members of his staff and Cabinet before a meeting with Saudi King Salman on May 20. Hide Caption 59 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and King Salman take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh on May 20. The two leaders oversaw the signing of a defense deal worth nearly $110 billion. Hide Caption 60 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The Trumps look at a display of modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide Caption 61 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip King Salman presents Trump with a gilded necklace and medal, the country's highest honor. The distinction also was bestowed upon Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Hide Caption 62 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The first lady chats with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef at the medal ceremony on May 20. Hide Caption 63 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Ivanka Trump attends the medal ceremony. Hide Caption 64 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with King Salman after arriving in Riyadh on May 20. Hide Caption 65 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Soldiers on horseback carry the US and Saudi flags as they escort Trump to the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide Caption 66 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is welcomed by King Salman after arriving at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Hide Caption 67 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The Trumps take part in the welcome ceremony. Hide Caption 68 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first lady wave from Air Force One after landing in Riyadh. Hide Caption 69 of 69 
 
 At NATO, the mood hadn't improved. Despite the military bands and a military jet flyover, Trump wasn't in a conciliatory mood. While he vowed in Riyadh the US would no longer lecture its allies -- particularly on human rights -- it was a lecture he delivered during an unveiling ceremony at the military alliance's new building. 
 
 "Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they're supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said as his fellow NATO leaders openly scoffed. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years." 
 
 Trump's message didn't contain an explicit endorsement of NATO's collective defense pact -- an attack on one is an attack on all -- though his aides later insisted the message was implied. 
 
 As he mingled at his first major summit of world leaders, it was evident the new member of the exclusive society wasn't out to make friends. He remained largely isolated during informal talks, speaking intently with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as other leaders huddled around Merkel, the most powerful leader in Europe. When it came time for a photo-op, Trump pushed his way past Montenegro's prime minister to the front. 
 
 It was a far cry from the display of welcome he'd experienced in Saudi Arabia only five days earlier. And it wasn't due to improve as he flew to his final stop in Sicily. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump advisers dodge Kushner questions Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump advisers dodge Kushner questions 01:28 
 
 Russia questions swirl 
 
 The week-long swing through the Middle East and Europe provided momentary relief for a beleaguered Trump, whose presidency reached its most precarious moments in the scandal-pocked week before he departed. 
 
 Aides had hoped he could escape the Russia controversy briefly while traveling overseas. But by the time Trump arrived at his final stop in Sicily, the probe into Russia's election-year meddling had only inched closer to Trump's inner circle. 
 
 As he returns, decisions about hiring lawyers and firing aides loom. 
 
 Spending his first nights as president away from home, Trump found himself stewing over the latest developments from foreign hotel rooms late into the night. Even with wife, Melania, alongside for the longest stretch of his presidency, Trump was consumed by the story that has deeply sidetracked his agenda. 
 
 On the rocky hillside where leaders were meeting, the questions about Russia and the controversies back home seemed to merge. Leaders wondered whether Trump -- whose campaign was aided by Russian election meddling, according to a US intelligence analysis -- could ever be trusted to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
 
 The Russia controversy also prevented Trump from fully embracing what would ordinarily be a crowning moment of his presidency. Unwilling to face questions about the controversy, Trump eschewed any kind of interactions with the press, a setting he otherwise could use to tout his accomplishments abroad. 
 
 Most other leaders took questions as they departed Taormina, many detailing points of contention with the new US leader. Trump himself offered no view of his side of the encounters nor could he articulate his foreign policy while answering questions about them. 
 
 Returning to Washington, Trump remained in his cocoon -- pleased with himself, but aware the silence won't last much longer. ||||| President Donald Trump ended his first overseas trip on a buoyant note Saturday, telling a crowd of American sailors at a naval base in Sicily: “I think we hit a home run.” 
 
 But aside from closing a $110 billion weapons deal with Saudi Arabia on the first day of his nine-day tour, it wasn’t entirely clear what concrete goals the president achieved. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Trump made it through the grueling trip without a major diplomatic incident—despite a close call in Israel, where he volunteered to reporters that he’d never uttered the country’s name as the source of intelligence he reportedly shared with Russian officials during an Oval Office visit. 
 
 And he succeeded in putting off allies who were pressuring him to keep the U.S. in the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, buying himself the space to make a diplomatically awkward decision that will please his base at home. 
 
 Now, Trump returns home to deepening scandals related to his aides’ ties to Russia, having shown his ability to represent the U.S. on the world stage in true Trump fashion. 
 
 Here are POLITICO’S five takeaways after traveling with the president through five stops: 
 
 Trump prefers one-on-one meetings to big multilateral summits 
 
 Trump seemed to enjoy the first leg of his trip, with visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican. His time in Saudi Arabia was dominated by a celebration in a gilded palace where Trump mingled among royalty. Along with the dealmaking in Saudi, the first half of the tour was dominated by talk about security and terrorism, both favorite Trump topics. 
 
 But in Brussels and Sicily, Trump found counterparts who were largely unified against him—and decided not to give them what they wanted, whether it was a public commitment to NATO’s mutual defense clause or assent to staying in the Paris climate deal. 
 
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 The optics were the message 
 
 Trump glowed as he placed his hands on an illuminated orb alongside King Salman at the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. At the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Trump was reverent and peaceful as he touched the wall with a yarmulke on his head. At the Vatican, Trump grinned alongside his black-clad wife and daughter while Pope Francis glowered. 
 
 In Europe, Trump had more awkward encounters that telegraphed his attitude. The photo of him tightly gripping the hand of French President Emmanuel Macron and video of him appearing to push past the prime minister of Montenegro out of his way made headlines. At the G7 summit family photo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked away while standing next to Trump, who was looking down. 
 
 Trump’s ‘home-run’ accomplished very little – perhaps by design 
 
 Privately, some U.S. officials called the jaunt “completely useless.” Very few decisions were made in the summit meetings, while Trump played to his base with an "America First” approach to foreign relations. But the president got away without making any promises that would be hard to keep back in Washington—and managed to reverse positions taken by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, without causing major diplomatic rows. 
 
 EU Council President Donald Tusk called this weekend’s gathering “the most difficult G7 summit,” because Trump arrived seeking to reverse prior positions held by the United States. Co-signers, desperate to keep the agreement together, have privately accepted that they may have to higher emissions levels for the U.S. to keep them in the pact, which Trump could eventually tout as a win, according to a U.S. diplomat. 
 
 The end result for the G7 was a watered-down communiqué, in which six of the seven members reaffirmed their “strong commitment” to the Paris accord on climate change. Trump has said he’ll make a final decision as soon as next week. 
 
 But Trump finally took a position on Russia 
 
 While the G7 allies weren’t able to nail down Trump’s stance on the Paris climate accord, they did get some more clarity on the administration’s position concerning sanctions against Russia. 
 
 Chief economic adviser Gary Cohn initially suggested in Brussels that the White House didn’t yet have a position on sanctions stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, but then told reporters on Friday, “We’re not lowering our sanctions on Russia. If anything, we would probably look to get tougher on Russia.” 
 
 The final G7 communiqué maintained a hard line on Russia. 
 
 Trump hoped for a reset, but at least he got to avoid his trouble at home for a week 
 
 President Donald Trump did not give a single press conference on the trip, breaking with tradition of speaking with reporters during major trips to promote the White House narrative. 
 
 While the other six leaders that attended the G7 summit held press conferences Saturday at the conclusion of the event, Trump took off for a U.S. naval base, where he thanked his wife, Melania, for joining him, and touted his “truly historic week.” 
 
 ||||| President Trump returned home on Saturday to confront a growing political and legal threat, as his top aides tried to contain the fallout from reports that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is a focus of investigations into possible collusion between Russia and the president’s campaign and transition teams. 
 
 As Mr. Trump ended a nine-day overseas trip that aides considered the most successful stretch of his presidency, he was returning to a crisis that had only grown in his absence. The White House canceled a presidential trip to Iowa in the coming days and was putting together a damage-control plan to expand the president’s legal team, reorganize his communications staff and wall off a scandal that has jeopardized his agenda and now threatens to engulf his family. 
 
 Mr. Trump’s private legal team, led by his New York lawyer, Marc E. Kasowitz, was preparing to meet in Washington to face new questions about contacts between Mr. Kushner and representatives of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Trump may meet with Mr. Kasowitz as early as Sunday, and aides have recruited a series of prominent Washington lawyers with experience in political investigations for Mr. Trump to interview in hopes that they might join the legal team. 
 
 Mr. Kushner, who organized the president’s Middle East stops at the start of the foreign trip, chose to return to Washington with several days to go and has been unusually subdued since then. But he has no plans to step down from his role as senior adviser or to reduce his duties, according to people close to him. ||||| Story highlights Trump finished up his nine-day trip in Italy 
 
 He spoke at US Naval Air Station Sigonella before leaving for Washington 
 
 Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy (CNN) President Donald Trump couldn't return home from his first foreign trip without taking a quick victory lap. 
 
 But even as he touted the successes of his nine-day sweep through the Middle East and Europe before boarding Air Force One, Trump appeared eager to delay his return to Washington, where a storm of controversy awaits him. 
 
 "Maybe I'll stay down with you and celebrate together and just wave," Trump joked to the several hundred US service members and their families who crowded into an airplane hangar here to see him off. 
 
 Air Force One landed shortly after 9 p.m. ET Saturday at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, and he and first lady Melania Trump left by helicopter for the White House. 
 
 Now that he's back in Washington, he will have to confront the latest developments in the federal investigation into members of his campaign's potential collusion with Russian officials during the 2016 election. Most notably, soon after Trump touched down in Sicily for the final leg of his trip, news surfaced that the FBI is now looking into the role his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner held during the campaign and transition, including his contacts with Russian officials. 
 
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– "I think we hit a home run," President Trump told a crowd of US service members at an Italian military base on Saturday as he wrapped up his whirlwind first trip abroad. "Maybe I'll stay down with you and celebrate together," he joked, per CNN, which notes that Trump called the trip "tremendously productive," "historic," and said of his peers on the world stage that "we made a lot of good friends this week." Air Force One touched down on US soil at 9pm Saturday night carrying the president and first lady, and the New York Times details some of the crises awaiting his attention, in particular reports that son-in-law Jared Kushner was in contact with Russians during the campaign. A look around the assessments of the trip: CNN compiles video highlights from the trip. The Washington Post calls him "alternately charming and boorish," but calls it "the role of a lifetime" for Trump. The AP delves into the disparity between the optics and imagery of the trip, which were conventional, and the rhetoric, which was not. The Hill has five takeaways from the trip, including the lecture he gave NATO. Politico also have five takeaways, and notes that the president seems more comfortable in one-on-one exchanges than in large summits.