Trump holds hands with Melania on return to the US

Trump holds hands with Melania on return to the US



President Donald Trump returned home to the White House on Saturday after branding his first international tour through the Middle East and Europe a 'home run'.

Trump, wearing a navy suit with a red tie, descended from Air Force One with First Lady Melania Trump, who paired a mint green cardigan with cropped white trousers.

To the White House, Trump's first trip abroad was an embodiment of the promises he made as a candidate to put America's interests first and break through the guardrails that have long defined U.S. foreign policy.

But Trump is returning to simmering investigations into his associates' ties to Russia, which have reached his inner circle after son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner was named a person of interest in an FBI probe.



Kushner spoke with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and proposed a secret back channel between the Kremlin and Trump's transition team during a December meeting, according to a bombshell report in the Washington Post.

Gary Cohen, Trump economic aide, said during a press conference in Italy: 'We're not going to comment on Jared'.

Upon Trump's return however, the White House is now trying to contain the scandal by expanding the president's legal team while testing new communications strategies that would advance the administration's agenda while limiting opportunities to be confronted about damaging stories, according to the New York Times.



As he dashed through the Middle East and Europe, Donald Trump looked like a conventional American leader abroad.

He solemnly laid a wreath at a Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, had an audience with the pope at the Vatican and stood center stage with Western allies at the annual summits that dominate the diplomatic calendar.

But when Trump spoke, he sounded like anything but a typical U.S. president.

On his first overseas tour, the new president made no attempt to publicly promote democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia, instead declaring that he wasn't there to lecture.

In Israel and the West Bank, he pointedly did not back America's long-standing support for a two-state solution to the intractable peace process.

And in the heart of Europe, Trump berated NATO allies over their financial commitments and would not explicitly endorse the 'one for all, all for one' defense doctrine that has been the cornerstone of trans-Atlantic security for decades.

Trump boarded Air Force One on Saturday without having held a single news conference on the trip - a break in presidential precedent that allowed him to avoid tough questions.

Instead, the White House hoped to let the images of Trump in statesman-like settings tell the story of his first trip abroad, and perhaps ease questions about his preparedness for the delicate world of international diplomacy.



At his final stop in Italy, Trump addressed an appreciative military crowd at the Naval Air Station Sigonella as they hooted and hollered at his pledges to eradicate terrorism and reassert America's global muscle.

Saturday's speech was equal parts victory lap and campaign bluster.

'The single greatest strength of our armed forces is you,' he said, pointing outward. 'You. All of you. The dedicated, really tough and really disciplined servicemen and women who bravely fight in our name.'

'You not only know the pain of sacrifice, but you also know the tremendous rewards of military service, of being part of something much larger than even yourselves. You know what it means to be part of a military team in which men and women are bound together in a sacred covenant of trust to serve together, to sacrifice together and to fight together.'

'And, by the way, to win together,' the president added, returning to another campaign buzzword.

Trump also boasted of his budget proposal's massive $54 billion enlargement of the Pentagon's spending power, calling it 'an historic investment in defense spending.



But Trump's return home Saturday night shifts attention back to the storm clouds of scandal hovering over the White House.

In a briefing with reporters Saturday, White House officials shifted uncomfortably and refused to comment when asked about reports that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, tried to set up secret communications with Russia after the election.

Kushner spoke with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about creating a back-channel to facilitate sensitive discussions aimed at exploring the incoming administration's options with Russia as it was developing its Syria policy, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke with The Associated Press.

The intent was to connect Michael Flynn, Trump's chief national security adviser at the time, with Russian military leaders, according to the AP source.

Russia, a pivotal player in Syria, has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, often at the expense of civilians during a long civil war.