Much speculation on AM Joy this morning about how the Trump circus will play overseas. Malcolm Nance is looking on the bright side.
"What we're seeing is the United States being seen by the rest of the world as the clown show," he said.
"I think, on the other hand, the reason it's less dangerous than six weeks ago is because they also see the brilliant checks and balances put into place, coming into motion, and feel the president will be given guardrails he's never had before."
Nayyera Haq, former State Department spokesperson during the Obama administration, was less optimistic.
"As somebody who has spoken from the State Department, you have Jim Comey, his testimony imminent." she said. "We found out he will testify before the public hearings. He declined an invitation to do so before the Judiciary Committee in private."
Reid agreed, and ticked off the potential pitfalls.
"Your european allies know that, Nayyera. on the plane with Donald Trump are some of the people who helped build this circus atmosphere, the Steve Bannons of the world. Jared Kushner, who is the president's son-in-law, who has his own issue whether he filed his foreign paperwork for basically being an agent of foreign clients. Stephen Miller, who had a lot to do with Muslim ban," Reid said.
She asked Haq how she'd deal with that.
"It's very challenging, particularly for the first trip. The first trip is for an easy ally country where the security on your side, security on their side had a history of coordinating with each other and you have the ability to make things work," she said.
"You don't try to throw yourself several logistical hurdles, like trying to visit the Old City in Jerusalem. Historically and for thousands of years very contentious. there's security challenges through the trip, political challenges going from Saudi, to israel. all places where words matter," she said.
She emphasized that every word you say "has thousands of years of history, implication behind it."
"Now we have a president who doesn't view a teleprompter or reading from the script as a priority. there's challenges logistically. The circus you mentioned, there is a lot of people from the West Wing going on this trip.
"What that indicates to folks who have done this before, when you have people on the plane communicating back to D.C., communicating to the team on the ground. There's not a lot of trust if they feel like they need to be around the principle at all times."
