On Thursday in a rare public address Jared Kushner, H.R. McMaster, and Dina Powell shared the details behind President Trump’s first foreign visit which will include a trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican.
(VERO BEACH, FL) In the background call made available to the White House press corps President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, and Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell, gave details on the objectives of the Commander-in-Chief’s first foreign trip.
The call was conducted directly after President Trump’s Religious Liberty event in the Rose Garden. None of the senior officials on the call attended the event.
“The purpose of this meeting is really to bring together all the different countries and all the different religions in the fight against intolerance and to defeat radicalism,” Kushner said. “This whole conversation started with the Saudi’s shortly after the election, they approached us wanting to start a new relationship with America.”
EXCLUSIVE: Jared Kushner breaks silence, discusses #Trump foreign visit w/ stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel, & Vatican https://t.co/Ua5uCsWY4F pic.twitter.com/KO5ozNtInO — TRUNEWS™ (@TRUNEWS) May 4, 2017
“What the President did was lay out his objectives for what he would like to see accomplished in the region,” Kushner continued. “The different objectives he laid out for us was 1. Is to come up with a long term fix for radicalization, how do you fight the ideological battle for the longterm; 2. How do we stop funding for terror and terror related organizations and organizations that are radicalizing youth, because you have to combat that; 3. Burden sharing, figuring out ways we can get our partners in the region to do more, America’s doing a lot in the region, has done a lot in the region, and I think our partners have the ability to do a lot more in the region; 4. Counter ISIS and Iran and figure out how we win the actual wars that are there today.”
McMaster on #Trump Saudi-Israel-Vatican trip: America First is fully compatible w/ American leadership in the world https://t.co/b8xAPYH5ql pic.twitter.com/Mqlm3UZ0of — TRUNEWS™ (@TRUNEWS) May 4, 2017
“I think what the President has demonstrated already and will be able to demonstrate even further on this trip is that America First is fully compatible with American leadership in the world," McMaster said. “And circumstances in the Middle East, that really have bled over as we all know into Europe and globally, associated with radical Islamist terrorist groups, these Tacferian and Salafis jihadist groups that are victimizing so many in the region and beyond, as well as the problems associated with these terrorist groups combined with Iran’s subversive and maligned behavior across the region, have aligned in a way that will lead to new partnerships, new partnerships enabled by American Leadership.”
Below is the official statement from the Press Secretary’s office regarding the trip and the official Itinerary:
“President Trump has accepted the invitation of King Salman bin Abd Al-Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia later this month. The visit will reaffirm the strong partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia and allow the leaders to discuss issues of strategic concern, including efforts to defeat terrorist groups and discredit radical ideologies.”
“President Trump has also accepted the invitation of President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Israel, where he will further strengthen the United States-Israel partnership. The leaders will discuss a range of regional issues, including the need to counter the threats posed by Iran and its proxies, and by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They will also discuss ways to advance a genuine and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.”
“President Trump has also accepted the invitation of President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to meet with him to discuss ways to advance peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as efforts to unlock the potential of the Palestinian economy.”
“Traveling next to Italy, President Trump will meet with His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss cooperation between the United States and religious communities in areas of joint concern. He will also meet, in Rome, with President Mattarella of Italy, who will later host the G-7, to discuss multilateral cooperation and bilateral relations between the United States and Italy.”
“From Rome, the President will continue on to previously announced visits to Brussels for the NATO summit and meetings with EU and Belgian leaders, and to Sicily for the G7 meeting.”