the red carpet. as i m sure you can see the royal guard lining the carpet. they were sweeping that carpet juste the air force one pulled up to makeure it was clean. and president trump will be soon descending down these steps. and there is a lot of anticipation, excitement. in talking to soddy officials, there is a lot of excitement for the relationship they ll have with president trump, i think that one official we said before the trip said there is a hope around his presidency and there s a hope there s going to be a good relationship not just from a counter terror standpoint and an alliance standpoint from security but also from an economic standpoint. and of course trump is someone who s always prided himself on knowing what a good trade deal is making a good deal for the united states. and i think that s something saudi arabia is especially looking towards. officials repeatedly pointing utto an economy they have here. and i think that s something that s very much on thei
but there has not been any victory fatigue during his first two months in office at home. trump facing losses on health care, on the two travel bans, the failed attempt to support baseless claims that obama wire tapped trump tower and recently blocking effort for police reforms in baltimore. that s the story at home. but the story abroad is different. trump aides say he is winning on foreign affairs, an argument undergoing intense debate as we head into this weekend there is little doubt that the thrust of the trump presidency itself did shift when he ordered the firing of those 59 tomahawk missiles at a syrian air base, a response to syria s regrettable use and possibly illegal deployment of chemical weapons against its own citizens. now that tactical decision undercut trump s own past positions, that undeniable contribution was at least initially totally overshadowed by widespread praise for president trump s military actions. not just from typical allies, but from critics
and president trump is boiling it down in this speech to the simplest of phrases, a battle between good and evil. that is just one of the excerpts provided to nbc news from the white house prior to trump s remarks before the leaders of more than 50 muslim nations. nbc s halle jackson is in riyadh, saudi arabia, this morning, traveling with the president. what do we know about this speech and the mood and the impression the president has of how he s been treated by the royal family in saudi arabia? warm all around is what i would say, not just the temperature in riyadh, thomas, but the reception that the president has received from saudi leaders specifically. the headlines of the papers this morning, i meant to grab some on the way up, were all about president trump being here in saudi arabia, meeting with king salman, receiving the highest honor that the saudi kim king can bestow on somebody else. it is potz tif, i think the white house views this positively but a lot of ey
at this moment donald trump is far, far from home, landing in saudi arabia this morning on his very first foreign trip since taking office. one can imagine trump is desperate to flee the fire hose of problems his administration faced this week, starting on monday with this. sean spicer is still refusing to confirm or deny whether or not the president of the united states is recording people in the white house without their knowledge. the president revealed highly classified information to russian officials during an oval office meeting last week. trump tried to shut down the federal bureau of investigation probe, national security adviser michael flynn and his conversations with the russian ambassador. the u.s. yuz department named special counsel to investigate the possible role donald trump s campaign played with russia during and after the 2016 presidential election. the president tweeting just now, quote, this is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in ame
this plan being formulated, more power for the generals to determine troops levels. let s head immediate ly to the white house with hallie jackson, analysis with dana milbank and george will. hans, let me start with you. tell us about the plan and how it differs from president obama s strategy. it s namely a directional shift. obama clearly was winding down the war. he wanted to end up with around 8,400 troops. that s how many are there, now there s an indication that it will be winding up. it s not a drastic increase. he had a variety of policy reviews when president obama took office, they did more than 30,000 troops for the second surge. one thing we need to be clear, this is still very much in discussion. an administration official just told me this has not gone to the policy committee yet the princip principles committee at the national security council so it gives you a sense there s deliberating over this and that gets into the second question. there s so many numb