saudi arabia. they are devastated in saudi arabia. we re finding out what took place, whether it s one person or a number of people, and the king will be involved taking care of families and loved ones. he s very devastated by what took place. i think they re going to help out the families very greatly. right now they send their condolences. as you know, i have sent my condolences. it s a very shocking thing, and we ll get to the bottom of it very quickly. reporter: now, ana, as the president says there, look, the u.s./saudi relationship is a crucial one, an important military relationship. that s why you are seeing the president focussing on conveying the condolences of the king of saudi arabia. a few months ago the u.s. sent
pro-israel group, to address the u.s./israel relationship. saturday, as he left the white house for this event in florida the president s mind was focused on another crucial military relationship in the middle east. that is the u.s. relationship with saudi arabia. that of course coming after a saudi national allegedly killed killed in pensacola, florida on a military base there. the president has been reiterating time and again now the condo lens from the king of saudi arabia. here s the president on saturday. i spoke with the king of saudi arabia. they are devastated in saudi arabia in finding out what took place, whether it s one person or a number of people. and the king will be involved in taking care of family and loved ones. he feels very strongly. he s very devastated by what happened and what took place. likewise, the crown prince. they are devastated by what took place in pensacola. and i think they are going to
employment is good, consumer sentiment is good. these are all positive tail winds for any president going into a campaign season. that s my point. a strong military relationship is important, too. how can the president take this trip as kind of a jumping off point to make amends with the military leaders, if you will. i m not sure how it happens. he has overruled a few of his commanders in the past. you ve seen a number of generals come in and out of the white house. i think that this gesture going out to afghanistan will be taken well by everyone. whether or not the president wants not to meddle in things like the seal case that led to the resignation of his navy secretary remains to be seen. he has a mind of his own and likes to get involved in some things that the military says he shouldn t be involved with.
the ones that discipline and dismiss others. certainly that s a part of the challenge that we re seeing. but another part, too, is the fact that understanding of what goes on in the military. for someone as an outsider, certainly i m not saying all presidents should be required to serve in the military, i don t say that. but they should allow those who are serving, who are controlling the military, to pass information on how soldiers, sailers, airmen and marines should be dealt with in terms of these kinds of actions. that s what s troubling to me. it s actually bringing some challenges to the civilian military relationship that s always existed in our country. general, i want to get back to what richard spencer the ousted secretary of the navy wrote in this really remarkable op-ed. he writes american bs need to know that 99.9% of our uniformed members always have, always are and always will make the right decision. our allies need to know that we remain a force for good and to
trust in the civilian military relationship, trust in a commander. in this case, admiral green, to do the best in establishing standards and levels of discipline for his unit. that s what this is all about. it s one thing for the president. he certainly can give this order, first of all, let s set that straight. he can give any order he wants. and any order he gives should be obeyed. what the navy is saying, though, is now he is not only inserting himself in the decisionmaking of the court-martial and what the penalties were and absolving chief gallagher of those things, but now he s getting into unit responsibility. commander responsibility. it s admiral green s requirement to make sure all of his navy s.e.a.l.s meet the standards of what is arguably the world s best fighting force, the navy s.e.a.l.s. and he s been given a tough task because, as you recall, there s been some problems within the navy s.e.a.l.s infrastructure in the last couple of months with some abrogation of standar