- 5/13/2025
Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson provides details on President Donald Trump's historic visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as he meets dignitaries. #FoxNews #Trump #World #SaudiArabia #MiddleEast
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00:00So let's check in with Lucas Tomlinson. He's live in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia with more on
00:05the president's historic trip. Hey, Lucas. Well, good morning, Ainsley, from Riyadh,
00:11where President Trump has arrived just in the last few hours. We're seeing these historic
00:15images from the Saudi royal court. President Trump meeting dignitaries alongside Mohammed
00:20bin Salman. And can't help but just to compare this to former President Joe Biden's visit to
00:25the region back in 2022. You can see that the crown prince is not only alongside President Trump,
00:33he greeted him right off Air Force One again. That's very different from when Biden visited here just
00:38a few years ago. Biden did the historic fish bump that was not at the airport. And there's no
00:44question President Trump arrives here with some headwinds. Idan Alexander, the last living American
00:50hostage freed from Gaza, a deal with China, a stock market rally, Steve Witkoff meeting with
00:56Iranian officials in neighboring Oman, making progress on the nuclear deal. It is notable that
01:01the Iranian foreign minister actually came here to Saudi Arabia over the weekend. A few years ago,
01:07there was a little bit of a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia and Iran brokered by the Chinese. And
01:12people are wondering why President Trump has made this his first stop. This is an important
01:16relationship. Saudi Arabia is about the size of Western Europe. It's a top 20 economy. If the
01:22United States isn't here, officials say the Chinese will be here. That's why President Trump is here. It's
01:27why he's greeting all these dignitaries. And the pomp and circumstance has been incredible. There was F-15
01:32fighter escort from the Saudi Air Force for Air Force One. Again, Mohammed bin Salman, the prince,
01:39greeted President Trump off the aircraft, on the ramp. And you've seen all the Trump officials are here
01:45too. There's going to be major investments announced, over $1 trillion in investments
01:49from all three countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates. And keep in mind, guys,
01:54when President Trump first returned to the White House in January, who was his first call to? Which
01:59foreign leader? It was to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Again, just talking about the importance
02:04of this relationship. While it's important that President Trump arrived here on his first official
02:08overseas visit here to Saudi Arabia, just like he did during his first term. And there could be other
02:14meetings as well. There's a lot happening, of course, in the region, not just in Gaza, but in
02:18Syria. There's a new Sunni leader in Syria. And there's a lot of calls from former intelligence
02:24officials to say the United States should relax sanctions on Syria. Why? To keep Iran out of the
02:30country. For years under the Assad regime, Iran used Syria as a forward operating base. So this can
02:36be very busy. Now back here, live to the Saudi royal court, you see President Trump meeting all the
02:42dignitaries, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman here, the de facto ruler of the country,
02:47meeting, standing alongside the president, taking time, these historic images. There's no question
02:53that the United States and the White House want to show Saudi Arabia the importance of this
02:58relationship. Remember Brett Baer's interview with the Crown Prince? He said, how close are you to
03:03normalizing relations with Israel? He said, we get closer every day. Of course, as Brian mentioned,
03:07that was before the October 7th massacre. But there's no question, President Trump is here to
03:12be a leader, to be a leader in the world, but also to elevate the Saudi Crown Prince and Saudi Arabia
03:18and talk about the importance of this important relationship, guys.
03:24So, Lucas, the big story of after 9-11, which you know intimately well, the part of you have the
03:30military background, was if you're ever going to get terror out of the Middle East, it's got to start
03:37with the Wahhabism that's being taught in schools in Saudi Arabia. What type of progress has been made?
03:46Well, Brian, it's been interesting on the ground the last few days here in Riyadh. Admittedly, I came
03:51here not expecting to look many women in the eye to speak to many of them. Instead, what I've been told
03:57of here and just engaged in conversation, things have changed a lot in the last five years. Some
04:03of the women have no problem speaking with you, being professional courteous. Not all of them wear
04:08the full abaya, you know, full covering with just their eyes showing. A little more, you know,
04:14people, more Western look is being adopted here. Last night, strolling around the streets of Riyadh,
04:20the coffee shops were open. Of course, no alcohol served here in Saudi Arabia. The coffee shops,
04:24bakeries open, men and women sitting together. I spoke to a worker at the hotel who said five years
04:31ago, he's from Kenya, he said he would only go to work, go home, eat, sleep and come back. Now he
04:38says he's free to walk around the streets of Riyadh to talk to people. There's no question there's been
04:43a cultural opening, if you will, more Western. We've seen that with Saudi Arabia getting involved in
04:49the sports, not only the soccer, the football programs here in Saudi Arabia, but of course,
04:53the Live Golf Tour. Brian, as you were just reporting from Live Dural in Miami, Trump Dural in
04:59Miami. Saudi Arabia wants to be a player on the world stage. Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince,
05:05wants to be a player. They're investing over 600 billion dollars into the United States. They're
05:10investing billions of dollars into the U.S. This morning, I bumped into a McKinsey consultant from
05:15France who said that one of the reasons, they're there to help Saudi Arabia build. We saw in Brett
05:21Bears reporting last night all over Riyadh, just the hundreds of billions of dollars that has gone
05:26into building up the economy here, making it more Western, being open to the West. And that's why
05:31President Trump is here and his team is to solidify that because if the United States isn't here, others
05:37will be. The Chinese, the Russians, and Ainsley, you mentioned Saudi Arabia's nuclear program. You know,
05:43that's a sore subject with the Iranians because the Saudis have threatened that if Iran is allowed to
05:47build nuclear reactors, so will they. But it does look like Saudi's moving forward, those nuclear
05:51reactors, and the crown prince is going to want U.S. help and U.S. businesses to do that. Of course,
05:56the United States is a leader in nuclear power and nuclear energy. Could there be a compromise
06:00when it comes to nuclear power? Could they allow the enrichment, the United States,
06:05under our supervision? And what would that look like?
06:09There's certainly a possibility, Ainsley, and even Iran has dangled that out to the Trump
06:14administration and the Western companies that if they do have the right to enrich. Now, granted,
06:18that is not the Trump policy rate that we heard from Senator Cotton. We've heard from top Trump
06:22officials. They don't have the right to enrich. But however, if that enrichment could take place
06:26outside the country, which is what happens with many other nuclear powers, perhaps there's room
06:31to negotiate there with Iran to be able to build nuclear reactors, bring in that enriched uranium,
06:36don't spin those tubes there in Iran. And perhaps the same thing here in Saudi Arabia. While it's
06:41an oil-rich country, produces 17 percent of the world's oil, no question they're looking for
06:45alternative energy. Why? To power this AI, the artificial intelligence revolution, guys.
06:50Right. And that's why Google's there building a major data center. And that's why it's an
06:54opportunity for American companies to invest there. And that's why it's important they remain an ally.
06:59Great job, Lucas. All that Naval Academy experience right there definitely
07:04coming to play this morning. Thanks, brother.
07:06Lucas, really quickly, can I ask you one more thing? This delegation, we're seeing people shaking
07:11hands with the president. A lot of individuals. Are they all leaders? Are they, you know, some look
07:16like they're more Americanized? Yes, these are political and business leaders. It's really,
07:23if you will, all the top brass in Saudi Arabia, Ainsley. The who's who of Saudi Arabia is here in Riyadh.
07:30And again, the capital of Saudi Arabia, there's no question that this is the highest level of both
07:36military and diplomatic honors that the crown prince. You see a woman right there, not with
07:42full obey, just a little example of some of the loosening of restrictions here in the kingdom of
07:46Saudi Arabia. Wow. So, Lucas, well, hang in with us. We're going to bring in Hudson Institute senior
07:52fellow, national security analyst, Rebecca Heinrichs. Rebecca, a lot is expected of this trip,
07:58but by the president picking it first, it means a lot to Saudi Arabia, doesn't it?
08:04Well, it's massive. If you contrast it, as Lucas was saying, to the previous administration,
08:08which really started its term insulting the Saudis, bringing up, as you brought up, Brian,
08:15the human rights violations. And it really had a chilly effect on U.S.-Saudi and Gulf relations
08:22throughout the entire term of the Biden administration. So now the Trump administration is coming in and
08:26saying, look, we have some serious overlapping interests. Let's focus on those. We care about
08:32human rights. But if you really do want to see improvements in human rights across the world,
08:38that's a situation in which the United States is the strongest power, which means we got to box out
08:43the Chinese. We got to box out where the Chinese are coming into these Gulf states. And so first and
08:48foremost, you have to have the United States have this close partnership with the Saudis and the
08:53Emiratis in particular. Just a note that with our delegation, much smaller, and they just created
08:58MBS. And there's Susie Wiles having some quality time with MBS. Real quickly, though, Rebecca,
09:04this is important because Iran wants to unite the Muslim world, the Arab world. And our relationship
09:12with the Saudis could stop that, right? Oh, totally. I mean, you want to have the United States,
09:20and this is why the Abraham Accords were so successful during the first Trump administration,
09:24is because President Trump was clear, we stand with Israel. We're not going to compromise on that.
09:29But here, look, we can collaborate to counter Iranian hegemony, to counter terrorism throughout
09:35the Middle East. And we can do that collaboration with you, Saudi Arabia, with you, United Arab Emirates.
09:40And remember, it was the United States with the Saudis and the Emiratis that took care of the
09:44Houthis during the first Trump administration. All of that really was set back during the Biden
09:51administration, whenever the United States didn't have such a close relationship with
09:54the Saudis. You were pointing out, Ainsley? Yeah, we were trying to, we thought it was
09:59Jeff Bezos from the back, but when he turned around, I don't think so. I'm not sure. Oh, there's
10:02David Sachs. So yeah, it looks like the businessmen and women who made the trip are also being introduced.
10:08And Rebecca, talk about that, because Elon's there, Mark Zuckerberg's there. I know that
10:13Saudi Arabia wants access to U.S. technologies to advance their AI. They're semiconductors for tech.
10:19And that is a way that President Trump could ice out China, correct?
10:24Oh, yeah. You want to ice out the Chinese, and you want the United States to be the preeminent
10:29power. So you have to look to see where are the advantages of your partners. They're going to be
10:33working on this kind of technology. They want to lead on it. They want to be a leading participant.
10:38And so you want to kind of hug them close. You want to know what they're working on. You want
10:42United States to benefit from it, to leverage their advances. And so the closer we can work
10:47with them and find mutual interests, the better it's going to be. Again, during the Biden administration,
10:52a lot of these countries did look to China and to Russia. And it's an axis. It's the Chinese,
10:56the Russians, the Iranians, and the North Koreans. They're all looking to box us out.
11:00So to the extent we can pull these countries into orbit, our orbit, the better.
11:04Rebecca, what do you think the Iranians are up to? Multiple visits to Saudi Arabia prior to the U.S.
11:12arriving. We're having a fourth round of talks with Iran. Many people, I don't know anybody who
11:17believes that Iran is actually going to dismantle their nuclear program. Why are they running to
11:22Saudi Arabia, their arch enemy, before this visit? What do you think's going on?
11:26Well, they're looking for deals. I mean, this region, again, this is a deal-making region. And
11:32I think the Iranians probably want the Saudis to find areas where the two of them can mutually
11:37benefit against the United States, try to triangulate. So you all were talking about
11:42the civil nuclear program. The Saudis want to have one as well. Again, but the United States does not
11:48want, if you do not have a nuclear program, we do not want you to get a nuclear program. So
11:52potentially you could have some development outside your country of enrichment. We could
11:57bring that in. But the Saudis are not going to get something that the Iranians want that we're
12:00going to prohibit to the Iranians. So potentially they're collaborating on that front. Or the Iranians
12:07might be trying to get the Saudis to say, we need the United States to recognize a Palestinian state.
12:13I think that's a deal breaker for the United States. After October 7th, you're not going to have
12:16October 7th, that terrible genocidal event against the Israelis, be the event that precipitates
12:22something like a breakthrough, like a recognition of a Palestinian state. But I would, I would suspect
12:26that that's something that the Iranians would want. And real quickly, Rebecca, you got Elon Musk
12:31right there with the crown prince and the president of the United States having this thorough conversation.
12:35As you can see, he's getting more time than the rest of the business community. Respected by everybody
12:40around the world for his technology. Absolutely. Just not some knuckleheads in Seattle who want to burn
12:45tests. Exactly. We don't care. Rebecca, can we get back to what you were talking about when it comes to the
12:50Palestinian state? There has to be some middle ground though, right? Hamas has to go, but it looks
12:57like a lot of people in the Arab and Muslim world, the thought of there not being a Palestinian state
13:06worries them. And it seems like it's a deal breaker for them.
13:09I think you made an important point though, earlier, which is that they don't want to take
13:18any of the individuals in Gaza though, that are suffering under really it's, it's Hamas's fault
13:24that they're suffering, but the Israelis are, are trying to take out Hamas the best that they can.
13:28And I would just suggest, look, there is a, there's plenty of Muslim states, more than two dozen Muslim
13:34states. And, and any of these golf partners can, can take more of the individuals who are currently
13:40residing in Gaza. I mean, and, and, and I would say there's only one Jewish state. And, and so I
13:45think that that after, again, after October 7th, the world has changed. And, and so that might be
13:50something that's important to them. But again, I think president Trump has enormous power and leverage
13:55and he can strike other deals with them. That would be important and bring true and lasting peace.
14:00And I think, again, it's going to be staying really close with our partners, our allies,
14:03the Israelis. Hey, Rebecca, last question for this, for this portion of our program,
14:08as we watch the delegation, the American delegation meet the crown prince, how, how disturbed or how
14:16worried are the Israelis that we are not necessarily communicating with them like we were earlier?
14:22And that maybe a lot of these talks and the deal with the Houthi rebels was done without their
14:28consultation, Eden Alexander negotiations without them intimately involved. How worried are they?
14:35I think that there is, I think we got to be honest, uh, they're, they're nervous at the first
14:39administration success. Again, I would return to the, what worked the first time holding the Israelis
14:44very close, even as you extend an open hand to the golf partners. That seems to be a little bit
14:49different this time. Although our ambassador in Israel, uh, Mike Huckabee has said, no, our,
14:53the United States is still ironclad committed to Israel. So there might be just a little bit of
14:57disinformation happening in the media. So we kind of have to sit tight and be patient,
15:01but I would understand it. I would understand why the Israelis would feel a little bit uncomfortable.
15:05I would just encourage, you know, our administration and the BB Netanyahu administration to make sure
15:09that they're standing shoulder to shoulder after all this trip and to demonstrate that there's no
15:13light between us. Yeah. Israel will always be an ally of America that goes back to biblical times.
15:20So, um, it's just, it's a commitment that we, as a country, as a Christian country,
15:25um, have made, but, um, thank you so much.
15:28I'm Steve Ducey. I'm Brian Kilmeade.
15:30And I'm Ainsley Earhart and click here to subscribe to the Fox news YouTube page to catch our hottest
15:34interviews and most compelling analysis.
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