. >> let's go to nic robertson. president trump has a key meeting with the king of saudi arabia any minute now. help us understand what they are to discuss, is that where the arms deal will come into play? >> reporter: yeah, probably the arms deal and a number of other deals. we're just beginning to get some details. there are a number of u.s. ceos here on a u.s., saudi i guess call it a gathering of ceos and businesses, obviously a high level thing and it is designed to push through and get some ink on paper, signatures down on some deals, hearing about $6 billion arms deal, lockheed martin, ge and the interesting thing about those deals to assemble 150 black hawk helicopters from lockheed martin is to be done here. these deals working for the u.s. and saudis, they want to build their own weapons industry. $6 billion of deals has been signed on arms, equipment that will be in part manufactured here or new premises built in saudi arabia. 22 billion signed in oil and gas sector, 15 billion ge signed to be part of a p

nic robertson was just telling us, an older gentleman. and nic was thinking he wouldn't come out in the sweltering heat. there it is, the symbolism. he did. he greeted donald trump right at the bottom of the steps of air force one. the king of saudi arabia, the president, the new president of the united states. a handshake. first few words. going to be interesting to see how this plays out. to comment on this are nic robertson and jeremy diamond, both of them covering the trip, first overseas trip of the u.s. president abroad. nic, it's interesting to watch these pictures. you were telling me about when barack obama was here. and it was a different picture from what we're seeing here. >> it was. none of the fanfare. there wasn't a arrival. there was a roster of dignitaries. but nothing to the level of the king. and for just to, if you will, hammer home that point, of how much the saudis are going out on a limb here. all that baggage that political baggage that president trump brings with him. they are associating themselves so closely wit

>> nic robertson, thank you. certainly a lot of focus on what melania trump was wearing and what she didn't wear with the head scarf as well. >> and the sword ceremony, that sword dancing ceremony. >> yeah, rex tillerson particularly seemed at home in the sword dance. >> i think as a guy who's run a energy company i'm sure has had to do a sword dance before. >> he said this was not his first. >>> all right, the president moving from saudi arabia with a briefcase full of deals. the saudis are pledging $20 billion to finance american infrastructure. that's part of a fund run by private investment firm blackstone, and it was about a year in the making. it plans to raise $100 billion for infrastructure projects. you can see tligt on your screen the group's ceo steve schwartzman. he runs blackstone and advises president trump. during the campaign, the president vowed to modernize aging u.s. airports, bridges and roadways, and the white house has promised a $1 trillion plan. the administration hasn't released details b

. >>> i also want to bring in cnn's nic robertson. he's 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? >> you know, through the whole afternoon here, fred, the events have been running later and later and ultimately well over an hour late. by the time president trump got to the opening of the counterterrorism center, which is a big deal for the saudis, sort of an explanation with a sound and light show 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 antiisis 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 wa

. >> senior international correspondent nic robertson is at 10 downing street. a challenge for theresa may in the metsiddle of an election campaign. is she expected to attend a vigil we were expecting at the top of the hour? >> yes, she is expecting to attend the vigil campaigning for the election which is about three weeks away. has been suspended. that's been agreed across the political parties. the police chief has now named the attacker, salman abedi. 22 years old. the coroner had not done a formal identification but theresa may gsaid the attacker was known to the police and intelligence services. now we have a name. that should provide certainly through open sources a degree more information about who this man was. of course the police will have used that information already. what she has learned, what the prime minister has learned while she's been in manchester from her briefings with the police, from her visit to the hospitals there, the children's hospital included, we don't know all of that yet. she'll be back here in london in a few hours behind the d

nic robertson covering it live insist lee. thanks, nic. >> for more, bring in brian class, fellow of compared politics at the london school of economics. brian, a pleasure to have you with us. 10:09 in london. what's the lasting impression the u.s. president left on world leaders there in cicely from your point of view z. >> from an optical point of view was a disaster the way it was viewed by allies in the nato community. trump was seen smiling and dancing with swords with the saudis, saying we're not going to lecture you on human rights and went and lectured our closest allies on nato, rather than encouraging them to spend more on defense, he chastised publicly, an astonishing move to publicly rebuick allies that have the united states' back on the global stage and it is not playing well in europe at all. >> there were a couple of instances where there's video of the president pushing through to be in position with world leaders and also some hand shakes that have gotten played on social media. again, these are optics that c

nic robertson, cnn, london. >> nic robertson, thank you. >>> bringing you the news from the united kingdom and the united states this hour, this is "cnn worldwide," and the next story ahead, the white house's vetting process. it's under scrutiny after president trump's second choice for army secretary suddenly withdraws over this past remark. listen. >> you poll the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you that transgender is a disease. >>> plus, after more than three years in captivity, dozens of nigeria's missing chibok schoolgirls are now going home. we'll have more on the negotiations that freed them as "cnn newsroom" continues. >>> 4:31 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. welcome back to viewers here in the united states and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." it is good to have you with us. i'm george howell in atlanta. >> and i'm hannah vaughan jones live in london where it's 9:32 in the morning this hour. voting is under way in france in the country's presidential election. the final round of balloting comes two weeks after a preliminary vote narrowed the field to just far r

nic robertson is in riyad. talk about what's happening today but the intention for this speech tomorrow and the significance of it. >> the intention is to deliver a message, a nuanced message, one of respect but the leaders listening to president trump and this is what he'll explain to them, should and need to communicate to their faithful the people of their countries muslim, arab, regional leaders that islam is a faith of peace and tolerance and that's what he'll be communicating to them and that is what we've been hearing from government spokesmen and heard it from people on the street. just looking at those pictures of how the room was arranged and where everyone sat, because of that, that is so key in figuring out who is in, who is out, who is powerful, but look at the way they were sitting there having the coffee. king salman on his right-hand side president trump. on the king's left-hand side, melania, sitting next to her the crowned prince, the interior minister, the second most powerful man in the coun

nic robertson is here with us as well. christiane, let's first go to you. again, that was a rather stern message from the president of the united states, that it's time for nato, these nato members to start paying. >> well, you know, it's the message he's been delivering even before he became president. you remember at the convention he started by saying, he started with this sort of idea of this transactional relationship between the oldest military alliance and the most successful military alliance in the world. and now, though, he's bringing -- they fully expected it, though you could see in the body language of the other members as he was speaking that they did look a little bit like shifty children being lectured by the headmaster. they knew that he was going to be coming with that message, and some of them believe that that message has to be delivered, because it gives them cover to encourage all members to pay their 2% of gdp. some of them are paying it, some of them are not. but what they really hope to hear was a once and for all commitment to arti

nic robertson interest sit lee. thanks very much. >>> world leaders looking for change on the climate change accord. the president tweeted about the issue. we will talk about that. >>> and two men stabbed to death trying to stop an anti-muslim ranl rant. what the suspect yelled at officers when they tracked him down. you'll see the video. [ dinosaur roars ] onboard cameras and radar can detect danger all around you. driver assist systems can pull you back into your lane, if drifting. bye chief. bye bobby. and will even help you brake, if necessary. it makes driving less of a production. lease the gle 350 for $579 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. how if guests book direct ater, choicehotels.com and stay twice they'll get a $50 gift card? summertime. badda book. badda boom. got you a shirt! ...i kept the receipt... book now at choicehotels.com you're in the match app. now tap on the new missed connections feature. it says i've crossed paths with kate six times this week.

nic robertson joins us right now. russia referring to the united states as a pet you lent. >> president putin says it is a pity that the united states continues this way. russia has over things on its agenda. it is not interfering in u.s. domestic affairs. this is classic stuff from the kremlin, this is deflect and deny. deny any involvement in the hacking that has been done multiple times but deflect the core of the issue is about by calling this an obsession, by saying that it will fade over time, that it's a pity the united states is so focussed on russia in this way. this is a way of sort of deflecting away from the core issue here, which is that russia has had a hand in effecting the way that the united states democracy is working. what we're hearing from the kremlin right here is what we've heard before. they like to move on and focus on other things. and in a way, all of this chaos certainly works for them because you take the issue of syria, for example. russia is pretty much getting its own way about what it

america to secure and advance its interests >> cnn international editor, diplomatic editor nic robertson joins us now from london. we hear the framing ahead of this big trip. >> yeah, we do, that there's american leadership. this is what presidnt trump is going to be promoting here to make alliances with leaders around the world, important alliances that are going to make the united states more secure, significantly pointed out by hr mcmaster, national security adviser that president trump will be the first president to visit the home lands of the world's three major. all this at a time the world is looking at president trump and his actions and what's gone on in the last few days, beginning to wonder a little bit more about who is this american leader. trump, comey, and that russia meeting. it is enough to worry america's closest allies. >> britain deserves better than simply absence of the country's prosperity to the whims of the trump white house. >> reporter: trump an issue, the uk flailing opposition leader looking to lay hits on the pm, bringing up that hand holding again. >> gover

nic robertson live for us in saudi arabia. thank you so much for your time today. >>> yeah. as we pointed out in the beginning of this, all of this going on and more revelations regarding the russia probe and other things. russian officials bragged about how close they were to michael flynn. >> we're learning the russians hoped to use their relationship with flynn to influence the new u.s. president as pamela brown reports for us. >> reporter: multiple sources tell cnn that russian officials bragged in conversations that they had cultivated such a strong relationship of michael flynn that they believe they can use him to influence donald trump and his team. now, those conversations deeply concerned u.s. intelligence officials and it even impacted one intelligence the incoming administration was privy to because some acted on their own to limit how much sensitive information they shared with flip, a former official tells our gloria borger the way he was talking about flynn was regarded as a five-alarm fire from early on. and the russian conversations indicated that flynn was

joining us now nic robertson. first of all, it is very unusual that a u.s. agency would not be allowed in to take photos and the russians would. but i'm not sure i've seen anything like this. >> i'm sure they must be feeling this way in london. i don't think we'd expect to get it. but let's just think back here to ten days into the trump presidency. they a may meets with trump and she says, you know, if you're going to deal with russia, know that they can be misleading. don't automatically trust them. understand that they can be difficult customers. that was the essence of it. so right now they must be saying really? really? you're complaining about this? watch the whole narrative on the comey firing, understanding we have heard president trump has been thinking for some time that fbi director comey was unfit for the duties and the sacking on the eve of the opportunity of a photograph which would have this potentially have this narrative against the background of all the political implications that go with the firing. if you knew and this would be how the sp

cnn's nic robertson took to the streets of riyadh to see what locals think of the president's visit and he found mixed reactions. >> reporter: saudi royals are rolling out the red carpet for president trump, but what does the rest of the country think? >> maybe he make -- app is go for all muslim -- apologize for what he say about islam. >> i like him. he's good. >> why? >> he's going to different everything. >> make everything different? >> everything different. >> what do you want from it? why is it so important? >> well, we would like to confront iran. iran has expansionist policy in the region. it has hezbollah in lebanon, it has houthis in yemen, and we would like to confront this expansionist policy. >> is president trump a good man? >> i don't know. >> you don't know? >> i don't know. maybe. >> maybe. >> he try. he make big mistake. >> this is the same president trump who had a very negative message about muslims in his campaign trail. >> right. but, you know, it's always said, that campaign rhetoric tends to change after, you know, the election. >> and you come to saudi arabia b

. >> i want to bring in cnn's international diplomatic edder, nic robertson, and also with us, elise. >> nic, what are you learning about president trump's decision not to use that phrase, radical islamic terrorism? >> reporter: yeah, what he does seem to have done here is try to strike a line that was careful, that was carefully nuanced that wasn't going to upset his audience. he came in carrying so much baggage for what he said on the campaign trail, but he came in with the expectations set high because the saudis have said this is an opportunity, president trump will be able to reset the relationship between the west and the arab muslim world. expectations were high on both sides, if you will, but rather than coming in and demanding that people do more to confront this issue, he said i'm not here to tell you what to do. this is about not how to live your life, it's about common values, having common ideals, a common objective, through that, we can both have joint security. he was very precise, if you will, in saying that, you know, you need to be honest. more needs to be done. you

let's go the nic robertson in riyadh. nick, what nic, what do we expect in that speech? >> we can expect something respectful. that's what general briefed us on. the speech is going to have a nuanced mess ablg. hoping that president trump had negative things to say during his campaign. the saudis have put that to one side. the speech here, needs to be you wansed when he delivers a message that says, the leers of the arab and muslim cubs here, need to put forth a more peaceful and tolerant image of islam. certainly, the leaders believe they are. trump's visit here will break a record, in his visit to saudi arabia will be the longest of any president. president bush in 200 w8 was he. president trump will exceed his visit by a couple of hours. and also, when president obama came here a year ago and the contrast for the rollout

cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson takes a look. >> reporter: that russia meeting is enough to worry america's closest allies. >> britain deserves better than simply outsourcing our kcountrys security and prosperity to the whims of the trump white house. >> reporter: britain's election campaign heating up. trump an issue. the uk's flailing opposition leader looking to lay hits on the p.m. bringing up that hand holding again. >> a strong and friendly relationship with the united states, but we will not be afraid to speak our mind. >> reporter: even the philippines' outspoken leader shaken at the prospect of trump in the driving seat on north korea. >> the first victim would be southeast asia and the rest because those are really nuclear warheads then it means the end of the world. two nations are playing with their dangerous toys. >> reporter: increasingly difficult to wake up overseas to news at home knowing i'll spend the rest of the day explaining our democracy and institutions. >> the ability to sack and hire as he pleases. this all plays against the democracy as it is. >

nic robertson for us in london, arwa damon in istanbul. thank you very, very much. >>> just moments ago, the former national security adviser, susan rice, she was speaking in washington. she levied a blistering attack, blistering criticism on president trump and the trump administration for apparently sharing what some consider to be classified secrets with the russians. we'll play this for you when we come back. rumor confirmed. they're playing. -what? -we gotta go. -where? -san francisco. -when? -friday. we gotta go. [ tires screech ] any airline. any hotel. any time. go where you want, when you want with no blackout dates. [ muffled music coming from club. "blue monday" by new order. cheers. ] [ music and cheers get louder ] the travel rewards credit card from bank of america. it's travel, better connected. the travel rewards credit card from bank of america. the average family's new, but old, home: it stood up to 2 rookies, a one-coat wonder named "grams". and 3 staycations. behr. number one rated interior paint, exterior paint and sta

i want to bring in nic robertson. he is in riyadh. he is on the first leg of that trip, where the president has departed from riyadh straight to tel aviv here. hi there, nic. we know that the optics here are really important. it was a pretty successful first leg of this trip, and now the israelis are literally rolling out the red carpet for this president. there are optics first and then there's substance. what do you think expect here? >> reporter: well, he seems to be coming off a successful first leg here, but of course, the difficulty of speaking to individual audiences, which is what he did here. his big speech here was absolutely tailored for the arab muslim audience. how is that going to play on the next leg? we've heard some pushback from israeli officials that the whole defense deal between the united states and saudi arabia, $109 billion worth of it, is counterproductive in their eyes to regional security. i think for potentially the difficulty here -- and we did see elements of it in saudi arabia, that president trump is pe

. >> let's bring in nic robertson, cnn international diplomatic editor and jerry firestein, director of gulf affairs for the middle east institute and former ambassador to yemen under president obama. jerry i'll get to you in a moment about the implications of the visit. nic, president trump has a key meeting with king salman of saudi arabia. what are they expected to discuss? >> reporter: certainly the possibility of business, when you talk about politics and regional influence, the saudis are very keen for president trump to reverse the perceptions president obama's administration and be tougher on iran. the foreign minister the day before spoke about the need for iran to be made to act like a normal country to follow international law. sec mattis when he was here a month ago said the united states must help saudi arabia resist against iran's mischief in the region. that's something where the king will want president trump to deliver. also there's this aspiration they called trump courageous, it may help bring middle east peace between the israelis and palestini palestinians, many

so let's check in with nic robertson. he is in milan with more on this speech. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, it is a very relaxed looking president as well. i don't think we've seen him looking this way for some time, certainly not giving a speech to an international audience. what he's talking about here is giving the keynote speech addressing the issue of climate change and the need for sustainable, knew tranutritionay food. we think back to the happy, healthy, hungry free kids act of 2010, something that the food issue has been on the agenda for a long time. but the climate change issue and how the two couple together is what this conference is all about here. the people organizing the conference hope that bringing president obama into the mix will stimulate at a higher level thinking and planning for the future with that climate change, with a growing population, with ska skarsty of food. climate change, one of his signature overseas achievements is something that's key to what he's doing here, something he understands very clearly president trump is opposed to. >> nick, good to

i want to bring in diplomatic editor nic robertson. he's joining us from number 10 downing street in london. also peter bergen is standing by. police reveal the name of the man they believe carried out this terror attack. what can you tell bus salman abedi? >> 22 years old, wolf. according to the police chief, the coroner hasn't formally identified him yet, but we know according to the prime minister this morning after she'd had her high level security cabinet meeting that involved police chief counter terrorism intelligence chiefs as well as well as other important ministers, home secretary as well, she said that he was known to the british security services, precise details on that she hasn't yet released. this is someone who was known. we also now know -- we also now know from counter terrorism officials that are connected with the investigation that so far they haven't been able to uncover a direct link between salman abedi and any terrorist organization, although isis has claimed as they have done with other attackers in the past

. >> i want to bring in a cnn nic robertson. he is our international diplomatic editor. nick, nics there a feeling that r resonated with the audience? >> there is a sense that it is. it was a message that they obviously have been expecting. we've all been talking about it. but it's a message that touched on issues that are key for them and president trump was very keen to show that this was not a case of him telling them and their countries what to think and what to do. but this was all about shared values and about working together, about security for everyone by having a commonality of vision and a commonality of aim. he touched on issues that are important, particularly for the saudis. the saudi king who spoke before him talked about how iran was the big problem in the region, that ever saince the iranian revolution in 1979 they've been at the front of the all of the significant terror issues in the region. that was something that president trump picked up on as well. talking about iran's role in the region, iran's

. >> one of our senior correspondents nic robertson wrote that he thinks that perhaps president trump will fit in, will do well among the strawmen there. how do you -- would you agree with that, michael? and how are you hearing that these foreign leaders are preparing to meet him? >> well, i do think that the president is going to actually get a breath of fresh air out of going on this trip. i mean, washington does, like in "the godfather," of pulling you back in and we never know what kind of news stories are going to break but it's good for him and, frankly, for the american people to see him broaden his scope, get out overseas, to tackle some issues that need attention beyond just the things that we're obsessed with here in washington. so i think this will potentially be a good trip. nine days is a long time, even for me on vacation. so it will be really tough to pull it off but there's a lot of good that could come from it and he's probably glad to get out of d.c. >> okay. all right. michael allen and wendy sherman, thank you both. again, live pictures as we're about to see air fo

let's go live to nic robertson. i want to talk about where there is commonalty with the issues in a moment, but first since we were talking about yet another perhaps bombshell about the trump presidency, i want to talk about perceptions among the leaders there of donald trump. and it's also interesting that he has not held a news conference. he has not talked to the media. and oof ften, you've been doing this for years and years, presidents come out and take questions and they even take questions about what is going on back at home. he's certainly avoided all of that. >> reporter: yeah, and i think that there is certainly an understanding that he would avoid and has sought to avoid commenting on the turmoil back in washington and later tonight he will be back at the white house and it will become inescapable again. but i think what surprises people, this is the president's first overseas trip by his own accounts when he's sort of commented at the cameras particularly when he told other leaders about how things went

let's get to nic robertson outside 10 downing street. what is her take on this? >> reporter: good morning, chris. it was just yesterday that, it h theresa may dissolved parliament. no word if the two discussed this in advance. the statement at may's office putt out is one of support and thanks and gratitude that she says her office says prime minister may said on behalf of the whole country i want to thank and offer deepest gratitude to the duke of edinburgh. from his steadfast support from her majesty the queen and duke of edinburgh awards and charities and cause, his contribution to united kingdom, the world is one of huge benefit for us in years to come. again, it is part of the message of continuity that we're hearing from buckingham palace and reminder from the british prime minister how much this country has to thank prince philip. chris. >> thank you, nic. we need more information about what is behind this decision. he certainly looked robust yesterday. he doesn't look or act 95 years old. >> at some point he probably wants to shut it down. it is interesti

joining us nic robertson with some of the world reaction to this. >> reporter: it's only been announced. it's been to a degree expected. there are concerns in europe already, and those were expressed at the weekend of the g-7 summit where in that joint communication in the end which was short by any standards it was stated really clearly in the communication that all the other six parties there, britain, germany, france, italy, japan and canada all reaffirmed their support for the climate change agreement. just waiting for the united states to make its decision. and the italian prime minister commented during the meeting there that this wasn't expected that the united states would take this position, that they were surprised by it. and he said it was important that the united states would stay part of the climate change agreement and that he hoped that all the persuasive conversations that were had around the table there would be enough to convince president trump to remain part of it. so although we don't have specific reaction yet, we called to get the british reaction. nothing yet. t

. >> nic robertson in riyadh, thank you so much. >>> let's talk more with cnn international corrupt, mu muham lila. good to see all of you. welcome back. mike, let me begin wu. what was the message that this president can feel most proud of? >> i think the message he can feel most proud of is that he did not with a broad brush condemn the islamic faith. he said very clearly this is a fight between us, the decent people, and the evil people. and we together must partner to do this and fight them on our own. so i think, you know, for all doom and gloom about whether president trump can handle himself on this big stage and this tight rope, i think he did a fair enough job of saying listen to the world's most popular religion, we're with you, we can't be there by ourselves, you've got to get out in front, but we're there and it's america -- it's not america alone. it may be america first, but it's not america alone. >> muhammad, did this message offer kind of an olive branch? was it an indicator that there is a greater commitment to strengthen the relations between the u.s. and muslim co

. >> nic robertson is live in riyadh, he is there, the president is on the ground, had his first events. what's been so interesting to me is the fact that the saudi government, while we may be following every detail of what's going on with the trump administration, their interests are quite different. >> reporter: they are. their interests are regional, they want tough to support their aspirations for israeli, palestinian peace. they want a change from president obama. they didn't like how he handled the noouclear deal, didn't backp his allies in the region. what's remarkable the amount of time he is spending with the king today. he greeted him at the bottom of the stairs of the plane. he is 81 years old. this is a statement the way the roy will a family believes trump can deliver and they're rolling out a royal welcome. i am interested to find out what saudis are thinking, given anti-muslim rhetoric that president trump had on the campaign trail. this is what i found out. >> maybe he may apologize for what he say about islam. >> i like him, he is good. >> why? >> he is going to differe

. >> nic robertson, thank you. inside arabia tonight. what is being described as a watergate scandal continues to bear down on the white house. we're learning the house intelligence committee has asked to interview caputo who has tie toss russia and who worked there a number of years. we want to bring in mike quigley, on the house intelligence committee. thank you for joining us, congressman. i know your committee asked to see special documents from caputo. why has he become part of your committee's investigation? >> well, i will say that there's a long list of who's on our witness list. i mean the good news is the investigation in the house side is back on track. tuesday director brennon will be testifying before us. clear those hearings are beginning again. those references you made to particular individuals, there are a lot of others. we're preparing those deposition like briefings very soon. at the same time we continue to review documents on a weekly basis. i guess the good news is the investigation is back on track while we hear al

. >> nic robertson joining from us cicily where the g 7 summit starts shortly thank you, nick. >> and of course one of the most talked about moments from so many came during the photo op. >> president trump appeared to push the montenegro prime minister aside to get in pronate of him. >> apparently this was pro protest kal he was just taking his place. but he certainly made his presence felt. >> yeah he certainly did. >> there it is again. >> people just trying to make sense of was it really g getting to the front for the the photo op it's unclear waiting for more detail. >> that's pretty much all they're going torsz about that in. america first, president first and there he is. generated quite a reaction online as you would imagine. >> all right. there you see it again. yes it's something to behold okay take a take a quick break much more after this. t. it's nice to remove artificial ingredients. kind never had to. we choose real ingredients like almonds, peanuts and a drizzle of dark chocolate. give kind a try. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me

. >> air force one just took off and let's go to nic robertson who is near where the president will be staying there injury ya riyadh. there's this opportunity to maybe go overseas and it could help the president. but this meeting with the russians, nic, just continues to get more surreal. >> it's going to come up and dog him here. obviously he's going to be asked questions about it. but it gets to that question of when president trump is in a room with other officials, how does he behave, how does he respond with them? and there's a real danger that while he's here in saudi arabia with the king who, by the way, is essentially rolling out the red carpet, has plastered the road with flags of the united states and saudi arabia together, has huge buiillboards that has he and king salman together and illuminating the hotel where he's staying with the images of president trump has put a lot on the line here. but when they get behind closed doors, when they have their meetings and, remember, there will be up to as many as 35 other regional arab and muslim leaders here as well, what is the le

back with us, ryan nobles, we're also joined by david swerlic and nic robertson on. the wa"washington post" is reporting that trump is known to record conversations at trump tower and even listen in on talks at mar-a-lago. so i guess the suspicion is wouldn't he be recording conversations at the white house, too? >> yeah, there is a even evolving debate about the heldity of the recording at the white house, the tendency that i'm hearing so far from legal experts seems to be on the side of it's possible that that is legal. the president has said -- hasn't said much about it. and certainly the implication of the president's tweet was that he may have been reporting conversations including between him and director comey, although i did hear michael smerconish this morning say another theory is that he was sort of threatening comey with the possibility that comey might have been recording those conversations. that being said, i don't know any legal authority that would suggest that it would be legal for the president to ser repetitiore sur rep tissuely record folks at ma

. >> all right, christiane amanpour, ron brownstein, nic robertson, thank you very much for being with us. again, our special coverage of these meetings, historic nato meetings with a very stern message from the president continues with brianna keilar right now. >>> hello, there. i'm brianna keilar in for kate bolduan, and you are watching live pictures coming to us from brussels, belgium, where president trump is having his first big meeting with nato leaders. areas of agreement? there is tension here. these leaders are looking for common ground. and we just witnessed really some extraordinary remarks from president trump there at nato headquarters at what is the unveiling of a 9/11 memorial, and he really took these leaders to task. i want to bring in a couple folks who can help me break all of this down. we have cnn military and diplomatic analyst retired rear admiral john kirby, also with me, cnn global affairs analyst and former deputy secretary of state tony blinken. y you, john, i should mention worked at the pentagon and state department. help me talk about, really dissect thes