CNN’s Abby Phillip Irked as Ex-Trump Ambassador Calls Saudi Nuke Deal Flip-Flop ‘Art of the Deal’

CNN’s Abby Phillip questioned whether President Donald Trump “has a vision” for America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia in the wake of criticism for Trump’s nuclear deal with the Middle Eastern nation — and scoffed when one of her NewsNight guests suggested the controversy was “the art of the deal.”

The Trump administration’s agreement to provide Saudi Arabia with a civilian nuclear program would last 30 years and cost billions, according to reports.

After massive criticism, Trump appeared to backtrack and claimed Saudi Arabia would have to join the Abraham Accords, an initiative from the president’s first term to normalize relations between Israel and several Middle Eastern neighbors.

When Carla Sands, chair of the Foreign Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute and a former Trump ambassador, tried to defend the president’s flip-flopping, Phillip reacted:

ABBY PHILLIP: My more fundamental question about this is less whether or not actually, you know, Saudis normalizing relations with Israel is a good thing or a bad thing. It’s whether Trump even knows ultimately what he actually wants.

Because based on the reporting, he only backtracked on that part of it because, you know, talkers on Fox and columnists at the Wall Street journal were complaining about it.

So does he himself have a vision for what he wants this relationship to look like, or is he just reacting?

CARLA SANDS: No, I think he has a distinct vision. It’s clear he works with his team. And I think that there are events that have overtaken some of the plans. We can see it’s, you know, Iran. This is a lot harder, I think.

PHILLIP: So why announce a deal yesterday and then change it the next day?

SANDS: You’re talking about the Saudis?

PHILLIP: Yes. That’s what I’m talking about.

SANDS: This is the art of the deal.

PHILLIP: No. What is the art of the deal?

SANDS: In the Middle East? You announce-

PHILLIP: What is the art of the deal here? You announce a deal then you renege on it? In 24 hours?

SANDS: In the Middle East after you signed the deal, the negotiations start. So he’s just preempting that. Oh, it is absolutely true. That is how things work. It is very different than here in the United States when you’re dealing with the deal.

PHILLIP: I think that’s an oversimplification by a long shot. You know, when we say that we’ve signed a deal to allow nuclear development in another country, and that deal is signed, and there’s a press conference and that whole thing, that’s, that’s not the start of negotiations. We’ve already put out the terms.

SANDS: The idea is that they’re going to cooperate with us on nuclear on, so they have nuclear power in Saudi-

PHILLIP: Are we going to tell them that? Or was Trump just going to announce it on Truth Social?

SANDS: The deal is the deal. But how how is it looking? They’re going to put it together. So it’s the framework is done. But now that they’re going to work out the details and deals will sometimes change with the changing facts on the ground.

PHILLIP: I mean, look, I think that this is like Trump world upside down land.

SANDS:It’s not that simple.

PHILLIP: That’s not how deals are done by presidents period. It’s really not.

Watch above via CNN.

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