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CNN Live Event/Special

President-Elect Trump Along With 50 Other World Leaders Visits Paris At Invitation Of French President Emmanuel Macron To Attend Reopening Of Notre Dame Cathedral; President-Elect Trump Meets And Shakes Hands With French President Emmanuel Macron; French President Macron To Meet With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; President-Elect Trump To Meet With Prince William Of U.K.; World Leaders Hoping To Hear From President-Elect Trump About U.S. Trade Policies; French President Macron Expected To Speak With President- Elect Trump About Ongoing War Between Russia And Ukraine. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 07, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:01:07]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Amara Walker.

We have breaking news for you out of Paris this morning. President- elect Donald Trump is meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.

BLACKWELL: We've got live pictures here at the palace where the two leaders are meeting before the grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral today.

WALKER: While there is no agenda for this meeting, many European leaders are concerned that Trump could withdraw U.S. military aid to Ukraine after he becomes president. But this is a big moment, especially for Trump, as he is making his return to the global stage after his win in the U.S. election.

CNN International Correspondent Melissa Bell is standing by with more on what we can expect as the ceremonies begin.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These ceremonies due to start in a few hours time here at Notre Dame. Already the crowds have gathered all around to watch what promises to be a pretty spectacular reopening of an extraordinary renovation of Notre Dame that burned down five years ago.

But ahead of that, of course, it is very much the fact that President- elect Donald Trump accepted this invitation extended to about 50 heads of state. And what we understand, Amara and Victor, is that he didn't hesitate. He had been in power at the time of the fire, had immediately suggested sending special planes to help out with extinguishing it. And we understand that it was with alacrity that he accepted this particular invitation.

He is, of course, for his first foreign trip since winning the election, on relatively friendly terrain here in France. Emmanuel Macron, remember, is one of those European leaders with whom he'd managed to forge a relatively constructive, if at times tense, relationship. And certainly for the French president receiving President-elect Donald Trump, the timing couldn't be better. The political situation here in France is particularly chaotic. This is one of those moments when Emmanuel Macron can shine on the world stage, and again remind Europeans of the important relationship that he managed to build with Donald Trump the last time he was in power.

Of course, Ukraine is going to dominate these talks. We don't know yet whether President-elect Donald Trump is going to be meeting with President Zelenskyy, who is due at the Elysee Palace in about an hour's time for his meeting with President Macron. But clearly, the backdrop to all of this is the expectation, revived again by an interview given by the Ukrainian president yesterday, that the arrival soon in power of President-elect Donald Trump will lead to talks, and at some point, the end of what President Zelenskyy described yesterday as the hot phase of the war in Ukraine. And that clearly is likely to dominate these talks that for now, as you say, have no particular agenda. All about the optics for the French president, though, at this stage, Amara and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Melissa, I don't know the answer to this question, so I'll accept if Elysee Palace has not clarified this for you, but you said that there are 50 heads of state that have been invited to this reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. Is President-elect Trump unique in that he is not currently one of those heads of state? Are there other former or future presidents or leaders in this group?

BELL: I think the ones, I'm pretty sure are the ones that have been invited, Victor, are the heads of state, current heads of state. We have, of course, a few members of European monarchies including Prince William, who will be attending. But this was an invitation extended to sitting leaders, heads of government, heads of state. Of course, for President-elect Donald Trump, this transition period, it was obvious that the invitation would be extended to him.

We know that President Biden isn't attending, but Dr. Jill Biden is. So this is an important moment, I suppose, for leaders to be able to congregate around something that represents so much to so many around the world, and way beyond the borders of France, of course.

[10:05:00]

The fact that Donald Trump accepted the invitation, though, is interesting, and I think shows his determination very quickly, and even before he takes office once again, to make his positions and his presence known on the world stage. But again, he couldn't have picked a better capital in which to make that debut, Victor and Amara.

WALKER: Yes, it's definitely going to be a star-studded spectacle to watch, but one that's also turning into a diplomatic meeting of sorts. Melissa Bell, thank you for being there.

Let's go now to our nation's capital, and CNN reporter Alayna Treene is standing by. Talk to us more about what you're watching for. Melissa Bell was mentioning that Macron, the French president, invited Trump this week. He accepted pretty ecstatically, was posting about it on Truth Social. These two leaders, I guess leader to be and current leader, they've had a pretty complicated relationship in the past, but it looks like Macron is trying to reset the relationship.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think you're absolutely right there, Amara. Look, first of all, Donald Trump was very eager to accept this. I was told that as soon as the invitation was extended, Donald Trump had told his team that he wanted to attend. And part of that is Donald Trump has had a long fascination with the Notre Dame Cathedral. He loves the pomp and circumstance, I think, around this event as well, but also it is a historic construction site. It kind of plays into his real estate background.

And I can also, I remember back when I was covering Donald Trump's first administration, when the fire had happened and at first damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral, he was posting about it live when he was on Air Force One, writing on social media about how horrible it was. And so I was told this week that this was something that Donald Trump personally very much wanted to do.

Now, as for the relationship about -- between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, at times you're right. They had, I mean back in Donald Trump's first term, at times their relationship was actually described as somewhat of a bromance. But then they also had, you know, their relationship did take kind of a sour turn over the years over a number of different subjects and grew very tense.

But Macron has very much tried to reach out an olive branch and congratulate Donald Trump very early on after winning. He was actually the first person to officially congratulate, or I should say, the first foreign leader to officially congratulate Donald Trump after he had won the election. He had posted about it early in the morning of Wednesday, the day after, and then got on the phone with Donald Trump to speak with him. And I'm told that they have spoken in the weeks since occasionally, and so including in the lead up to this event. And so this is going to be an important moment.

Now, I also want to address something that Melissa also talked about, because we know that Donald Trump is set to meet any moment now with Macron. It might actually be occurring right now at the palace. And then Macron is later meeting with Zelenskyy. What is not clear is whether or not Donald Trump is going to meet with the Ukrainian president. In my conversations with Trump's team, they say that they did not have any serious conversations.

And this is, I spoke with them this morning about this, they had not had any serious conversations as of then about having a meeting. However, there is going to be a larger reception around this event today where many of the heads of states are going to be congregating together. And they said there's a good chance that they could, perhaps, Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, have a pull aside or a side conversation on the sidelines of that.

BLACKWELL: All right, Alayna Treene for us in Washington, thank you.

Let's bring in now CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier. Kim, as we are watching here, waiting for the arrival of the president-elect there in Paris, detail for us the opportunity for President Macron here. The French press, they are covering this as a diplomatic coup. And he has a significant list of asks and influence that he's trying to persuasion as well, at the top of it, Ukraine. What's the job for Macron?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Absolutely. This is an opportunity for Macron to extend a big, warm French hug to Donald Trump and say, wow, we could use your help on -- and then that laundry list will include pointing out to Donald Trump that it looks like Russia is on the ropes right now in some instances. The economy isn't going well.

The sanctions from several years of Biden efforts to punish Russia over Ukraine are really beginning to bite. And also, you see Russia's territory in Syria, where it has key military bases, looks like it's going to be lost to opposition forces, and the Russian ally Assad will be run out. So this is an opportunity for Macron to say, with Putin on the ropes, we can push him into a resolution to get him to stop bullying Ukraine. We just need your help and your influence.

[10:10:04]

One of the things that Europe is fearful of with the Trump administration is the threatened tariffs, a trade war. I've had several European officials tell me he could make our lives economically miserable. At the same time, he could also provide Europe with the oil and gas supplies so that Europe can stop taking those supplies from Russia, further putting Russia in a tough spot and more willing to negotiate over Ukraine.

WALKER: Kim, Alyana and Melissa were saying that it's not clear, obviously, at this point whether or not there's going to be this three-way meeting between French President Macron, Zelenskyy, and President-elect Trump. But do you imagine that Macron is going to make an attempt to bring them together given that he is on the same page with Zelenskyy on continually getting U.S. support for Ukraine?

DOZIER: I'm sure that if it doesn't happen in the Elysee Palace in a one-on-one, he will definitely make sure that cocktail hour gets put to good use and that the two men have a nice warm chat.

Now, the last time that Zelenskyy and Trump met back in September at Trump Tower, it sounded -- the optics were good for Zelenskyy in terms of Trump saying, yes, Russia should stop this war immediately, though, of course, Trump didn't say how. And Ukrainian officials I've spoken to surprisingly are very optimistic about the incoming Trump administration. Rather than fearing that they're going to be strong armed into giving up a lot of territory, they think that Trump may get frustrated with Putin's stubbornness and say, you know, if Putin isn't willing to negotiate, he's going to arm Ukraine so it can win overnight instead of the dribs and drabs, the initial no's and then yeses on various weapon systems that the Ukrainians have gotten from the Biden administration.

BLACKWELL: All right, Kim Dozier, stay with us, Melissa, and Alayna as well, and you watching. We will have much more of the breaking news from Paris. President-elect Trump is scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. We are looking at live pictures here of Elysee Palace. We'll be right back.

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[10:17:03]

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. You are taking a live look at the Elysee Palace in Paris. This is where President-elect Trump is expected to arrive. He has been invited to attend this grand ceremony, the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, 40 to 50 heads of state are also expected to be there. But of course, Mr. Trump is the one who will be center stage as he is making his first foreign trip since winning the U.S. election.

CNN international correspondent Melissa Bell is standing by with more on the timeline of events today, what we can expect, and also, when this meeting between Trump and Macron will be happening.

BELL: So we understand, Amara, that President-elect Donald Trump will be leaving the American embassy shortly to head to the Elysee Palace for that meeting. All eyes very much on what emerges from it on Ukraine. Afterwards, there will be a bilateral meeting between President Macron and the Ukrainian president. What's unclear for the time being is whether President-elect Donald Trump will have an opportunity to speak to President Zelenskyy himself.

And in a couple of hours time, what you're going to see are all these world leaders, because the two that I mentioned are amongst 50 heads of state that are gathered here in Paris for the opening of Notre Dame Cathedral. They will then gather in a couple of hours time in front of the cathedral. And then this very moving, we imagine, ceremony will begin. The archbishop of Paris will knock at the door of Notre Dame.

The choir inside will reply. The doors will eventually be opened. And then he brings to life, in the words of the ceremony order, the organ, which is the largest musical instrument in France, carefully restored after the fire. And essentially as one of the main priests involved in this renovation was telling me just a few moments ago, it is about bringing to life the cathedral once again through song, through the organ, through the prayers that will take place inside.

And we will have in about three-and-a-half hours time, a speech from President Macron, from inside the cathedral addressing not just, of course, the gathered heads of state, but the world. This is, of course, remember a cathedral that had attracted the hearts and minds of the entire world the night of its fire, and all eyes very much tonight on its reopening.

The mass, the first mass will only be tomorrow. Today is about bringing to life the cathedral once again. But first of all, these very important bilateral meetings by two of those heads of state who have agreed to come, President Zelenskyy and President-elect Donald Trump, and all eyes very much on what any of those talks are like, what hints they are likely to give us about the path towards negotiations, Amara.

BLACKWELL: All right, Melissa Bell standing there outside of Notre Dame Cathedral, stand by.

Let's go now to Alayna Treene in Washington. And of course, the marquee meeting is between President-elect Trump and French President Macron. But it is not the only meeting today. We understand that Donald Trump will be meeting with Prince William. What's the expectation there?

[10:20:05]

TREENE: That's right. Kensington palace announced that Prince William is going to be meeting directly with President-elect Donald Trump to really focus on the U.S.-U.K. relationship in their words. That was part of their statement. Look, this is actually the first time these two have met since Donald Trump when he was then president and his first administration had traveled to the United Kingdom for a state visit.

And again, these people have known each other just like Donald Trump has had a longtime relationship with Macron from his first administration, he's met with Prince William in the past. I think the big thing here is that a lot of world leaders really want to know what Donald Trump's view is moving forward when it comes to the world stage, what his trade policy is going to look like. That has been a big thing that we've heard repeatedly that have been coming up in Donald Trump's calls with foreign leaders ever since he won the election in November.

And other, of course, questions about what will his posture toward the wars, mainly Ukraine, but also in the Middle East as well. These are questions that, again, we don't know what the agenda is. We have been given no agenda by Donald Trump's team on what is going to be discussed. But I think these are the answers that -- or the questions, I should say that many of these, these foreign leaders want to get a better sense of from Donald Trump now that he is headed back to office in January.

WALKER: I feel like it's going to be deja vu all over again as we watch you know Macron and Trump meeting as he perhaps will try to lay on the flattery. He did rush to win his favor, as you mentioned, right after winning the election, being one of the first global leaders to call and congratulate Trump. But in terms of this meeting, I mean, are we expecting Macron to really push to have Trump continue his support, the U.S. support for Ukraine?

TREENE: I don't think that would be surprising if he did, especially because, again, I know from my conversations with the Trump team about some of the conversations that he has already had with the French president since winning the election on November 5th have centered on Ukraine and about what further aid to Ukraine will look like now under Donald Trump. And that is a big question that Donald Trump himself has not really addressed.

We've seen him be posed this question. I personally have asked Donald Trump this question before when he was still on the campaign trail, and he's kind of skirted that question in the past. He has made it clear that he likely will not be giving as much aid to Ukraine as President Joe Biden has done, but there's still questions around what that would look like, and he hasn't really addressed that since.

So I think that is going to be a key. You know question for Macron to kind of learn from Donald Trump and what that will look like. And it's also, of course, very notable that as soon as he wraps this meeting with Donald Trump, he's clearly a little bit behind schedule as he has not arrived at the palace yet, but then later he is going to be meeting directly after with President Zelenskyy. And so I think there are a lot of questions that these world leaders want to get. Unclear, though, what Donald Trump is going to tell them or if he is going to be making any sort of promises on that front today.

BLACKWELL: Alayna, we've talked at length about the requests and the demands of Macron. Does President-elect Trump go with his own list? Does he have an ask? Does he have a demand as he arrives in Paris?

TREENE: Not that I've heard of, at least from my conversations thus far. I wouldn't be surprised if things come up in these meetings that we aren't anticipating. But when I've talked to Trump's team about what this is going to look like, what these meetings are going to look like, what his day is going to look like, I will say that there is partly a feeling within Donald Trump's team, and they've said that the president-elect has told him this directly as well, that he is not yet in office. He is still just the president-elect and in transition. And so there's only so much he wants to kind of address at this point before he is sworn in.

Again, this is going to be an incredible opportunity for Donald Trump to rub shoulders with a lot of these different world leaders, some that he knows very well and has past relationships with, like Emmanuel Macron, but also some new world leaders. And so I really think it's kind of unclear what he is going to ask for today, what he is going to offer up in these conversations.

But I do know as well that they were very clear that they didn't want to have a direct agenda going into this, or at least one that they were sharing publicly as they expect a lot of this can unfold.

And I should add, as well, just from having covered Donald Trump for as long as I have, I would note that a lot of what he likes to do in these meetings is kind of riff and go with -- he always likes to say he goes with his guts. He loves to have these in-person meetings to talk things out. He thinks that is the best setting.

And oftentimes he does kind of go off script in these meetings as well, doesn't have an agenda. Or if he does have an agenda, kind of goes around it to feel out where the conversation is leading. We saw that all the time when he was in office in his first administration, when he met with several different foreign leaders. I think it will be very similar today.

[10:25:05]

WALKER: If you're just tuning in, we are watching just outside the Elysee Palace here in Paris -- there in Paris, where President-elect Trump is expected to arrive at any moment. He has been invited as 50 other heads of state have been to attend the grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral after that fire five years ago devastated parts of this medieval cathedral. There will be a bilateral meeting between President-elect Trump and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, following his arrival there at the Elysee Palace. We are watching these live pictures.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll have much more on the other side.

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[10:30:14]

BLACKWELL: Live pictures here outside Elysee Palace as we are awaiting the arrival of President-elect Donald Trump there to meet with French President Macron at his invitation for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral restored after that 2019 fire. The timing that we were initially given was about 30 minutes ago that this arrival would happen, but the president-elect has obviously not yet arrived.

Let's bring in now CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier. And as we look at these pictures, Kimberly, this is the imagery and pageantry of a summit between two leaders, two sitting presidents. There is one president at a time. And in the United States, Donald Trump today is not that. However, Macron rolls out the pageantry and the flattery that everyone knows that he likes. Talk about, if you would, the setting in which this has been created for Trump and the asks that he and other European leaders will have as they have created this spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.

DOZIER: Well, Macron knows well that Trump loves pageantry. Cast your mind back to 2017, when Macron invited Trump for the bastille day parade through the heart of Paris, and Trump was so taken with that he talked about trying to do his own version of that parade back in Washington D.C. So if you are worried about the incoming Trump administration and wanting to make a good impression on him, this is the best way to do it.

The other thing is, a lot of these leaders are worried about what is Trump planning to do this time around? That's one of the questions that I get most. When I call various sources, they want to hear what I've heard, because everyone is wondering, do we have to prepare for a trade war? Is there some way we can flatter him into going in another direction? So they are hungry for information, and this is an opportunity to both give him the pomp and circumstance that he so appreciates, and also quietly grill him for information, or delicately grill him for information.

WALKER: You know, French President Emmanuel Macron, he's not the force that he was compared to Trump's first administration. I mean, Macron is in a much weaker position now. He's very unpopular. His government just was toppled with this no confidence vote and got rid of the prime minister. And so with that in mind and that as the context, how does that impact Macron's standing with President-elect Donald Trump, and also as he continues to jockey for -- to be the dominant power, the European power?

DOZIER: Yes. Macron is facing a lot of domestic unrest. He basically lost his latest prime minister, who I think is just about the shortest serving prime minister in France's history because of a combination of forces on the right and the far left that worked together to oust that prime minister.

So this is also a chance for Macron and other European leaders to give Donald Trump a different point of view on Russia and what Russia has done, according to their perception across Europe, the meddling as perceived in -- as reported in the Romanian election, the various mischievous acts, even criminal mischief across Europe, where it's in Poland, they've had things like weapons depots attacked, lots of different acts of sabotage that European leaders have faced and blamed on Russia. This is an opportunity for them to explain that to Trump so that he sees Russia not just as someone that the Democrats beat up and vilify, but as a real active threat to his own administration coming in.

BLACKWELL: All right, we've just gotten a pool report that the next five to 10 minutes we're expecting President-elect Donald Trump to arrive, about 35 minutes off the prepared schedule at this moment, so we should just be minutes away from seeing these two men together.

What do you expect the view is from Washington, from the Biden administration, of this meeting?

[10:35:02]

They know that there are 44 days, I believe the count is, until inauguration, until their clock runs out. But of this meeting and the case that Macron and other leaders have to make?

DOZIER: Look, they're hoping it goes well in terms of perhaps convincing Trump to support aid to Ukraine, to support Ukraine keeping its territorial integrity. It's a chance for European leaders to make the case that the Biden administration has been trying to make to the American people, that Ukrainian territorial integrity, if it fails, if Russia's aggression is allowed to stand, that is an active threat to the rest of Europe.

So everyone I've spoken to in the Biden administration, they're talking about they're working until the very last day in office, and they are working towards a successful handover which keeps Americas national security and international security in place. And so a successful meeting with Macron works towards that, not against it.

WALKER: Kim Dozier, stand by.

I want to bring in CNN international correspondent Melissa Bell, who is outside the Notre Dame Cathedral as we await President-elect Trump's arrival at the Elysee Palace. He is there. He is in Paris because -- to be a part of this reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame Cathedral that nearly burned down five years ago. Of course it didn't collapse, but significant portions of it did get damaged.

Can you just paint the picture around you, Melissa, and what's happening there?

BELL: Well, extremely tight security as you'd imagine, Amara. There are hundreds of police cars, but also many thousands of people who gathered as close as the barricades will allow them to witness what promises to be a historic night. The cathedral behind me ready for an exceptional ceremony, it was anticipated that this would get underway in a couple of hours, so it may be that the delay that we're seeing in the start of this bilateral meeting pushes that a bit.

But the plan was that in a couple of hours, there's 50 heads of state surrounding Emmanuel Macron for this opening ceremony as the world rediscovers Notre Dame restored, and not so much to its former glory of five years ago but way beyond that, past that. It is to the glory of several centuries ago that it's been restored. The interior really quite remarkable in what's been achieved in just five years time.

But to the question of the invitations that have been extended, 50 heads of state, we've got Prince William. There are many heads of the many European monarchies represented, European heads of state, but well beyond as well. The fact that President-elect Donald Trump should have accepted this invitation, of course, important because of what it will tell us about Ukraine, but also because of what the relationship that he is able to reestablish with Emmanuel Macron will tell us about how easy or difficult European leaders are going to find it to work with him.

I've heard from a number of European sources over the course of the last few weeks that there's been fairly positive surprise from the part of many European leaders in their initial conversations with President-elect Donald Trump, that this time, compared to last time, he seemed more aware and interested in what their concerns were, more prepared to talk. And the impression that they've had has been far more positive than the first time President-elect Donald Trump came into power.

Clearly, the handshake that's about to take place with President Macron and Donald Trump will be reminiscent of the one that we remember so well from a few years ago, but a very different context now as well. As you were hearing a moment ago, President Macron weakened on the domestic stage. President-elect Donald Trump, not yet present of course, but by his very presence changing the nature of the dialogs not only the European leaders are going to have amongst themselves, but that President Zelenskyy is expected to have with President Macron.

In that interview only yesterday he came the closest he's come so far to conceding the fact that it is likely that his negotiations kick off in the hot phase of the war, as he described it, ends, it will mean relinquishing some territory. We hadn't really heard it before. I think the fact that he's given an interview the day before attending this ceremony speaks volumes about his understanding of what the next step is.

So all eyes very much on not just the meeting with President Donald Trump, but also what President Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron have to say after their meeting. Amara and Victor?

BLACKWELL: Melissa Bell outside Notre Dame Cathedral a few hours before the beginning of that ceremony.

We're just a few minutes until the arrival of President-elect Donald Trump at Elysee Palace to meet with French President Macron. This is Trump's first trip abroad since winning the election. We'll, of course, bring you that meeting, that first handshake live.

We'll take a quick break. We'll be back.

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[10:43:16]

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN breaking news. And this is President-elect Donald Trump arriving at the Elysee Palace here -- there in Paris. We just saw moments ago the French president, Emmanuel Macron, standing outside waiting for Mr. Trump to arrive. Macron invited Trump to the reopening ceremony of Notre Dame Cathedral, and now there is much fanfare around his arrival. As you can see, President-elect Trump shaking Macron's hand there.

BLACKWELL: Let's listen.

All right, and there it was, the handshake between President-elect Trump and the president, President Emmanuel Macron there, an informal, very tight grip, which they have shared before, which we have covered when they have met. The president of France, President Macron, has been critical of President-elect Trump during the Biden administration.

[10:45:03]

But he is, if not a 180, making a significant adjustment now that Trump will be returning to power with this invitation, with the first call after the election congratulating Donald Trump on the win. Of course, they'll go in, and we will see them again at the beginning of their conversation.

Let's go to CNN reporter Alayna Treene, who is, of course, watching everything that's happening. And the expectation of what happens now, I'm sure Macron wont jump right in on Ukraine. There is still -- there's still the pleasantries of the invitation, but he's got a lot of work to do as well.

TREENE: Thats right. And it was, I have to say, I had a little bit of a deja vu moment seeing that arrival, seeing them grasp their hands so strongly, pose for photos. It's very reminiscent of what we saw throughout Donald Trump's first term. And again, as you guys mentioned this as well, but Macron understands

that Donald Trump loves the pomp and circumstance. This kind of arrival was something that really looked like it would be for a sitting and a current president, almost like a state visit, even though this is just a meeting on the sidelines of this larger Notre Dame Cathedral reopening.

But look, you're exactly right. They're going to have a lot to discuss. I mean, I think the big question that many foreign leaders have had is what will Donald Trump's posture be toward the rest of the world, particularly as we saw what he did in his first term with his America First policies, his populist ideas, what he did with trade, how he approached different conflicts in the region.

Of course, today, one of the big questions is going to be, what will Donald Trump, if he addresses this at all, what he will do about -- what he will say, I should say, about the war in Ukraine and any funding or what the U.S. role will look like moving forward. That's going to be a big question that I'm sure Macron will be asking him behind closed doors.

WALKER: Yes, a lot to talk about. Clearly the two do have a lot of differences when it does come to Ukraine and NATO and other topics. CNN reporter Alayna Treene, thank you.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:48]

BLACKWELL: President Macron and President-elect Donald Trump are speaking inside Elysee Paris. Let's listen.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: President, I just say it's a great honor for the French people to welcome you five years later, and you were at that time president for the first time. And I remember the solidarity and your immediate reaction. So welcome back again.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Thank you very much.

MACRON: We are very happy to have you here.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, a very great honor.

And we had a great relationship, as everyone knows. We accomplished a lot together. And the people of France are spectacular. I guess it's one of our largest groups in the United States, French people. And we respect them, and we love them, very talented people. Extremely energetic people, as you know very well. And it's an honor to be here. And we had a good time together, and we had a lot of, a lot of success, really great success, working together on defense and offense, too. And it certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy, right now, and we'll be talking about that. Thank you very much for being here.

MACRON: Merci beaucoup.

WALKER: Trump there speaking alongside. We just heard President-elect Donald Trump there speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, who gave him a warm welcome to the Elysee Palace as they are going in for their bilateral meeting. It was Macron who invited Trump to Paris for the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame Cathedral. And we saw just moments ago was that very firm, extended handshake outside --

BLACKWELL: Signature grip.

WALKER: The signature white knuckle grip before they headed inside the Elysee Palace.

And this is actually Trump's first foreign trip after winning the presidential election. And a lot to talk about. This ceremony really turning into a diplomatic meeting.

Let's turn it over to CNN international correspondent Melissa Bell, who is standing outside Notre Dame Cathedral. And just walk us through what we can expect today. And obviously the big spotlight will be on what comes out of this meeting. And there will also be a meeting between Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

BELL: That's right, but very much, I feel, Amara, like we've spent years now talking about the way these two presidents shake hands. It was back in 2017, President Macron and President Trump in his first term, had met for the first time on the sidelines of the G7 summit, even then, the grip had fascinated, and we never really stopped speaking about it. The bromance that then involved, as it was referred to at the time, you'll remember President Donald Trump coming over here for Bastille Day celebrations, Emmanuel Macron being received at the White House on the first state visit for a foreign leader in that first term of Donald Trump.

[10:55:05]

So clearly both men referring to that friendship that they'd managed to build at the time in what we just heard from the Elysee Palace. Also, though, of course, as Donald Trump said, the world having gone crazy and that being the subject of their discussions, we expect to hear more specifically about what they had to tell each other on the matter of Ukraine. All the more that President Zelenskyy will be the next leader received by President Macron at the Elysee Palace.

Then, Amara and Victor, they're all going to be arriving here at Notre Dame. It started raining now. It's not just blustery, it's actually very rainy now in Paris, too. And here it promises to be a pretty spectacular ceremony. Fifty heads of state in all will be accompanying the Archbishop of Paris as he reopens, brings back to life, as they're describing it here, Notre Dame Cathedral. He will knock at the grand doors. They will be opened. He will bring the organ to life, and it promises to be a very moving ceremony, very well attended. These 50 heads of state, including President-elect Donald Trump having accepted President Macron's invitation. BLACKWELL: And Melissa, we know, of course, of the meeting that's

happening now between Trump and Macron and Trump and Prince William. Will there be opportunities otherwise for these 50 world leaders to meet with the president-elect, too?

BELL: I expect that there will be. Not only will they all be here gathered for the ceremony, we know that there has to be a dinner later tonight. We don't know how many of them are going to be involved in that, or how closely they'll be able to be able to interact with him. But certainly, it's an important opportunity for some of these European leaders who were not in power last time to get a chance to see him, speak to him.

And as I was telling you, a moment ago, the initial conversations that I understand have been had with many European leaders have been pretty positive. Certainly, the feeling has been one of a more constructive dialog, and an American president-elect more aware of the issues, interested in the policy, and apparently willing to discuss than they felt last time when he first took office.

Whether or not that will translate into any agreements remains to be seen. But certainly, as an initial trip, President-elect Donald Trump is certainly walking on relatively friendly ground here in Paris, having built that relationship with President Macron over so many years. It hadn't been so easy for some of the other European leaders at the time.

WALKER: All right, Melissa Bell, thank you very much for your reporting.

And that reopening ceremony where Melissa Bell is begins in about two hours from now. So the two men will have plenty time to discuss, have their discussions.

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you for joining us for our breaking news coverage, this first meeting and travel abroad for the president- elect, Donald Trump.

"THE AMANPOUR HOUR" is up next.

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