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Trump Gives Remarks At U.S.-Saudi Forum Amid Lavish Crown Prince Visit; Trump Designated Saudi Arabia "Major Non-NATO Ally"; Trump Attends Saudi Arabia Investment Summit At Kennedy Center; Congress Sends Epstein Bill To WH After Near-Unanimous Approval. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired November 19, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: It's what Epstein's survivors have been demanding for years. But when the president puts down his pen, what will the public actually see?

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

That legislation forcing the Justice Department to release the government's files on convicted sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein is now heading to the White House for the president's signature. But right now, President Trump is at the Kennedy Center with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. You're looking at live pictures of the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum where the president is expected to speak any moment now.

We're going to bring that to you live as it happens. It is part of a lavish and whirlwind D.C. visit for the Saudi crown prince, who according to U.S. intelligence, ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

MBS as he is known, started his day meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, just hours after he pledged to make a $1 trillion investment in the U.S. Well, President Trump agreed to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters. Jamie Gangel, I'm going to start with you. Can you just -- there's so much to unpack with this visit and nothing is simple with any country in the Middle East, let's be clear, particularly Saudi Arabia. There are so many things, so many asks of Saudi Arabia in that region by the U.S. How much is that playing into what we're seeing?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's a huge part of it. Look, we do business with people that we don't like. It is real politic. We do this around the world. I think what was notable about this visit is it was in effect the normalization of MBS, of the crown prince. Donald Trump was very clear that he was dismissing any guilt, anything that's in the past, things happened.

I think it's important to underscore one thing when we go back to Khashoggi, that was Donald Trump's intelligence community. That made the assessment. It was not another presidents. So, I think that--

BASH: I just want to point out that we are watching live pictures of MBS, the Saudi crown prince and President Trump there. I'm going to wait for the control room to let us know when we want to dip into this, but please continue.

GANGEL: It's so just in closing, it's one thing to do business with people. It's another thing to in effect sanitize whitewash what they've done. And that's what happened yesterday.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. And of course, during the Biden administration, the Biden administration was working with the Saudis too. And one of the things that we know was happening right before October 7, is that there was a hope of creating a peace deal with Saudi Arabia that the Biden administration would have managed with, with Israel.

But, for the Saudis here, this is a long-term prospect. MBS is going to be in charge of Saudi Arabia for many years after Donald Trump leaves the White House or is probably even alive, even if Donald Trump lives a long life--

BASH: A very young man.

DOVERE: Yes. And you can see that in some of the defense deals that they're setting up the other things that they're going for. And also, you see that in what Donald Trump is doing in setting up not just U.S. stuff, but investments for his family. I think it's worth noting that yesterday in the meeting Donald Trump Jr. was sitting there.

BASH: And let's listen to the president.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And it's great to be here today at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum. Great group of people. The biggest, you got the biggest in the room, but some of the most talented, maybe most importantly, the word talent, successful and innovative business leaders anywhere on the planet, whether you have come from near afar, we're delighted to have you invest right here in the hottest country, anywhere in the world.

Every leader is saying the United States with the hottest country in the world. We're going to -- we're going to keep it that way too. But this has been according to those that seem to say it, and I will say it, I would never say a thing like that because I want to be very modest. I always want to be modest, as modest as I can. They say this has been the best nine months that any president has ever had. I'd say that's pretty good, right?

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But we've had a great nine. Now we have to do it more than a few more times. We just have to keep it going. We'll keep it going. I want to thank my friend, a great gentleman, Crown Prince Mohammed of Saudi Arabia for his bold leadership and deep commitment to the ties between our two countries. Thank you. Thank you. Great gentleman. Yesterday, we had a phenomenal visit at the White House celebrating the 80-year bond between the United States and Saudi Arabia. We ended with an unbelievable show last night in a room that was far too small. But the next time you're here, you'll have a much bigger room. It's going to -- it's going to be much bigger.

I made more enemies last night by not like we had 119 people. That's -- that was a record for the room. So, they've wanted for 150 years, they've been clamoring for a ballroom at the White House and we're giving them one -- we're giving them one plus. And it'll be something. But you'll be here. You'll be among the first, if not the first if you'd like. You know, we'll work it out.

But you had a lot of people that wanted to be there. They really would've witnessed something that was really incredible. The entertainment last night was incredible, including our great opera singer, but including the military, the talent and the military, musically is also incredible. So, it was great to be with you last night.

I think it was something to behold. We officially designated the kingdom yesterday as the major non-NATO ally. That's a big deal. That's actually a very big deal. It's a great honor. That happens seldom, it's very seldom, if at all. So, I just want to congratulate you on that. That's a sign of trust.

We signed a historic strategic defense agreement yesterday also. And that's something that is likewise very rare. And it's very honored company that you're in. And we're going to be selling Saudi Arabia some of the greatest military equipment ever built. We build the best military equipment in the world by far. That's why we do the most business, including nearly 300 American made tanks, is what you're being -- you're buying among many other things, the airplanes. And we're working on getting that approved very quickly. It's already approved. But don't worry.

We have to go through a process. The process will take -- Elon knows, the process will take about, would you say 24 hours? I think so. You're in good shape, very good shape. The partnership between our two nations is among the most consequential in the entire world. And together the crown prince and I are making an alliance stronger and more powerful than it's ever been before.

We've had good relationships and frankly not good. You didn't have a good relationship with Barack Hussein Obama. You didn't have a good relationship with Sleepy Joe Biden, but you had a great relationship with me and now it's as good as it was. It's probably even better if you think about it because we took the dark cloud away from your country. It was called Iran and its nuclear capability. And we obliterated that very quickly and strongly and powerfully.

But that was a real cloud over the whole Middle East. And now they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal. They want to see if they can work out a deal with us. And we'll be doing that probably. But that was a terrible cloud that you had to live with for a long time. 22 years, they were thinking about doing that the B-2s, that was even before the B-2s. Those B-2s, what machines they were, they flew in, they were undetectable, and they dropped their payload, and every single bomb hit its exact mark, which was a shaft going deep into the mountain. And every single one of them hit and it was total obliteration. And then I was criticized by some of the fake news, by saying the word obliteration was too strong, perhaps they had no idea. Nobody saw it.

Three days later when the Atomic Energy Commission went, they said it was total obliteration, beyond obliteration, they said. But they want to make a deal, we'll see what happens. This week our countries also signed groundbreaking agreements on civil, nuclear energy, critical minerals and artificial intelligence.

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And I want to congratulate a lot of the great American leaders, business leaders that are in the room. And you'll do a great job for Saudi Arabia and for a lot of other people in the room be that are buying your product, taking your product, and using your product. All of that is an addition to the $600 billion investment in the United States that Saudi Arabia announced during my unforgettable visit there last spring.

Well, I said, could you try and get that up to a trillion dollars? And yesterday the crown prince announced that the number that they'll be investing in the United States is $1 trillion. So that's really an honor. And we just took a picture backstage with some of the great business leaders and some of the great people, friends of mine from your country and beautiful picture.

And while we were taking the picture, I said, could you make it 1.5 trillion? So, he's got something to think about. I don't know. We'll get something. I think we'll get something, Scott, right? But many of you in the room are playing a key role in making these projects happen. And we're told that $270 billion in agreements in sales are being signed between dozens of companies. And that's just happening today, $270 billion. That's big stuff.

So, on behalf of the thousands of American workers who I care about most, I want to thank you for bringing all those jobs and all those great opportunities to America and bringing great wealth to America. We've become a very wealthy country. We have a couple of little things. We have -- we're waiting for a decision. We hope that's going to be good, but if it's not, we'll do.

We always find ways, you know, we find ways, but we've done things that nobody thought were possible. And we're taking in trillions and trillions of dollars. Tariffs have been, frankly, the best things that's ever happened to our country. They've always been used against us. And we never had people that were smart enough to use them in the opposite direction, but now you do.

And we have taken in trillions of dollars, and it's been absolutely amazing. We're being -- we're going to be doing a dividend to the people, low and middle income, moderate income people of at least $2,000. In addition to that, we'll be paying down debt very substantially. It's the kind of money we're taking in.

And really, countries that took advantage of us are no longer taking advantage of us, friends. Some of our friends treated us far worse than our enemies on trade anyway. And we've got that all straightened out and everybody's happy. They respect us again. You know, it's like one of those things. I think they like us better and they actually respect us. And it works out much better for us too.

But I especially want to thank our numerous Saudi friends here today, including the ambassador to the United States. A friend of mine, Princess Reema, thank you very much. Great, great job. Great representative you have. You sent a good representative and many distinguished ministers and members of the cabinet, governor of the Public Investment Fund.

Where's Yasir? Yasir is here someplace. Sometimes I can't -- I see him dressed both ways. I don't know. It's cooler that way. I dress that way if I could. Yasir is terrific. He's a terrific man, actually. So, thank you very much Yasir.

And Secretary Scott Bessent, who's been fantastic. Where's Scott? We're thinking about him for the Fed, but he wants no part of it. He likes being Secretary of the Treasury. I think we'll leave him. So, let's push your name off, right officially, right? Remember you said that, I love the Fed job. To me, it's easiest job in the world. You play golf for 28, 29 days, then you go and make a little speech.

Tell everybody in the case of the current guy the wrong information because he has no clue. But if you have good instincts, you know, it's all based on instincts. I see they want to hire 3000 economists, 3000 to report to the Fed chairman. What are they going to take all this information? 3000 economists. That's why they're spending $4 billion on renovating a building that should have cost 25 million bucks to do.

They should have spent 25 million. They're building a basement into the Potomac River. I could have told them that's very tough to do when it doesn't work. And it's very expensive. But they're up to $4 billion headed by this clown. But we have 3000, think of it, they want to hire 3000 economists.

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So, they took a poll, and they interviewed 71 people. And of the 71 people, two people got it right. Two people. One was a great economist, whose name I won't tell you because I don't like him personally, but he is good.

BASH: OK. We're going to continue to monitor President Trump speaking at the U.S. Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center -- U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum. And as we do, I just want to make sure our viewers understand who is in the audience there. It is obviously members of the U.S. government and the Saudi government, but there are a lot of top executives from really important American companies and companies worldwide. Chevron, Qualcomm, Cisco, General Dynamics, Pfizer, Nvidia, X, as you heard him talking about Elon, which we'll get to in a second. Lockheed Martin, IBM, Alphabet, Google, Salesforce, Andreessen Horowitz, Halliburton, Adobe, Aramco, State Street and Parsons Corp.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. And a lot of those were similar to the guest list for last nights. Don't call it a state where the president really emphasized the relationship -- the business relationships that the U.S. can have with Saudi Arabia. And that's what's been kind of the feature of the president's -- the president and his foreign policy that so much of it focuses on the business side.

The economic relationship between these two countries and what sort of investments can be brought to the United States from his relationships abroad. It's not so much about the potential human rights violations, it's not about the killing of a journalist that has been, you know, broadly condemned except for by this president himself. It's really about what can this deal do for us financially. And that's been a real feature of his foreign policy, particularly in the second term.

BASH: And I just want to read something from the Washington Post editorial board. And they said the following. The reality is that while Trump advocates peace through strength, he showed nothing but debility. No doubt other dictators took note. Legitimizing and defending Mohammed this way will embolden him and his ilk to mistreat not just journalists, but any Americans, knowing that they'll probably face no real consequences.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: And I think that builds on what Seung Min was just saying, where it's clear where President Trump's priorities lie, and it's on the business side without as much diligence or consideration as to what some of these decisions he's making, how it reflects on America when it comes to considering people, when it comes to considering safety in human rights.

And I think that's just something, you know, for the people watching at home who are struggling, maybe to connect that to their lives is just another example of how elections matter. And the American president has so much on his, or perhaps one day her plate. And, you know, these things that seem to be not of, you know, day-to-day importance are really -- are going to come up. And it is delicate. It is complicated because we are in a global society and America is supposed to be the number one superpower.

But I think a lot of people would hope that the American president takes more care with the complexity of these issues. And maybe not necessarily saying we have to completely shun Saudi Arabia because I don't know if that's feasible in this current economy, but to be -- to at least take a little bit more care, particularly when it comes to someone who was a journalist for an American paper.

BASH: And so, the economy and the economic consideration is very big, and that's what they're talking about today. But the diplomatic consequences here and the way that the U.S. and Israel need Saudi Arabia, certainly Israel believes that it needs Saudi Arabia.

First of all, for an extension of the Abraham Accords. This was something that by all accounts, was very close to happening until October 7, 2023, happened. Likely one of the reasons that attack did happen in order to drive a wedge between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And the U.S. and other western countries are hoping that Saudi Arabia helps with the rebuilding of Gaza.

GANGEL: So, no question about Israel, the rebuilding of Gaza, the Abraham Accords. Let's add one more Iran. You know, Saudi Arabia is seen as an important player in that. But to Tia's point, you know, presidents have, they have the bully pulpit, but also, they have a carrot and a stick. So, Trump can welcome having some kind of relationship, but he can also not go as far as he did yesterday, whitewashing. And he can say to the crown prince, you got to cut this out.

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Those kinds of conversations happen behind the scenes all the time. But my guess is, I don't know that Donald Trump is not having that conversation because what's most important to him is the trillion dollars that MBS announced yesterday. And Isaac, you can do the math on the trillion dollars.

DOVERE: The GDP of Saudi Arabia is $1.1 trillion.

BASH: Yeah, right.

DOVERE: So, it does seem farfetched that they've invested almost all of it into America. I mean, and the other thing that's going on here through all of this is that there are a lot of -- it seems like real estate licensing deals that Trump and his family business is setting up in Saudi Arabia. And that seems to always be on Donald Trump's mind.

I mean, and Donald Trump Jr. was there that dinner last night. Tiffany Trump was there. And we just went through this with the Biden administration of what Hunter Biden may have benefited from the association with his father when Joe Biden was vice president.

This is Donald Trump as president right now with his children who are running his business in the room, who are working at deals with Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the royal family headed by MBS as the one who's approving all this stuff. These are all in the mix together in a way that has never happened before.

And again, I do think that the point from the Saudi Arabians is probably, this is a long-term runway for them of all the things they want to do. And so, they'll do whatever they need to do now as Trump goes at it.

MITCHELL: And I do back to that Washington Post editorial because it does. This is just the latest example where it's giving the perception that the president can be bought, or if nothing else, that business interests are something that the president could be used as your own carrot and stick for the president to get him to move in a way that may -- that may cause questions or concerns domestically, but that he'll do it anyways if you make it lucrative enough.

Whether it's for his own family interests and business interests, or whether he just thinks it's good for America economically, but that that could be used to cause him to make decisions that other people feel like aren't the best diplomatically for the United States.

BASH: Real quick because we have to go to a break. I do want to mention Elon Musk. He's there. He was there last night. Is this a thawing?

KIM: It, and again, out again, it does seem like there is a thaw. We saw that relationship kind of explode spectacularly earlier this year. But, you know, he is a powerful influential businessman, and that is someone that will be in as part of this orbit, obviously.

BASH: Someone who might actually have a trillion dollars at some point. Coming up. The Jeffrey Epstein files bill is officially on the president's desk. When will he sign it? Plus, the Trump administration is rolling out a new plan to make moves at their goal. Their goal is to get rid of the Department of Education. We're going to talk to the woman in charge of that agency, Linda McMahon. Stay with us.

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BASH: It seems like a lot can happen in a week in Washington. It was just last Wednesday that Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva became the 218th signature on a petition to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files after months of stonewalling. Now that bill is on the president's desk. It passed overwhelmingly in the House voice vote in the Senate. And now the question is when the president is going to sign it. It is a very big victory towards transparency.

In one of the largest sex trafficking cases in American history, prosecutors estimated at least one thousand. One thousand women and girls were harmed by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and other associates. Over the course of nearly 20 years, many of the victims have spent their lives since seeking the files, seeking answers on the full scope of his crimes. But they still me -- maybe waiting a bit longer.

My panel is here with me. I want to read what our colleague Stephen Collinson wrote this morning. Now Trump and his Attorney General Pam Bondi, who both triggered the political uproar by pledging to open the Epstein files only to then refuse to do so, are back where they started. Only in a much more vulnerable political position.

And then the president himself in a Truth Social on Sunday night. The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I don't care, legally entitled to. DOVERE: Yeah. He said he would sign the bill. And we are assuming he'll sign the bill. The question is how much he will comply with the bill. There are all these -- there's a lot of speculation that the reason why Trump has been raising investigation prospects into Bill Clinton and others is to be able to say like, well, those files are related to that investigation, so we can't release those.

BASH: Exactly.

DOVERE: But it is unmistakable how much the mood has changed here about this. I spent all of yesterday with Ro Khanna, who's the Democrat in the House, who's bill this actually was to release the files. And that meant being with these women, these survivors, we showed a photo of one of them holding up a photo of herself, as a girl when she -- they each one of the women basically, when they went to the podium, held up almost everyone.

Held up a photo and said, this is a picture of me when I first met Jeffrey Epstein. And these are -- you can see these are children.

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