President Donald Trump leaves for Europe Wednesday morning ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg Friday and Saturday. But instead of starting off with meetings with the leaders of traditional allies of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, the president will first travel to our NATO ally Poland.
Trump’s visit has been embraced by the ruling Law and Justice party, Poland’s conservative populist party whose leaders have promised the American president the chance to deliver a public speech in Warsaw Thursday. The speech, still being finalized, is being written by top speechwriter Stephen Miller and two additional writers on Miller’s team. One source tells me Tony Dolan, the former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, is advising the White House on both the trip and the speech.
I’m told Trump’s address in Warsaw will be an “uplifting speech” that will focus on Poland’s history of perseverance and its national identity. There will be a contrast, with some degree of subtlety, between the Polish example and what Trump perceives as a globalist outlook embraced by leaders in Western Europe.
After conducting official meetings with the leaders of Poland and Croatia in Warsaw Thursday, Trump will travel to Hamburg, where he will have a bilateral meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel.
On Friday, Trump will also hold a much anticipated bilateral meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first personal meeting between the two leaders. Across Friday and Saturday at the G20, Trump will also have bilateral meetings with the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Among those from the administration joining President Trump on his European trip are Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, and direction of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn.
No White House Statement, but U.S. Government Responds to North Korea
As they have in past launches and attempts, the Trump White House will not release an official public statement on the latest missile launch from the North Korean regime, which occurred early Tuesday morning and traveled nearly 600 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan. The Pentagon has confirmed the projectile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, indicating the Kim regime in Pyongyang continues to advance its weapons program toward a goal of a long-range nuclear capability.
On Twitter, Trump himself said: “North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea….. ….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!”
President Trump spoke individually with both Chinese president Xi Jinping and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Monday evening, hours before North Korea’s launch, but I’m told the president has not spoken with either leader in the region, nor with South Korean president Moon Jae-in, since. He will meet with all three leaders at the G20 this week.
Military personnel from the United States and South Korea conducted a joint missile drill in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday in response to the North Korean action.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released a statement on Tuesday saying the United States “strongly condemns” the launch.
“Global action is required to stop a global threat,” said Tillerson. “Any country that hosts North Korean guest workers, provides any economic or military benefits, or fails to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime. All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons.” Tillerson also said the United States will “never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.”
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has requested convening an emergency session of the Security Council over North Korea’s action.
White House Support for Charlie Gard
President Trump on Monday tweeted his support for Charlie Gard, the brain-damaged infant whom a European court ruled should be removed from life support against his parents’ wishes.
If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2017
Gard suffers from an extremely rare hereditary condition known as “MDDS,” which causes severe brain and muscle damage; he cannot hear, see, move, or breathe unaided. MDDS has no established cure, and is regarded terminal. But his parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, raised over $1.6 million to take their son to the United States for an experimental treatment called nucleoside.
The president’s tweet came one day after Pope Francis gave a statement which said he was “praying for them, in the hope that their desire to accompany and care for their own child until the end will be respected.”
On Twitter, Gard and Yates thanked Trump for his support.
The White House said on Monday that members of the administration had spoken to the baby’s family to see whether they could offer any assistance.
“Although the president himself has not spoken to the family, he does not want to pressure them in any way, members of the administration have spoken to the family in calls facilitated by the British government,” White House director of media affairs Helen Aguirre Ferré said. “The president is just trying to be helpful if at all possible.”
