don t think this is legitimate and they ve made that claim repeatedly then why participate in the first place and keep in mind if the house votes to impeach like it looks like they will, there will be a senate trial to make those defenses as well. and it is a complicated dynamic in the white house counsel office, do we want to let this go and not have our voice and leave it to house republicans to defend us but there is a real possibility the answer to that is yes in the house. and sam vin grad. we need to talk about the new cnn reporting because ukraine is now trying to improve relations with the united states to the extent that they might consider opening up new investigations that could be seen as helping president trump. i guess first of all, would that even be seen as credible at this point knowing what we know at this point. but i suppose it does go to the notion that they are still feeling pressure in kaine. how could they not be. through the impeachment inquiry
in just the past week america has seen no fewer than three major moments of fear and terror. there was a mass shooting at the synagogue in pittsburgh. that immediately came on the heels of 14 pipe bombs mailed to prominent democrats across the country. and then there were also the race-targeted killings of two african-americans in kentucky, altogether a sad week filled with hate. at tiles of crisis like this past week defines presidents and that brings to us your weekend presidential brief that highlights the most pressing national security information the president will need when he wakes up tomorrow. joining us now is cnn national security analyst and former national security council adviser sam vin grad. what do you think president trump s team is briefing him on? in these kind of situations, alex, the briefing agenda
into the saudi arabian ensconce lat in istanbul where they say he was turtd and killed, that s a narrative that saudi arabia vehemently denies. this international mystery has put renewed scrutiny turnover crown prince, mohammad bin salman, who markets himself as a reformer. that brings us to your weekend presidential brief, a segment we bring you every sunday night highlighting some of the pressing information the president will need when he wakes up tomorrow. joining us now to discuss, cnn national security analyst and former national security council adviser. sam, you have extensive experience working in saudi arabia, with the government there, your first official trip to saudi arabia was in 2007. now we have the u.k., france issuing statement calling for an investigation. what do you make of the u.s.
while they weigh those options, they re on the phone. six arab countries came out in solidarity with them. they know there s such strength in numbers. sam vin grad, good to have you here. now to someone who knew khashoggi kamash personally. global affairs analyst jason re-sign was in prison in iran for 500 days. jason, tell us about the man you knew, former colleague at the washington post and just your reaction to what is alleged to have happened. ana, thanks for having me on. i was just getting to know him over the past few months. we write for the same section of the washington post , the global opinion section. and i really enjoyed all my interactions with jamal because we were both working on countries that are so often misunderstood in the united states and around the world, iran in my case and saudi arabia in jamal s.
administration helping to prep for the president s daily brief. sam, you have traveled to the general assembly twice. what can we expect? ana, unga is like speed dating. you see a lot of people and if you don t know exactly what you want going in, you re going to miss out because everybody has an agenda, and they re watching you so closely. you can t sneeze without a foreign official taking notes. and we have a sense of what president trump s agenda may be based on past history. we know, for example, that he has consistentlily shamed the body of the u.n., called them weak and incompetent. so we may see more of that. we also know that he s really focused on getting other countries to pay more. he said that we pay a disproportionate share of the u.n. s budget, so he may bring this up again and he ll pursue his new squad s goals. president moon of south korea, president trump, and kim jong-un are so aligned when trying to normalize kim jong-un on the