President Donald Trump Speaks to Muslim Leaders in Gulf Region; Annual Meeting with Gulf Leaders and President Trump; No "Radical Islam" in President Trump's Speech in the Middle East
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The nations of the Middle East will have to decide what kind of future they want for themselves, for their country, and, frankly, for their families and for their children. It is a choice between two futures. And it is a choice America cannot make for you. A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and drive out the extreme.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: A shift in tone during the President's second day in Saudi Arabia. Let's talk more about all this with CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer and Rom "Time" magazine contributor Jade Newton-Small. Good to see both of you. All right. So Julian, you first. Because on the hills of his speech, we have also just learned from his senior White House official that President Trump and gulf nation leaders have agreed to meet on an annual basis now. In your view what's the significance of that new agreement?</s>JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's significant and it is part of a broader strategy that President Trump has said he wanted to pursue. He wants to try to create some regional stability and peace, combined with the fight against ISIS by working with the Gulf States. Again, this is not totally new to President Trump. This builds out of several decades since the 1980s where Saudi Arabia's been a key ally. But I think it's been a successful trip in terms of cementing that agenda for now.</s>WHITFIELD: And Jay, those Gulf Nations that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. How does this help set the next stage of his stop which is Israel?</s>JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONTRIBUTOR, TIME MAGAZINE: Fred, they think that they -- the closeness with Iran was something that really, really worried all the gulf states especially Saudi Arabia but everybody. And the idea of the Obamas' treaty with Iran something that really upset them. And so --.</s>WHITFIELD: So this is the opposite. You heard Donald Trump essentially name --.</s>WHITFIELD: This is the enemy and everybody agrees on.</s>NEWTON-SMALL: Exactly. He is really coming back forcefully. The Sunni nations is rebuilding those alliances. And so, I think that is very comforting for them. This is the big push that Saudi wanted. And it sort of that's right. They have turned such a blind eye to his really hot rhetoric in the last -- during the campaign sort of calling Islam an enemy of the people, calling for bans on people traveling from a lot of these countries, United States. And so, what they see this as is a real victory. And that same thing is what brings them together with Israel, ironically. Is that Israel was very worried about this treaty with Iran and they are very happy that Trump is turning away from Iran as well. So going into Israel it is going to be a very similar scene where Israel is, likewise, like Saudi Arabia, very relieved to see the United States coming back to more of what they see as more of their camp.</s>WHITFIELD: And Julian, the White House probably would like to say this was a very successful trip. What a way to begin what will culminate into an eight/nine days, you know, overseas visit. The next stop is Israel. But it might be a bit more complicated.</s>ZELIZER: Absolutely. They shouldn't be holding their breath too much. This trip will only get more complicated diplomatically as they get deeper into the discussions of some regional peace agreement. This is obviously an issue that has tripped up almost every single President other than President Carter. And at the same time, in no way does this wipe away the very significant scandal and investigation that the administration is struggling with back here in the United States. That will be front page again this week with everything from Robert Mueller's investigation to Comey testifying. So the President is dealing with something difficult in the Middle East, at the same time that I think there will be a resurgent story about the scandal by Monday and Tuesday.</s>WHITFIELD: And so, Jay, you know, before he embarked on this overseas trip it was described by many people that he was just simply seething. He was upsets with so much controversial swirling around the dark cloud hanging over. Did he have a little bit more, you know, boost in his step? Was this confidence building? Did we see a different Donald Trump abroad?</s>NEWTON-SMALL: We certainly have seen a different Donald Trump abroad that is more on message, right. It is the most on message Donald Trump I think has been composed and really sedate. Almost having gravitas, giving these very measured speeches, these incredibly sort of calm and almost trying to look Presidential abroad. And that is in absolute stark contrast to the tweet storms we have been seeing over the last two weeks and just the fury going of what has been going on in terms of Comey and the firing and, you know, and Russia and all these different leaks that have been happening, the rumors that he is firing his press staff. These kinds of things. And so, so you see it. And that is absolutely an image that they wanted on this trip. They wanted to be - to turn the page from all the turmoil here in the United States, and then go abroad, and then come back and hopefully reset that whole sort of dynamic. But I think Julian is right that they are coming back into this incredible storm that is not going away. It is only going to get worse.</s>WHITFIELD: This is the President's trip, but it can't go unnoticed that he had quite the contingent. And family was something that was also being showcased, Julian, for the Trump family. He has got his wife, Melania, you know, there alongside. And also not far, you know, behind is Ivanka and Jared Kushner. And even Ivanka taking his place today in what was expected to be an address to the younger audience during this twitter, you know, forum. And instead of President Trump, it was Ivanka Trump who addressed them but not really with a huge message. So what's your expectation as to what potentially happened here, Julian? Is it a mistake that the President didn't live up to that expectation, that promise?</s>ZELIZER: Not necessarily. I mean they have always been his best surrogates. I think Ivanka has served an important role in the campaign and in the early administration as kind of stronger voice for the administration with a broader constituency. And I think maybe trying to target millennials, the idea was to bring her out rather than the President himself who doesn't really resonate with millennials here or around the globe. But it is part of this image remaking effort which I'm not convinced will be successful, that the Donald Trump you heard on the campaign and with the Muslim ban, it is a different Donald Trump that we have now. But my guess is that's part of the effort. And Jared Kushner has always been central to working out this Middle East peace agreement. So it is not a surprise that he will have a prominent role in the days ahead.</s>NEWTON-SMALL: And Fred, if I can just add to that. Like Ivanka is so popular in Saudi Arabia. It is this weird freakish obsess with her that they actually call Donald Trump Abu Ivanka, which means father of Ivanka because they just love her. And so, I think having her stepped in, in this case was a nod to how absolutely popular she is there and they wanted to be prouder a little bit more there.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Jay Newton-Small, Julian Zelizer, thanks so much to both of you. Appreciate it.</s>ZELIZER: Thank you.</s>NEWTON-SMALL: Thanks.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. I also want to bring in now CNN's Nic Robertson. He is our international diplomatic editor. So Nic, perhaps you can expound a bit more on exactly what happened, why is it that Ivanka Trump stepped in for the expectation of Donald Trump's message to this younger audience?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, through the whole afternoon here, Fred, the events have been running later and later and ultimately well over an hour late. So by the time President Trump got to the opening of the counterterrorism center, which is a big deal for the Saudis. There was a big explanation sort of a sound and light show with them and demonstration of how it would work, and all the big TV screens explaining how they were going to track this type of use on social media and how they could differentiate who was pro ISIS and who was anti-ISIS from social media. That all seemed to run on and take much longer than anticipated. And the king was at that event and the President was at that event. And it clearly seemed to run on so long that the tweet event which was set up and ready to go at another location, all the people involved in that were waiting, waiting, waiting. They had various speeches and it was clearly, it seems, that President Trump wasn't able to get back to that. And the introduction came, and there was a surprise. We were told an introduction, it wasn't going to be President Trump and the camera caught off Ivanka. So - and she gave a very eloquent introduction and thanked all the hosts, the king, the crown prince, the deputy crown prince, you know, before giving an explanation of the importance of reaching the young population in all these countries in the region, young population being such a large proportion for the population here. Those are the ones targeted by the terrorists. So, you know, getting this message out, an important thing to the younger generation. But the real precise nuts and bolts, if you will, what was it that slowed the whole day up? You know, when you stand back and look at this, the Saudis have organized three summits in the space of two days. They had the whole GCC, which is a big deal in itself. And normally set aside and happening by itself. And you had the Arab, Islamic and American summit as well 55 leaders plus President Trump plus everyone else. It ran late. I think it's that simple. It was so big it ran late.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much from Riyadh. Appreciate it. So much going on. Next up, Israel. So meantime, as the President tackles issues abroad, his problems back at home still plaguing him and the administration. Next, why the house intel committee is now sniffing around a former Trump campaign advisor and his possible ties to Russia. Stay with us.