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Trump Welcomes Saudi Crown Prince to White House; Interview With Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI). Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 18, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:00]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, we have those -- those plants are going out. And, again, it's all American jobs and everything. So it's good for a lot of reasons.

But as far as Saudi is concerned, no, I don't think our relationship could be better. I don't think they had a great relationship under Biden and I don't think they had a great really relationship under Obama. But they have a great relationship under Trump.

When we -- the Presidential Walk of Fame, you saw that, right, and we're walking. And I am -- so, outside of Trump, outside of Trump, because I blow everyone away, who was the best president for Saudi Arabia? And you could maybe -- it's an interesting answer.

MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, SAUDI ARABIAN CROWN PRINCE: Roosevelt was...

TRUMP: Roosevelt.

(CROSSTALK)

BIN SALMAN: Democrat. Democrat. And Reagan, he's one of the historical president that have close ties with Saudi Arabia.

(CROSSTALK)

BIN SALMAN: But we have worked with all presidents.

TRUMP: Does Trump blow them all away?

BIN SALMAN: It's another league, Mr. President.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And Trump doesn't give a fist bump. I grab that hand. I don't give a hell where that hand's been. I grab that hand.

When -- remember Biden? He travels for 20 hours, gets out and he gives a fist bump. No. When you get out of the plane and you got the future king and the man who's one of the most respected people in the world, you shake his hand. You don't give him a fist bump. Right? We don't want to ask you about that, but I can't imagine you were thrilled.

You were like a little bit surprised. He's a fantastic guy. You don't do that.

Yes, please.

QUESTION: We're getting closer to the end of the year. Have you started the interviews for the Fed chair?

TRUMP: Yes.

QUESTION: Who have you interviewed?

TRUMP: I think I already know my choice.

QUESTION: Who is it?

TRUMP: Well, I liked him, but he's not going to take the job. He refused. You like Treasury better, right?

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Much better, sir.

TRUMP: So we are talking to various people. And the -- I mean, frankly, I'd love to get the guy currently in there out right now, but people are holding me back. He's done a terrible job, hurting housing a little bit.

The truth is, we have been so successful, we have blown past his interest rate stupidity. He's been wrong. That's why I call him too late. He's too late, Jerome "Too Late" Powell. He was recommended to me by a guy that made a bad -- a bad choice. And it's too bad.

But despite that, it's having very little impact because we have -- we have all of these things happening. But it has an impact on housing to a certain extent. He's a fool. He's a stupid man. But we have some very good people.

BESSENT: You know, sir, you will be sitting down with them in the near future. And...

TRUMP: We have some surprising names and we have some standard names that everybody's talking about. And we may go the standard way. It's nice to every once in a while go politically correct. But we have -- we have some great names. Steve...

QUESTION: Have you talked to President Maduro of Venezuela yet? Are you still open to that?

TRUMP: He wants to talk.

QUESTION: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: Yes, I'm open to talking. I talk to everybody. But, no, he wants to. They treated us very badly.

They sent all of their prison population into the United States. And we're getting them out rapidly. But he sent all of his -- and he sends drugs into the United States and other things. No, he treated us badly. He was dealing with a bad president that he was able to get away.

We have -- now I think we have the strongest borders anywhere in the world. Nobody's coming in unless they come in legally.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We're talking very weak borders, where millions of people came in. For the last six months -- I mean, I don't do these reports. They say zero people have been able to come in. That's pretty good.

I don't know if that number is right, but...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?

TRUMP: You know, it's not the question that I mind. It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions.

You start off with a man who's highly respected, asking him a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question. And you could even ask that same exact question nicely. You're all psyched up. Somebody psyched you over at ABC. You're going to psych it. You're a terrible person and a terrible reporter.

As far as the Epstein files is, I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. I threw him out of my club many years ago because I thought he was a sick pervert. But you know who does have? Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, who ran Harvard, with him every single night, every single weekend. They lived together. They went to his island many times. I never did.

Andrew Weissmann, I hear. All these guys were friends of his. You don't even talk about those people. You just keep going on the Epstein files. And what the Epstein is, is a Democrat hoax to try and get me not to be able to talk about the $21 trillion that I talked about today. It's a hoax.

[13:05:15]

Now, I just got a little report, and I put it in my pocket, of all the money that he's given to Democrats. He gave me none, zero, no money to me. But he gave money to Democrats. And people are wise to your hoax, and ABC's -- your company, your crappy company, is one of the perpetrators.

And I will tell you something. I will tell you something.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: So, why not... (CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and it's so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, the chairman, who should look at that, because I think, when you come in, and when you're 97 percent negative to Trump, and then Trump wins the election in a landslide, that means, obviously, your news is not credible.

And you're not credible as a reporter. So I have answered your question. You should go and look at the Democrats who received money from Epstein, who spent their time. Larry Summers was with him all the time. That creep, the fun guy, was with him all the time. What's his name?

QUESTION: Reid Hoffman.

TRUMP: Who? Reid Hoffman. I don't know Reid Hoffman. But I know he spends a lot of money on the radical left. Reid Hoffman, in my opinion, should be under investigation. He's a sleazebag.

And those are the people, but they don't get any press. They don't get any news. And you're not after the radical left, because you're a radical left network. But I think the way you ask a question with the anger and the meanness is terrible. You ought to go back and learn how to be a reporter. No more questions from you.

Who else has a question?

QUESTION: Very quickly, I want to ask you, how much money is Saudi Arabia giving for Gaza reconstruction?

BIN SALMAN: We are in discussion about that. Still, there is no amount being named..

TRUMP: It'll be a lot. It'll be a lot.

BIN SALMAN: But we will definitely help.

TRUMP: Yes, he's got a -- he -- it's very important to him.

QUESTION: And a quick follow-up. The international security force, given your pledge there will be no U.S. boots on the ground, what is the U.S. role going to be in that, and how do you ratify the allegations that this could undermine Palestinian sovereignty?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Actually, look, I think we're going to get along great with the Palestinians. We know their leadership. We just had a very -- you hate to say war, but it was a war, very, very successful.

And you could say, really, it was on behalf of everybody. We did that on behalf of everybody. And the outcome was extraordinary, because we had the best pilots, the best equipment, the best planes, the best everything. And Israel bought the best equipment. They bought it from us. Everything's from us. It all starts here, this office.

I was talking to crown prince a little while. You walk into this office, for somebody from the outside, the Oval Office, it's the most powerful place in the world. You're standing right now in the most powerful place in the world.

And no matter how big you are, these are the biggest people, the richest people, they walk into this office. It's special, isn't it? Look at him. It's so happy to be here. But you walk into this office, it's the Oval Office. And we have done a lot of good with this office.

I have stopped actually eight wars. I appreciated your question before, but I have actually stopped eight wars. I have another one to go with Putin. I'm a little surprised that Putin -- it's taken longer than I thought, but we stopped India and Pakistan. We -- I could go through the list. You know the list better than I do.

I'm very proud. And I stopped one that was almost ready to start again. There's one that was ready to start.

QUESTION: Do you have an update on where things are...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And they're doing very well. So it all took place right here in the Oval Office, whether by telephone or whether by -- they came in. Many of these leaders have come in, and they signed their peace deals right here in the Oval Office.

So no matter if it's the biggest businesspeople in the world or the greatest leaders in the world, the biggest leaders in the world, like the gentleman on my right, everybody walks into the Oval Office and they say, wow. And now, by the way, the Oval Office is in the kind of condition that it should be in, whether you look at the walk or the marble floors or anything down the road.

We're fixing the White House. And we're building one of the greatest ballrooms ever to be built. We have an event tonight, and we're going to have about 118 people because we have a very small room. For 150 years, they have wanted a ballroom, and now you're going to get a great ballroom.

And I have to say, I probably made a lot of enemies, because, in Your Honor, we're having a dinner tonight, a beautiful dinner tonight. And we have a very small room, right? It's called the East Room, and it's beautiful. It's lovely, but it's like for a little cocktail before you go into a ballroom. It's a very small room.

They have wanted a new ballroom for 150 years. We could have sold the big ballroom out three times in honor of this gentleman. So I made a lot of enemies because I have a lot of people that aren't invited tonight or are unable to come because of the size constraint.

[13:10:13]

But you know what we will do before I leave office? We will have another dinner, because we will have it ready long before I leave office. And it's going to be beautiful. It's a very popular thing what we're doing, and, by the way, no government funds. It's all put up private money, all private money.

And in the case, I think it's -- there's a restriction on foreigners. Otherwise, I could have asked you just for a check, OK?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But there's a restriction. These are all private individuals that put up a lot of money to build the ballroom. Not one penny is being used from the federal government. So it's really a nice thing.

But I look forward to it. I just pointed it out. This would be a perfect night to have that ballroom open, Susie. If we had that open, we'd have a lot of people very happy. Right now, we have a lot of unhappy people because they all want to be with us tonight to honor this great man.

Thank you all very much. Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have been listening to President Donald Trump at the White House side by side with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, an interesting, fiery at times, press availability, to say for certain, the president there asked a number of questions, including about the murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The president getting animated with the reporter from ABC News who asked that question, telling the reporter, stopping her as she was asking that question, that MBS knew nothing about it, saying, "You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking something like that," later calling that reporter insubordinate.

Further, he said of Khashoggi: "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen."

Really notable comments there from the president.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, he said that he thought the license should be taken away from ABC

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: And just a note. I was in the White House press corps with Mary Bruce. She has covered the White House for years. She is a fine reporter. She has a lot of experience. She is very well respected.

But that was certainly a very interesting moment about Jamal Khashoggi and the question that she asked about him to the crown prince. This -- we should note the CIA's assessment was that MBS was likely involved in that. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As far as this gentleman is concerned, he's done a phenomenal job. You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that.

You don't have to embarrass our guests by asking a question like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: President Trump also criticized former President Joe Biden for giving MBS a fist bump at one point during his presidency, the president in a notable statement for the choice of words saying -- quote -- "I don't give a hell where that hand has been. I give him a handshake."

He also answered questions about Saudi Arabia possibly signing onto the Abraham Accords, as well as a sizable investment of up to a trillion dollars that MBS has vowed to make in the United States.

Let's go live with the White House now and CNN's Kristen Holmes.

Kristen, what stood out to you from this meeting?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, that moment about the White House reporter and Jamal Khashoggi was stunning.

And just a reminder of what happened at the time. Not only did U.S. intelligence find that it was likely that the crown prince, who was sitting there next to President Trump, ordered or directed these agents to kill Khashoggi. This led to widespread backlash across the entire world.

We saw businesses limiting the deals that they were doing with Saudi Arabia, limiting the work they were doing in that country. We saw other countries pulling away from Saudi Arabia. In fact, the crown prince had already been to the White House at that time. It was 2018. He had been there to see President Trump.

He was not invited back at any time, seemingly because of this murder and this link that the U.S. intelligence community had made. Now you have President Trump saying that he knew nothing about it, the prince knew nothing about it, also saying he's an incredible man. "I'm proud of the job he's done. I'm proud of his record on human rights" in particular, and then going on to almost blame this victim of a murder by saying that he was a controversial figure, and then of course, as you noted -- quote, unquote -- "Things happen."

Again, just a reminder that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. So it appears that that is what he is referring to when he says -- quote -- "Things happen."

Now, a lot came up in this conversation, in this question-and-answer period. We also heard President Trump downplaying any conflict of interest when it comes to the Trump Organization doing business with Saudi Arabia and many of the other Gulf countries. We know that it's something -- we have seen them building Gulf courses and hotels.

[13:15:15]

He downplayed any kind of involvement that he has with that. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have nothing to do with the family business. I have left and when I -- I have devoted 100 percent of my energy. What my family does is fine. They do business all over. They have done very little with Saudi Arabia actually. I'm sure they could do a lot. And anything they have done has been very good. That's what we have done.

We have built a tremendous business for a long time. I have been very successful. I decided to leave that success behind and make America very successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, now, he also got visibly angry when that same reporter from ABC started asking questions about the Epstein files, particularly asking why he wouldn't just release them. If he's asking the Republicans to vote it, saying he supports this vote to release the files, why wouldn't President Trump just release them?

That is when you started hearing President Trump really berate this reporter, something that many of us in the press corps have grown accustomed to when you are asking a question that President Trump himself doesn't like. And, as we know, the situation with Epstein, the controversy, the files is something that has really plagued President Trump's second term.

And that was clearly on display as he grew increasingly irate at that series of questioning.

KEILAR: Yes, he said: "Things happen."

They certainly do when the crown prince orders a murder, which was the finding of the American intelligence community, which is a finding that President Trump is undercutting. That was actually a question directed at the crown prince. He did note -- he said that that killing had been investigated and he called it a painful and huge mistake.

We should note, as part of that investigation, which certainly did not have the same findings as those in the U.S., there were a number of death penalties that Khashoggi's children actually spared the guilty of.

But, nonetheless, that moment, that key moment aside here, this is obviously a crucial meeting, the first time in seven years. What else are we expecting to see from it today?

HOLMES: Well, we heard President Trump talking about this. There's going to be a number of deals that they are expected to come out of this. Remember, one of the things President Trump has talked extensively about is trying to get investments from these Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia.

For example, one of the things we know is that the crown prince had pledged $600 billion. Today, he says that number is up to a trillion dollars in investments in the United States. Things he listed were A.I., technology, different materials. We know that the United States is planning on selling these F-35 stealth jets to Saudi Arabia.

This is something that has really caused concern among many in the Middle East. This would change the entire military landscape. As of now, the only known country to have these stealth weapons is Israel. So that is something that, including Israel, among the countries that have expressed some concern about this sale, about President Trump's willingness to give these weapons over.

This relationship is incredibly important to the president. One thing to note, this visit that President Trump did, his very first trip he did overseas was to Saudi Arabia and to the various Gulf Arab countries. He has been trying to maintain a relationship, trying to get them to invest in America.

And, clearly there, he was really laying that praise on thick. He continued to say how proud he was of him, what a good friend he was, how they agree with each other on every issue, they have essentially been in lockstep. Again, going back to what we just discussed with the murder of the reporter, Jamal Khashoggi, that casts a different light on all of this.

But seven years later, any darkness of that incident, at least when it comes to this White House and this president, doesn't seem to exist anymore.

SANCHEZ: Yes, especially when he vows a second visit before he leaves office and when that ballroom that's being constructed is open.

Kristen Holmes, live for us at the White House, thank you so much.

Up next: After delaying a vote on the Epstein files for months, House Speaker Mike Johnson now says he will vote to push for their full release -- the latest on the vote scheduled to begin next hour right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:42]

SANCHEZ: So the House is gearing up for the highly anticipated vote to release the Epstein investigation files, which is set to take place next hour.

This morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the bill could get close to unanimous support, including having his own vote, despite dismissing the measure as a political show.

Joining us now ahead of today's vote is Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.

Congressman, thank you so much for sharing your afternoon with us.

Before we talk about the discharge petition, I quickly just wanted to get your thoughts on this visit to the White House by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Given the circumstances surrounding his visit, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the outrage and objection of the families of September 11 victims, do you have any apprehension about his visit to the White House, especially as the president says he doesn't care where his hand has been, he'd give him a handshake?

REP. DERRICK VAN ORDEN (R-WI): Well, I am on the House Armed Services Committee, and I'm the longest-serving enlisted member of the United States military to ever get elected to Congress in the history of our nation. I have multiple combat tours around the world.

And we want to make sure that we don't send Americans' sons and daughters into harm's way unless we absolutely have to. And how you do that is making sure that you have stalwart allies in the most troubled region of the world.

[13:25:04]

SANCHEZ: I will move on to the question about the Epstein files, given that it doesn't seem like you are eager to expand on the questions about the crown prince's many allegations against him.

I do want to play for you some sound from an Epstein survivor, Haley Robson, what she said about President Trump's change of heart on the discharge petition, saying that, while she is grateful, she's skeptical of the agenda. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY ROBSON, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I am traumatized. I am not stupid. I am traumatized. I am not stupid.

You have put us through so much stress, the lockdowns, the halt of these procedures that were supposed to have happened 50 days ago, the -- Adelita Grijalva, who waited to get sworn in, and then get upset when your own party goes against you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Congressman, what's your response? Is she right in being skeptical of the president's intentions?

VAN ORDEN: Here's my response. I had four of these ladies in my office this morning, and my heart goes out to them completely. It is absolutely horrific what has happened to these women at the expense of Jeffrey Epstein and his gang of cohorts.

It's just absolutely unacceptable. And I'm going to walk about 100 feet from here and I'm going to vote to release this information, which I have been calling for the release of this information since the beginning of this stuff happened since I got -- since I was made aware of this, with the one rock-solid caveat that there must be protections for the victims, because the victims do not need to be revictimized.

And, unfortunately, the piece of legislation that Mr. Massie and Ro Khanna put forward do not have adequate protections for these ladies that have been victimized already. There's no protections for whistle- blowers. So how are we going to learn more of what took place? There's no protection for the potential release of child pornography.

There's no extensions for investigations. It's just a very, very poorly written piece of legislation. Now, we have assurances that these loopholes are going to be closed in the Senate. And it's critically important, again, that these ladies who have been through so much trauma are not retraumatized.

It's just heartbreaking. I have two daughters and three granddaughters. And if something like this happened to them, I'm not sure what I would be doing. But we have to make sure that we do everything we possibly can to protect these women.

SANCHEZ: Couldn't the president just order the attorney general to immediately release all of these files with the caveats that you described, protecting innocent people and potential witnesses? Couldn't the president just direct these files to be released?

VAN ORDEN: Well, Joe Biden could have done that. He could have. Joe Biden could have done this. He could have released this. He could have let everybody know that Bill Clinton has been all over that island 26 times.

Jamie Comer has released 65,000 documents already in a responsible manner. And that's what we have got to do. The Democrat Party magically found an e-mail between Maxwell and Epstein immediately following -- or -- excuse me -- immediately preceding the vote to reopen the government.

And they redacted the name of the victim there, who made herself public and wrote a book about this. And the reason they redacted her name is because she exonerated President Donald Trump. So she did that. And this tells you something.

If these folks are willing to use these victims for political purposes, that's not OK. As a matter of fact, that's disgusting. So let's remember why we're here today having this discussion.

SANCHEZ: Congressman...

VAN ORDEN: It's because the Biden administration failed to do this already.

SANCHEZ: Democrats would argue that there was still an investigation ongoing, that Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal hadn't yet fully gone through. DOJ only closed this investigation last month. So they were arguing that putting all that information out there earlier could have been harmful. Respectfully, Congressman, Joe Biden is no longer in office. Now it's

President Trump. And he could release that information today. Why not do it directly, instead of having this vote go through Congress?

VAN ORDEN: Well, I will say this again. Jamie Comer has released over 65,000 documents. The Democrat Party cherry-picked seven e-mails to release them. They did that for political purposes. And that's inexcusable.

We just got to get away from this stuff, man. We're talking about these women's lives. And it is shameful that they're being used by the Democrat Party as political pawns. I -- it has to come to a close.

SANCHEZ: Well, Congressman, these victims -- these victims have pointed out the fact that the president could put this out now if he wanted to.

And I do want to ask you about some of the e-mails that were released. You're right that Virginia Giuffre said that Donald Trump never did anything inappropriate in her presence. We should note, though, that Epstein wrote in an e-mail with Ghislaine Maxwell that apparently Trump had spent several hours with her at her home, at Epstein's home.

This comes as the president is saying that only Democrats were friends with Jeffrey Epstein. We also know from one of those exchanges that author Michael Wolff was suggesting to Epstein that he could use their relationship to earn political capital.

I want to be extremely clear and make it clear to our viewers that the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing in these e-mails or throughout this process.