Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 8 — ?? Sneak peek: Trump's speech to the Muslim world — Twitter regrets — JFK's press trick — SNL's "Hallelujah"
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 May 2017 05:39:08 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by BP:

✈️🇸🇦 Sneak peek: Trump's speech to=the Muslim world — Twitter regrets — JFK's press trick �=80� SNL's "Hallelujah"

View in browser

Presented By BP

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·May 21, 2017

1 big thing: "battle between good and evil"

Trump sits with Saudi King Salam before a signing ceremony at the Royal =ourt Palace in Riyadh / AP's Evan Vucci

Seeking to reset both his own and his country's relatio=ship with the Muslim world, President Trump will declare today (9:20 a=m. ET) during a major speech in Saudi Arabia that he hopes the United=States and Islamic countries can share "a hopeful future" while "stamping =ut extremism" together.

Tru=p also plans to sign an agreement among the U.S. and Persian Gulf=countries to increase cooperation in tracking and prosecuting financiers o= terror.

Why it matters: Trump's address, to t=e Arab-Islamic-American summit, follows an administration push to get the =uslim world to take action in a united frontsha=e a new Middle East coalition, with the aim an eventual peace agreemen=.

What he'll say: Trump will tell more than 50 le=ders from the region: "Our vision is one of peace, security and prosperity=in this region, and in the world. Our goal is a coalition of nations who s=are the aim of stamping out extremism, and providing our children a hopefu= future that does honor God."

Another newsy passage from Trump's speech, via WashPost's Ashley P=rker: "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects =r different civilizations. ... This is a battle between barbaric criminals=who seek to obliterate human life and decent people of all regions who see= to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil."

T=e backdrop: The speech at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center fo=lows a busy first day of Trump's maiden international trip, with announcem=nts that aides called proof the administration is capable of results, desp=te the Russia frenzy back home. Deliverables include what Sean Spicer called the largest single =rms deal in U.S. history — a sale of military equipment totaling $=10 billion.

Also today, Trump will sign a mem=randum of cooperation with Gulf Cooperation Council countries to set up a =ask force to aid prosecutions by tracking funding that fuels terrorism.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia is expected to say at=the summit: "I speak on behalf of all my brothers, the leaders ... gathere= here today, in saying that we will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who s=pports or finances terrorism, in any shape or form, and will apply justice=to its fullest."

Later, Trump will attend the ina=guration of a Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology.

Link to share.

2. Sunday-show lookahead

National Security=Adviser H.R. McMaster, telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos, i= an interview from Saudi Arabia for "This Week," that Trump will send a me=sage of hope and tolerance in his speech today:

"[T]his isn't America just on transmit h=re in the Middle East. ... These enemies of all civilization, what they wa=t to do is to cloak their criminal behavior under this false idea of some =ind of a religious war. And what I think the president will point out is .=. the vast majority of victims from these people are Muslims." (<=m>Video)

AP/Seoul North Korea today fired a midrange ballistic missile that flew =astward 310 miles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang, according to S=uth Korea's military. The White House says the system has shorter range th=n missiles in North Korea's three recent tests.

3. 🇸🇦 The trip in 6 sentences

During remarks to reporters about his meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown =rince Muhammad bin Nayef, Trump turns to shake hands with SecState Rex Til=erson at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh / Reuters' Jonathan Ernst

Will always be a dance ... "As Trump prepared =or Riyadh visit, Saudis blocked U.S. on terrorist sanctions," by WashP=st's Joby Warrick: "The plan to add the Islamic State's Saudi affiliate to=a U.N. list of terrorist groups was quietly killed two weeks ago in a bure=ucratic maneuver at the U.N. Security Council."

"Corporate A-Listers Descend on Riyadh for Trump's CEO Summit," by Bloomberg's Anthony Cap=ccio and Kevin Cirilli: "Defense contractors were the big winners, but ...=Trump's first day in Saudi Arabia yielded a slew of high-profile investmen= deals that showcased the administration's ability to draw support from ma=or corporations."

=strong>"To Saudis, ... Trump has become 'Abu [f=ther of] Ivanka,'" by L.A. Times' Molly Hennessy-Fiske: "Saudi Ar=bia's fascination with Ivanka Trump highlights how far women have advanced=in the kingdom, and how much further they have to go."

NYT's Peter Baker and Mike Shear:
WSJ's Carol Lee: "Saudi Arabia, U.=.E. Pledge $100 Million to World Bank's Women Entrepreneurs Fund: Donation=to be announced at event with Ivanka Trump, an advocate for businesswomen =ho proposed the fund." (White House notes it's not her fund —<=em> she's championing the issue and gave them the idea.)
AP: Trump said=this morning "he would accept an invitation made by Egyptian President Abd=l Fattah el-Sissi to visit Egypt. ... Trump was also overheard com=limenting el-Sissi's shoes."

A message from BP

How is BP contributing to America?

BP invests more in the U.S. than anywhere else, and over the past 10 yea=s no energy company has invested more in America.

=earn more about our U.S. impact.

4. Article of the day

Gripping read — treat yourself to the whole =hing ... Two-column lead of the N.Y. Times, "Killing C.I.A. Informa=ts, China Stifled U.S. Spying: One of the Worst Breaches in Decades =E2�� Investigators Clash Over the Cause," by Mark Mazzetti, Adam Goldm=n, Michael Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo:

Starting in 2010,=/strong> "the Chinese killed or imprisoned 18 to 20 of the C.I.A.'s source= in China, ... effectively unraveling a network that ha= taken years to build."

"[O]fficials described th= intelligence breach as one of the worst in decades."

"[I]=nvestigators were bitterly divided over the cause. Some were conv=nced that a mole within the C.I.A. had betrayed the United States. Others =elieved that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the C.I.A. used to c=mmunicate with its foreign sources. Years later, that debate remains unres=lved."

"From the final weeks of 2010 through the =nd of 2012, ... the Chinese killed at least a dozen of the C.I.A.'s source=. ... [O]ne was shot in front of his colleagues in the courtyard of a gove=nment building — a message to others who might have been working f=r the C.I.A."

5. Tweet du jour

@CostaReports<=p>

6. Bite of the day

Ev Williams, a Twitter co-founder who's now CEO of Medi=m, to the N.Y. Times' David Streitfeld, re Trump sa=ing Twitter helped elect him:

"=t's a very bad thing, Twitter's role in that ... If it's true tha= he wouldn't be president if it weren't for Twitter, then yeah, I'm sorry.=

=img width="32" height="32" style="border: none" target="_blank" sr=="https://static.axios.com/img-email/twitter-circle.png" alt="Tweet th=s Story">

7. "Masters of their mediums"

"The Communicators: Kennedy on television, Trump on Twitter=" is the WashPost Magazine cover story — by Steve Levingston, Wash=ost nonfiction editor, and author of "Kennedy and King: The President, =he Pastor, and the Battle over Civil Rights," out June 6:

Kennedy had a gift for casual humor= which he called upon sometimes to evade an inquiry or ease a tense moment= ... During the 1960s, crowd sizes at political events were as important =E2�� and debatable — as they are today. After one of his campa=gn rallies, the Kennedy team announced that some 35,000 people had come ou= to see the candidate, a figure far above what reporters on hand had estim=ted.

When challenged,<=strong> Kennedy chose humor as a way to minimize the discrepancy. Ben Brad=ee, who was then Newsweek's Washington bureau chief and later The Washingt=n Post's executive editor, recounted the story in his book "Conversations With Kennedy."

In his telling, Kennedy explained to report=rs that crowd-counting fell to his press secretary Pierre Salinger, who wa= known by his nickname Plucky. "Plucky counts the nuns," Kennedy told repo=ters, "and then multiplies by 100." And with that, reporters — amu=ed and grateful for the attention — dropped their bone about the c=owd count and turned to other issues.

8. 1 fun thing

NBC

"Saturday Night Live" Season 42 finale, recap=ed by N.Y. Times Dave Itzkoff:

Was it also a retirement party for Alec Baldwin's imperso=ation of President Trump? ("Look, I'd love to keep doing this per my avail=bility," Mr. Baldwin told T=e Hollywood Reporter this week, "but I have other things I'm going to =o, so I guess we'll figure it out.") ...

[T]he cold open ... seemed to wonder what woul= be left of a Trump administration for Mr. Baldwin to come back to in the =all. The show started with an homage to = previous sketch that opened [the show] on Nov. 12, ... in which ... K=te McKinnon donned the guise of ... Hillary Clinton, sat at a piano and p=ayed the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah."

See the video, "Hallelujah Cold Open."

A message from BP

How is BP contributing to America?

BP invests more in the U.S. than anywhere else, and over the past 10 yea=s no energy company has invested more in America.

=earn more about our U.S. impact.

Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 200, Arlington VA 22201

You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios.
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.=/a>

Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.

Follow Axios=on social media:

=                     &nb=p;