John Podesta, former chairman of Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential campaign, gave tepid praise for President Trump Tuesday morning, saying the president is “doing OK” so far on his first foreign trip since taking office.
Sitting down with The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty for a live discussion, Mr. Podesta said the president has done well during the first leg of the trip, partly because his visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank were tightly controlled.
“Well, you know, I think he’s doing OK,” admitted Mr. Podesta, who served on the administrations of former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
“I think he’s doing OK, but I think it’s pretty scripted. It’s a pretty scripted trip,” he continued. “So, he’s basically not interacting with the press — he’s reading words off the teleprompter and he’s in very friendly audiences.
“Because I think, quite frankly, most of the people he’s interacting with think they’ve got his number and he’s doing what they want him to do and he’s not challenging them, really, on anything,” Mr. Podesta added. “I think when he goes to Europe that will be a little bit of a different story.”
This comes after Mr. Trump gave a historic speech in Saudi Arabia Sunday, calling on Muslim nations around to globe to “drive out” Islamic extremists. On Monday, he met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and became first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall. On Tuesday, he met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to broker a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis.
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Mr. Trump will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican tomorrow, followed by the Quirinal Palace in Rome. The bulk of the rest of his trip will be spent meeting with NATO leaders in Brussels and G7 leaders in Sicily.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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