With his first trip abroad as president behind him, when President Trump Donald John TrumpRobert De Niro, Ben Stiller play Mueller and Cohen in 'SNL' parody of 'Meet the Parents' Trump order targets wide swath of public assistance programs Comey says Trump reacted to news of Russian meddling by asking if it changed election results MORE lands in Washington overnight Saturday he arrives to a slew of controversies besieging his administration. It may be a rude awakening after what Trump called a "home run" of a trip. 
  
 The White House has remained largely quiet on controversies swirling at home and will likely seek to emphasize the president's traveling successes in coming days. Trump and his aides hope to take a victory lap over his first overseas trip — a sweeping nine-day excursion through five different countries across the Middle East and Europe. 
  
 In Saudi Arabia, the president's first stop abroad, Trump secured a massive arms sale, worth about $110 billion. 
  
 ADVERTISEMENT 
  
 In Jerusalem, he shored up the United States' relationship with Israel and reaffirmed his commitment to Middle East peacemaking. 
  
 And in Brussels, Trump ratcheted up his call for NATO members to bolster their defense spending in order to meet their treaty obligations. 
  
 Here are five takeaways from the president's tumultuous trip. 
  
 Trump took a softer tone on Islam 
  
 Trump moved away from his once-strident rhetoric on Islam during an address in Riyadh to leaders across the Muslim world last Sunday, calling instead for unity in the fight against Islamist extremism. 
  
 "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," Trump said. "This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life and decent people, all in the name of religion, people that want to protect life and want to protect their religion. This is a battle between good and evil." 
  
 Not once in his speech did Trump revert to his once-frequent use of the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe the extremist groups and militants he has vowed to combat. 
  
 But he also called on Muslim leaders to "drive out the terrorists and extremists" from their societies, and urged them to do more to combat extremist ideologies in the Muslim world. 
  
 He reaffirmed support for Israel and pressed for Middle East peace 
  
 The president arrived in Israel amid revelations that he had divulged highly classified intelligence provided by the key ally to Russian officials. But Trump quickly managed to ease the controversy and reaffirm U.S. support for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raved on Twitter about Trump's "taking such a strong stand for Israel and the Jewish people." 
  
 Trump paid a solemn visit to the Western Wall in East Jerusalem, where he stayed for a moment of silence before placing a note between the wall's stones. It was the first trip to the wall by a sitting president, though other presidents have visited the holy site either before or after leaving the White House. 
  
 But he also expressed the hope of making peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and never declared his intention to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a move that would be certain to anger Palestinians, please Israel and complicate peacemaking. 
  
 "I’ve heard it’s one of the toughest deals in the world,” he said, referring to Middle East peacemaking. "But I’m sure we’re going to get there eventually." 
  
 Trump berated NATO over defense spending 
  
 Trump's "America first" approach to foreign policy was on full display in Brussels when the president addressed a gathering of fellow NATO members at the organization's headquarters in Belgium. 
  
 At the heart of his speech was his assertion that the U.S. is shouldering an unfair burden of NATO's defense costs, and that member countries must spend at least two percent of their GDP on defense, a target that all members agreed on in 2014. Currently, only five NATO countries meet that spending target. 
  
 "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States," he said, speaking directly to the world leaders during a ceremony in Brussels. "And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years." 
  
 The complaint that other countries aren't doing enough to provide for their own defense is one that Trump frequently touted on the campaign trail. 
  
 But after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last month, Trump pivoted on his claim that the treaty organization is "obsolete," leading some to question whether the president would take an approach to NATO more typical of past presidents. 
  
 Nevertheless, in his address to NATO leaders, Trump refused to reaffirm U.S. support for the organization's principle of mutual defense, and failed to address growing European concern over Russia's intentions in the region. 
  
 He declined to pledge support for the Paris climate agreement 
  
 Trump refused to join Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Saturday in taking a pledge to support the Paris climate deal, leaving it unclear as to whether the U.S. will remain part of the agreement. 
  
 If the U.S. withdraws, as Trump has floated in the past, it would be the first to do so among the 195 countries that have agreed to the deal. Trump's decision not to take the pledge further highlighted a stark division between the U.S. and its allies on the issue of climate change. 
  
 But as a presidential candidate, Trump campaigned on bolstering American fossil fuels, particularly the coal industry. 
  
 Still, the president's aides left open the possibility of Trump sticking to the climate agreement, saying that his views on the issue are "evolving" as he speaks to other leaders about it. 
  
 “I think his views are evolving,” National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn Gary Davivd CohnTop Trump security adviser Tom Bossert resigning BET co-founder credits Trump tax cut with bringing black workers back into labor force What happened to the ‘best and most serious people’? MORE said. “He came here to learn, he came here to get smarter and he came here to hear people’s views.” 
  
 Trump never held a press conference 
  
 Trump broke from tradition in never fielding reporters' questions in a news conference during the trip, which is unlike his predecessors. In the week leading up to his departure on the trip, the White House faced a series of controversies that began with the president's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey earlier in the month. 
  
 Those scandals continued to mount throughout his trip, and White House officials have remained largely silent on them, although aides took a few questions in media gaggles and conference calls. In a press conference on Saturday, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Cohn declined to answer questions about the growing controversy surrounding Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. 
  
 Cohn also insisted that Trump had simply been too busy on his trip to address members of the news media. 
  
 "The president, since he left [Washington] has been dealing with foreign leaders, he's been dealing with jobs, he's been dealing with economic growth, he's been dealing with diplomacy, he's been dealing with unfair trade, he's been dealing with Paris, he's been dealing with China," Cohn said. 
  
 "His agenda has been overflowing. He's been fully consumed with what's going on here." 
  
 Senior White House officials on Saturday continued to remain quiet in response to revelations that Kushner discussed with Russia's ambassador establishing a backchannel line of communication between the Trump transition team and Moscow. 
  
 Meanwhile, Trump has hired attorney Marc Kasowitz as an outside lawyer to help him navigate the sensitive legal ground surrounding ongoing federal investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin. 
  
 With daily press briefings expected to resume, the White House will likely face questions on those controversies among others within Trump's first days back in the U.S. ||||| In this May 26, 2017, photo, leaders of the G7, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump,... (Associated Press) 
  
 In this May 26, 2017, photo, leaders of the G7, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japan's Prime Minister... (Associated Press) 
  
 TAORMINA, Sicily (AP) — 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. 
  
 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. Trump advisers repeatedly described the trip as historic and groundbreaking, including one senior official who brashly said without evidence that Trump had "united the entire Muslim world." 
  
 Addressing U.S. troops Saturday at a Sicilian air base moments before departing for Washington, Trump himself declared: "I think we hit a home run." 
  
 Trump boarded Air Force One without having held a single news conference on the trip — a break in presidential precedent that allowed him to avoid facing tough questions about his foreign policy or the raging controversies involving the investigations into his campaign's possible ties to Russia. 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. 
  
 Yet those questions are sure to persist, particularly given Trump's remarkable lashing of NATO allies in Brussels. Standing alongside his counterparts, the president effectively accused countries who do not meet NATO's goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product of sponging off American taxpayers. He left some allies, already nervous about Russia's saber-rattling and Trump's public affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, further flummoxed when he ended his remarks without making an explicit statement of support for Article 5, the common defense clause that underpins the 68-year-old military alliance. 
  
 "The mood of Article 5, the idea that we are all in this together, is not the mood he conveyed," said Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The mood he conveyed is you guys are a bunch of freeloaders." 
  
 Some European leaders believe Trump can still be coaxed away from his controversial campaign positions. At the Group of 7 summit in the coastal town of Taormina, leaders launched an aggressive, behind-the-scenes campaign to get him to stay in the Paris climate accord. 
  
 While Trump emerged from the summit without a final decision on the Paris pact, he declared in a tweet Saturday that he will make a final decision next week. 
  
 Trump's return home Saturday night also 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. 
  
 Trump's nine-day, five-stop international tour resulted in few tangible policy achievements. The U.S. inked a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and unveiled numerous business commitments in the region, though the White House never provided specific details about the scope of the agreements. At NATO, the White House touted the alliance's commitment to boosting defense spending, though the resolution was essentially a continuation of a pact agreed to two years earlier. 
  
 Still, the trip offered the clearest picture to date of how Trump plans to put his imprint on America's relationship with the world. 
  
 From the start, he set a new direction. Instead of following presidential tradition by making his international debut in a neighboring democracy like Canada or Mexico, Trump flew to Saudi Arabia, the repressive desert kingdom. 
  
 He appeared particularly comfortable in the setting. In Riyadh, he received a lavish, gold-plated welcome: His image was projected across the facade of the luxury hotel where he stayed, horses flanked his motorcade as it moved to one of the king's desert palaces and an extravagant celebration was held in his honor, complete with a traditional Saudi sword dance. 
  
 Trump betrayed no awkwardness at relishing the warm embrace of one of the world's most oppressive governments. Instead, he reciprocated with a pledge to not publicly chastise the ruling royal family for its crackdown on political dissent. 
  
 "We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship," Trump said. 
  
 Trump was lavishly feted in Israel as well, embraced by a prime minister who despised his predecessor and was eager to flatter the new president. Trump received multiple standing ovations — one of his favorite measures of success — during a speech on U.S. relations with Israel. The photo of his solemn visit to the Western Wall was splashed across the front pages of Israel's newspapers. 
  
 Like many of his predecessors, Trump made a personal appeal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But he never uttered the words "two-state solution," the longtime U.S. policy plan that would create a separate homeland for Palestinians. He also made no mention of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a major point of contention for the Palestinians. 
  
 The smaller moments of the president's trip were endlessly dissected as well, from first lady Melania Trump's apparent reluctance to hold her husband's hand on occasion to his shoving aside of Montenegro's prime minister to get to the front of a pack of leaders at a NATO photo opportunity. At the G-7, it was Trump's interactions with other leaders that commanded attention. 
  
 The six other heads of state took a short walk from one event to the next, chatting convivially as they strolled through the narrow Sicilian streets. Trump hung back, deciding against joining his peers. 
  
 Instead, he got in a golf cart and the American president's mini-motorcade drove the route alone, Trump once more having charted his own course. 
  
 ___ 
  
 Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jonathan Lemire at http://twitter.com/jonlemire ||||| Little matters more to Donald Trump, the brander-turned-American president, than imagery. Trump staffed his government out of central casting, and this past week it was time for him to audition for his role: leader of the free world. 
  
 In Washington, Trump is mostly seen only when he chooses: at a lectern in the Rose Garden. Saluting as he boards Marine One. Behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office signing jumbo-size executive orders, pushing his red button to summon a butler with Diet Coke or flashing a thumbs-up from his high-backed cherry leather chair. 
  
 But a nine-day marathon foreign trip that concluded Saturday in Sicily has offered the first extended — and often unfiltered, thanks to the steady stream of raw camera footage provided by his host countries — look at Trump on the world stage. 
  
 Trump was charming and boorish. He was deferential to the ­berobed king of Saudi Arabia and Pope Francis, yet aggressively rude to his European colleagues, brushing aside a Balkan prime minister to get to his place lining up for a photo shoot at NATO. The French newspaper Le Monde admonished Trump for “verbal and physical brutality” toward NATO allies and said he “lectured them like children.” 
  
 [Trump chastises fellow NATO members, demands they meet payment obligations] 
  
 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Trump’s first trip overseas as president View Photos The U.S. president traveled to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Belgium and Sicily, Italy. Caption The U.S. president traveled to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Belgium and Sicily, Italy. May 27, 2017 German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks to President Donald Trump as Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi listens during an expanded session at the Group of Seven Summit in Taormina, Italy. Philippe Wojazer/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
  
 He strode around hulkingly. He nervously buttoned and unbuttoned his suit jacket. He sometimes seemed unsure whether to smile his toothy grin or glare, as he does when posing for portraits, so he alternated. At formal events, Trump did not always know where to go or what to do. 
  
 “What is the protocol?” he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they walked down a red carpet at an airport arrival ceremony in Tel Aviv. 
  
 “Who knows?” Netanyahu replied. “I think they’ll just tell us where to stand.” 
  
 Trump was visibly comfortable in environs that evoked his own, such as Saudi Arabia’s gilded-and-chandeliered palaces, yet appeared out of place in others. He arrived like a wrecking ball at the new NATO headquarters, a glass-and-steel behemoth that stands as a symbol of globalism and ­bureaucracy. 
  
 Trump’s family members took center stage. Daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, both White House advisers, stood behind or next to the president when he delivered his speech to Muslim leaders, prayed at the Western Wall, addressed Israeli-Palestinian peace and met the pope. They peeled off from the trip in Rome, midway through. 
  
 First lady Melania Trump was omnipresent, although largely silent and emotionless. She and her husband were rarely seen exchanging words, and he sometimes walked ahead of her, almost as if she were an ornament. 
  
 But the first lady came out of her shell at solo events, handing out Dr. Seuss books and coloring with children. She was especially moved by her visit to Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, where she read a book to and held hands with a boy who was awaiting a heart transplant. A few hours later, the first lady learned that the hospital had found a donor. “Receiving that news is a moment I will never forget,” she said. 
  
 (The Washington Post) 
  
 A Slovenian-born former model, Melania received considerable attention for her fashion. The Saudi media fawned over her attire in Riyadh as “conservative” and “classy,” although she raised eyebrows strolling the streets of Sicily in a colorful floral jacket by the Italian designer Dolce & Gabbana that reportedly retails for $51,500. 
  
 [Trump summons Muslim nations to confront ‘Islamic terror of all kinds’] 
  
 Although critics at home had predicted major gaffes, the president made none. And Trump participated in and contributed to substantive meetings on issues from counterterrorism and trade to climate change and migration. 
  
 “A president becomes presidential,” said Fred Davis, a Republican media strategist. “I’m hoping this trip brings him a level of personal peace, confidence and gravitas that he can use back home.” 
  
 In Saudi Arabia, Trump’s call for cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State unquestionably pushed the issue forward, with renewed emphasis on stopping terrorism financing and blocking militant messaging and recruitment. Beyond any substantive accomplishment, Trump revitalized Arab leaders, particularly in the Persian Gulf, who felt they had been disrespected and ignored by President Barack Obama. 
  
 “The United States shifted over the last eight years as a neutral player, at best, that looked the other way at Iranian aggression around the world,” said Ari ­Fleischer, a White House press secretary under former president George W. Bush. “We are now where we should be.” 
  
 In Israel and on the West Bank, Trump repeated his pledge to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in a peace deal, although no progress was made on starting that process. He delighted Netanyahu, and probably discouraged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, by not mentioning a two-state solution as a goal. 
  
 [Amid a chillier welcome in Europe, Trump keeps pining for Saudi Arabia] 
  
 In Europe, Trump’s badgering remarks on defense spending — during a NATO ceremony memorializing the joint alliance response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — left a bad taste. There was widespread disappointment at Trump’s failure to use the occasion to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the alliance’s joint defense pact, Article 5, although national security adviser H.R. McMaster said that “of course” Trump supports it. 
  
 Trump’s behavior, said Stefan Leifert of Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF, was “a slap in the face of all other alliance members.” 
  
 But there were also positive reactions. Germany’s Die Welt newspaper commentator Christoph B. Schiltz wrote that Trump’s “urging, his bugging and his persistence have left the alliance finally engaging more in the fight against international terrorism.” 
  
 The White House appeared to step on its own media applause lines by failing to provide timely fact sheets or copies of signed agreements Trump was touting in public as “historic” and “epic.” Media spokesmen sometimes were ill-equipped to provide basic information. And unlike virtually every president on similar journeys, Trump held no news ­conferences. 
  
 On the campaign trail, as Trump assessed Obama’s foreign policy, he fixated on an image from China that he thought symbolized America’s declining power: Obama disembarking Air Force One in Hangzhou, where he was attending a Group of 20 summit, on a metal ladder extending from the plane’s belly. 
  
 “They have pictures of other leaders who are . . . coming down with a beautiful red carpet. And Obama is coming down a metal staircase,” Trump said at a stop in Ohio. “If that were me I would say, ‘You know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let’s get out of here.’ ” 
  
 Trump did not have to make that call on this trip. At each stop there were better-than- satisfactory staircases from which he could descend. At the Riyadh airport, trumpets blared, soldiers stood at attention, fighter jets flew overhead and a spotless red carpet stretched across the tarmac. The aging King Salman, arriving in a golf cart and aided by a cane, warmly greeted the president at the foot of the staircase. 
  
 “It was very spectacular,” Trump later told European leaders, using his characteristic hyperbole to describe his welcome in Saudi Arabia. “I don’t think there was ever anything like that. That was beyond anything anyone’s seen.” 
  
 [What scandal? In Saudi leg of foreign tour, Trump escapes ‘that Russia thing.’] 
  
 On his arrival in Tel Aviv, another band, another red carpet and another head of state stood waiting. Even in Rome and Brussels, which are hardly Trump-friendly locales, the president received a grand welcome. 
  
 Trump often found himself the center of attention, both because of America’s place in the world and his singular standing as an international curiosity. But he seemed most at ease playing the undisputed leading man, such as in Riyadh, where the Saudi royal family treated him as one of their own, or in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu lifted him up at every opportunity. 
  
 “It is disturbing to see how impressionable he is,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a former communications adviser to Obama and Hillary Clinton. “His standard for whether or not a visit went well is how well he was treated. It is unnerving to see the leaders of other countries attempt to outdo each other in appealing to his ego as a means of bending the United States to their will.” 
  
 Trump’s confidence was less apparent at the Vatican, where he played the supplicant to the pope, sitting across a wooden desk as if he were interviewing for a job. 
  
 As the trip went on, Trump seemed to be having less of a good time, perhaps in part because scandals were brewing in Washington that would await him. 
  
 [Pope welcomes Trump to the Vatican despite past disagreements] 
  
 In Brussels, where he attended events celebrating NATO, Trump looked downright bored. As the king of Belgium and other leaders took turns at the lectern, Trump got fidgety, shifting in his seat, looking up to the sky and down to his feet, and crossing his arms over his chest. 
  
 The president — who aides say has little patience for listening to other people speak — then endured a dinner session in which the leaders of all 28 NATO partners gave remarks. 
  
 And here in picturesque Taormina, at the Group of Seven summit on the rocky Sicilian coast, Trump struggled to look interested during long meetings with allies in a room decorated with the flags of other countries. As the other G-7 leaders strolled the streets of this ancient fortress town, Trump followed along in a golf cart. 
  
 A weight seemed to lift from Trump’s shoulders when he touched down by helicopter at the U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Sicilian island, for a pep rally with military families before flying home to Washington. 
  
 The need for diplomatic niceties was over. The music playing was his campaign soundtrack. The American flag hanging behind him was several stories tall. Trump could be Trump. 
  
 The president riffed about winning — “you’re going to do a lot of winning!” — and, evoking President Ronald Reagan, said his trip would pave the way for “peace through strength.” 
  
 “That’s what we’re gonna have,” Trump said. “We’re gonna have a lot of strength and we’re gonna have a lot of peace.” 
  
 Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin; Stefano Pitrelli in Giardini Naxos, Italy, and Michael Birnbaum in London contributed to this report. ||||| Taormina, Italy (CNN) Swinging over the green Ionian sea Saturday, his first foreign trip behind him, President Donald Trump was in a valedictory mood . 
  
 Behind him, perched on the hillside, was the former Dominican monastery where G7 leaders had just finishing haranguing him to abandon his campaign promises to withdraw from a major climate agreement. He didn't give in. 
  
 Ahead was a crowd of US troops stationed on this rocky Italian outpost, eager to hear their commander in chief reprise the foreign agenda he'd spend the last nine days considering. 
  
 After nine days of talks with calculating foreign leaders, Trump was eager for the affirmation of an applauding audience. 
  
 "We have been gone for a long time," Trump declared at the Sigonella Air Base here. "Everywhere I go -- we have been gone close to nine days, this will be nine days -- I think we hit a home run no matter where we are." 
  
 It was an upbeat message for a leader fresh from meeting with his new club of foreign counterparts for the first time. But underneath the point-by-point recap of his trip lay uncertainty over his agenda and disputes with his foreign counterparts. 
  
 Trump's first voyage abroad was a story told in chapters, each successively less pleasant for a President still taking stock of his standing on the world stage. 
  
 Beyond a scattering of formal remarks, none of the story was told by Trump himself, who refused to hold a news conference and, by his advisers' own admission, revealed little of his thinking to top aides as he hopped from nation to nation. 
  
 Instead, it was a trip told in pictures with the volume on mute . By the time he departed Sicily, Trump had delivered four major addresses but clarified none of the questions that surround his foreign policy. 
  
 In some ways, uncertainty amounted to a win, at least in the minds of Trump's aides. As Trump prepared to depart Washington last Friday, there was little surety among his staff that the nine-day odyssey could proceed without failure. Trump himself, who hadn't slept in a bed that wasn't his own since taking office, remained skeptical a five-country itinerary could end well. 
  
 A homebody with little appetite for discomfort, Trump was imagining the worst. Unpleasant foreign food, withering jet lag, and an unfamiliar bed had been his experiences as a businessman abroad. Even in the days leading up to his departure, Trump asked whether the trip could be truncated. He vented about the ambitious schedule to his senior advisers in the days leading up to his departure. 
  
 But by then it was too late. With meetings locked in and the world anticipating his global debut, Trump settled into his quarters on Air Force One for a flight four times longer than any he'd taken as President. 
  
 JUST WATCHED President Trump receives Saudi gold medal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump receives Saudi gold medal 01:43 
  
 A king's welcome 
  
 Fourteen hours later, Trump was tucked into the back of his armored limousine, speeding into central Riyadh alongside King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and watching billboards plastered with both their faces whiz past. 
  
 Any concern about an uneasy touch-down abroad disappeared quickly. Welcomed with horse parades, draped with a gold medal and lured into a male-only sword dance , Trump had finally found a country to treat him like a king, if only for a weekend. 
  
 For the first time in his presidency, he was regularly accompanied by the first lady, who consulted with the US State Department before packing her wardrobe and emerged as the unlikely subplot of Trump's debut on the world stage. 
  
 Trump's aides selected the Middle Eastern kingdom as the first stop, partially because the lavish lifestyle lived by its monarchy was bound to be extended to the President. Launching the President's trip from Saudi Arabia also underscored its critical importance in the eyes of the White House, particularly for son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who hailed the business deals reached on the trip. 
  
 Yet an air of naïveté hung in the air after the President's speech to leaders of more than 50 Muslim majority nations. The White House described it as something of a fait accompli, with a top official twice declaring that the President had "united the Muslim world." 
  
 In truth, Trump had done nothing of the sort, even with his well-received Riyadh address. Trump's policy adviser Stephen Miller -- whose role writing the speech raised eyebrows -- had drafted a conciliatory address that replaced Trump's "radical Islamic terror" watchword with the milder "Islamist extremism." 
  
 As Trump delivered his opening argument to a room packed with leaders of Muslim nations, however, the newly sedate language didn't entirely come through. 
  
 "There is still much work to be done," Trump said. "That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamists and Islamic terror of all kinds." 
  
 The slip-up occurred because the President was exhausted , his advisers later explained, only two days into what would become a nine-day slog through meetings and ceremonies. 
  
 JUST WATCHED Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers 02:39 
  
 Terror intrudes 
  
 Awaking in Jerusalem two days later to news of a suicide attack in England , Trump found himself confronting at close range the thematic underpinnings of his trip. 
  
 Huddling with aides in his suite at the storied King David hotel overlooking the old city, the message on extremism he'd delivered in Saudi Arabia -- which came with few details -- suddenly appeared more difficult. In Israel, a country intimately familiar with the scourge of terror and the entrenched politics of peace, the problem appeared even more insurmountable. 
  
 Trump was unsatisfied with the language his advisers had prepared for a speech later that morning. The condemnation of the attack lacked verve, Trump believed. Describing the attackers in ordinary terms wouldn't suffice. Instead he wrote up his own description, using the insult he's long considered the most cutting. 
  
 "I will call them from now on losers because that's what's they are. They're losers," Trump said a few hours later standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We'll have more of them. But they're losers -- just remember that." 
  
 The message was well received. But hours later, it was clear Trump faced a steep climb before bridging the gaps that have long stymied American presidents' attempts at fostering stability in the Middle East. 
  
 "I hope this heralds a real change," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of Trump's remarks at the Israel Museum. "Because if the attacker had been Palestinian and the victims had been Israeli children, the suicide bomber's family would have received a stipend from the Palestinian Authority. That's Palestinian law. That law must be changed." 
  
 It was an intrusion of real-world obstacles into Trump's vision for peace, which he once deemed easy, but which this week he declared the hardest deal of all. 
  
 JUST WATCHED President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts 01:20 
  
 Climate controversy 
  
 When the President arrived at the Vatican on a sun-splashed morning on Wednesday, Pope Francis didn't lecture Trump. He gently encouraged him to do something else: Read. 
  
 The Pope presented Trump with a bound copy of his encyclical on protecting the environment, "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home." 
  
 For all the underlying tensions setting the stage for their first visit, given their unusually harsh exchange last year over immigration and whether the building of walls is a Christian thing to do, the Pope took another tack. 
  
 A skilled politician in his own right, Francis honed in on the President's pending decision whether to pull the US from the Paris climate accord. It was the first of several conversations Trump conducted this week on the landmark carbon reduction agreement, which he vowed as a candidate to scrap. 
  
 Departing the G7, Trump said he would make a decision next week. But to leaders he met with in Sicily, his intentions already seemed clear. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the group held unsatisfactory conversations on the matter . The US refrained from signing onto a joint statement endorsing Paris after the summit closed; other leaders said Trump wasn't prepared to take that step. 
  
 At the Vatican, though, Trump insisted his mind was open. 
  
 "I'll be reading them," Trump said of the essays from the Pope on the environment and creating peace. 
  
 Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, weighed in with the direct message urging Trump and his team to stay true to the Paris agreement. 
  
 The President's first meeting with Francis was steeped in symbolism, the final stop in visiting the three homes of the Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. 
  
 He's the second American president to visit the Vatican under Francis' papacy. While President Barack Obama's meeting was 20 minutes longer than Trump's, the Holy See wasted little time comparing the two. 
  
 As he left the Apostolic Palace, Trump told the Pope: "I won't forget what you said." 
  
 If he meant climate change, the Pope will have won round one. 
  
 JUST WATCHED Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up 02:04 
  
 Selective lecturing 
  
 Flying north from Rome, Trump found the temperature quickly cooling. He arrived at NATO's headquarters on the outskirts of Rome under a cloud of suspicion on multiple fronts. 
  
 After sensitive British intelligence about the Manchester attack appeared in American media outlets, Prime Minister Theresa May fumed , saying she planned to speak her mind when she met Trump at the meetings. It was the second time a foreign government expressed concern about sharing intelligence with their US counterparts: Trump himself revealed secret information to Russian officials earlier this month that could be traced back to Israel. 
  
 In one of the only off-script moments of his trip, Trump declared in Jerusalem that he hadn't mentioned Israel by name with his Russian visitors. But at NATO, the concerns still boiled. 
  
 It was just one of the rifts between Trump and his European counterparts. After open-arm welcomes in Riyadh and Jerusalem, Trump's foreign swing took a distinct tonal shift. Instead of banquets and horses, Trump was suddenly flung into tension-filled meetings with leaders deeply skeptical of his foreign agenda. 
  
 Subsequent sessions proceeded similarly. Trump reportedly griped about the hurdles in opening golf courses in Europe with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. European Council President Donald Tusk said after his meeting with Trump that they weren't able to bridge differences over Russia. 
  
 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One on Saturday, May, 27, 2017, at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. They were headed back to the United States after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe. Hide Caption 1 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump greets people on May 27, after speaking to US troops at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide Caption 2 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump addresses US troops and their families on May 27, at the Sigonella Naval Air Station. Hide Caption 3 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive on May 27, to address US military personnel and families at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide Caption 4 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Leaders of the G-7 and some African nations pose for a photo on May 27, on the second day of the G-7 summit in Taormina, Italy. Hide Caption 5 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump gestures on May 27, during a G-7 session. Hide Caption 6 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for a concert of the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra while in Taormina, Italy, on Friday, May 26. The Trumps are in Italy for a two-day G-7 summit. Hide Caption 7 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and other leaders pose for a group photo at the G-7 summit on May 26. From left are European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Hide Caption 8 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and Trudeau walk together after the group photo. Hide Caption 9 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip G-7 leaders congregate during a walking tour on May 26. Hide Caption 10 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump embraces new French President Emmanuel Macron on May 26. Hide Caption 11 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The leaders watch a French air squadron. Hide Caption 12 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump arrives at the City Hall in Catania, Italy, on May 26. She was wearing a $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket as she met with other spouses of G-7 leaders. Hide Caption 13 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump shakes hands with Macron in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, May 25. They were attending a NATO summit as the alliance officially opened a new $1 billion headquarters. Hide Caption 14 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands with other world leaders during a NATO photo shoot on May 25. Hide Caption 15 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with British Prime Minister Theresa May during a working dinner at NATO headquarters. Hide Caption 16 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the NATO summit. Hide Caption 17 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump visits the Magritte Museum in Brussels with Amelie Derbaudrenghien, partner of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Hide Caption 18 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip A girl takes a selfie with Melania Trump at a children's hospital in Brussels on May 25. Hide Caption 19 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with Macron in Brussels. Hide Caption 20 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump walks with European Council President Donald Tusk, center, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, after they met at the European Council in Brussels on May 25. Hide Caption 21 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump, third from right, attends a meeting with leaders at the European Council. Hide Caption 22 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with King Philippe of Belgium as Queen Mathilde and Melania Trump chat during a reception at the Royal Palace in Brussels on Wednesday, May 24. Hide Caption 23 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Tusk talks to Trump as he welcomes him in Brussels. Hide Caption 24 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel while the national anthem is played during Trump's arrival in Belgium on May 24. Hide Caption 25 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Protesters in Brussels demonstrate with effigies of Trump and Michel on May 24. Hide Caption 26 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome on May 24. Hide Caption 27 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Pope Francis stands with Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican on May 24. Joining the President, from left, are Trump's son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner; Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump; and first lady Melania Trump. Hide Caption 28 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and the Pope exchange gifts. Trump presented the Pope with a first-edition set of Martin Luther King's writings. The Pope gave Trump an olive-tree medal that the Pope said symbolizes peace. Hide Caption 29 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and his wife look at the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Hide Caption 30 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks to reporters in Rome during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, right, on May 24. Hide Caption 31 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The first lady visits a pediatric hospital in Vatican City on May 24. Hide Caption 32 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump arrives at the Vatican on May 24. With Vatican protocol in mind, she wore a black veil and long-sleeved black dress draped down to her calf. Ivanka Trump wore a similar outfit with a larger veil. Hide Caption 33 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wave at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday, May 23. Trump gave a speech there, reaffirming his country's commitment to Israel while also holding up Judaism's historical ties to the United States. Hide Caption 34 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip People take pictures of the message Trump wrote at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, on May 23. Hide Caption 35 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip With the help of US Marines, Trump and his wife lay a wreath at Yad Vashem. Hide Caption 36 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, on May 23. Trump met with Israeli leaders the day before and said he believes both sides "are ready to reach for peace." Hide Caption 37 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip A Palestinian security official takes position before the arrival of Trump's convoy in Bethlehem, West Bank. Hide Caption 38 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Israeli and American activists hold signs Monday, May 22, during an anti-Trump protest next to the US embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hide Caption 39 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump and Israeli first lady Sara Netanyahu speak to children during their visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem on May 22. Hide Caption 40 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump talks to reporters as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 22. Trump sought to rebut claims that he damaged Israeli intelligence capabilities by revealing highly classified information to Russian operatives earlier this month. "Just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel," Trump told reporters as he began the second leg of his first foreign tour. Hide Caption 41 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, while in Jerusalem on May 22. Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the wall. Hide Caption 42 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands in the Western Wall plaza. To his left, in black, is Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall. Hide Caption 43 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First lady Melania Trump, in white, visits the Western Wall. At far left is Ivanka Trump. Hide Caption 44 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first lady plant a tree in Jerusalem with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Hide Caption 45 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is welcomed by Netanyahu upon arriving in Tel Aviv on May 22. Trump started his trip with two days in Saudi Arabia. Hide Caption 46 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip On the way to Tel Aviv, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One. Hide Caption 47 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump attends the inauguration ceremony for the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. Joining him here are Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, center, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, left. Hide Caption 48 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks in Riyadh during the Arab Islamic American Summit on Sunday, May 21. Trump looked to make it clear that the United States is not at war with Islam. "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," he said. "This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil." Hide Caption 49 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump sits at the summit, which included leaders from 55 Muslim-majority countries. He urged them to do more to eradicate terrorist groups that claim the mantle of Islam. "We can only overcome this evil if the forces of good are united and strong and if everyone in this room does their fair share and fulfills their part of the burden," Trump said. "Muslim-majority countries must take the lead in stamping out radicalization." Hide Caption 50 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump poses with other leaders at the Arab Islamic American Summit. Hide Caption 51 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Saudi King Salman shakes hands with Trump on May 21. Trump is the first US president to start his first foreign trip in the Middle East. Hide Caption 52 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with other heads of state in Riyadh on May 21. Hide Caption 53 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Hide Caption 54 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First lady Melania Trump chats with children during a visit to the American International School in Riyadh on May 21. Hide Caption 55 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip While in Riyadh, President Trump meets with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on May 21. Hide Caption 56 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi share a laugh during a meeting on May 21. El-Sisi complimented Trump on his "unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible." Trump exchanged pleasantries back, praising el-Sisi's shoes. Hide Caption 57 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is handed a sword during a welcoming ceremony at Riyadh's Murabba Palace on Saturday, May 20. Hide Caption 58 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump sits with members of his staff and Cabinet before a meeting with Saudi King Salman on May 20. Hide Caption 59 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and King Salman take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh on May 20. The two leaders oversaw the signing of a defense deal worth nearly $110 billion. Hide Caption 60 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The Trumps look at a display of modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide Caption 61 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip King Salman presents Trump with a gilded necklace and medal, the country's highest honor. The distinction also was bestowed upon Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Hide Caption 62 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The first lady chats with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef at the medal ceremony on May 20. Hide Caption 63 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Ivanka Trump attends the medal ceremony. Hide Caption 64 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with King Salman after arriving in Riyadh on May 20. Hide Caption 65 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Soldiers on horseback carry the US and Saudi flags as they escort Trump to the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide Caption 66 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is welcomed by King Salman after arriving at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Hide Caption 67 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The Trumps take part in the welcome ceremony. Hide Caption 68 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first lady wave from Air Force One after landing in Riyadh. Hide Caption 69 of 69 
  
 At NATO, the mood hadn't improved. Despite the military bands and a military jet flyover, Trump wasn't in a conciliatory mood. While he vowed in Riyadh the US would no longer lecture its allies -- particularly on human rights -- it was a lecture he delivered during an unveiling ceremony at the military alliance's new building. 
  
 "Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they're supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said as his fellow NATO leaders openly scoffed. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years." 
  
 Trump's message didn't contain an explicit endorsement of NATO's collective defense pact -- an attack on one is an attack on all -- though his aides later insisted the message was implied. 
  
 As he mingled at his first major summit of world leaders, it was evident the new member of the exclusive society wasn't out to make friends. He remained largely isolated during informal talks, speaking intently with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as other leaders huddled around Merkel, the most powerful leader in Europe. When it came time for a photo-op, Trump pushed his way past Montenegro's prime minister to the front. 
  
 It was a far cry from the display of welcome he'd experienced in Saudi Arabia only five days earlier. And it wasn't due to improve as he flew to his final stop in Sicily. 
  
 JUST WATCHED Trump advisers dodge Kushner questions Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump advisers dodge Kushner questions 01:28 
  
 Russia questions swirl 
  
 The week-long swing through the Middle East and Europe provided momentary relief for a beleaguered Trump, whose presidency reached its most precarious moments in the scandal-pocked week before he departed. 
  
 Aides had hoped he could escape the Russia controversy briefly while traveling overseas. But by the time Trump arrived at his final stop in Sicily, the probe into Russia's election-year meddling had only inched closer to Trump's inner circle. 
  
 As he returns, decisions about hiring lawyers and firing aides loom. 
  
 Spending his first nights as president away from home, Trump found himself stewing over the latest developments from foreign hotel rooms late into the night. Even with wife, Melania, alongside for the longest stretch of his presidency, Trump was consumed by the story that has deeply sidetracked his agenda. 
  
 On the rocky hillside where leaders were meeting, the questions about Russia and the controversies back home seemed to merge. Leaders wondered whether Trump -- whose campaign was aided by Russian election meddling, according to a US intelligence analysis -- could ever be trusted to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
  
 The Russia controversy also prevented Trump from fully embracing what would ordinarily be a crowning moment of his presidency. Unwilling to face questions about the controversy, Trump eschewed any kind of interactions with the press, a setting he otherwise could use to tout his accomplishments abroad. 
  
 Most other leaders took questions as they departed Taormina, many detailing points of contention with the new US leader. Trump himself offered no view of his side of the encounters nor could he articulate his foreign policy while answering questions about them. 
  
 Returning to Washington, Trump remained in his cocoon -- pleased with himself, but aware the silence won't last much longer. ||||| President Donald Trump ended his first overseas trip on a buoyant note Saturday, telling a crowd of American sailors at a naval base in Sicily: “I think we hit a home run.” 
  
 But aside from closing a $110 billion weapons deal with Saudi Arabia on the first day of his nine-day tour, it wasn’t entirely clear what concrete goals the president achieved. 
  
 Story Continued Below 
  
 Trump made it through the grueling trip without a major diplomatic incident—despite a close call in Israel, where he volunteered to reporters that he’d never uttered the country’s name as the source of intelligence he reportedly shared with Russian officials during an Oval Office visit. 
  
 And he succeeded in putting off allies who were pressuring him to keep the U.S. in the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord, buying himself the space to make a diplomatically awkward decision that will please his base at home. 
  
 Now, Trump returns home to deepening scandals related to his aides’ ties to Russia, having shown his ability to represent the U.S. on the world stage in true Trump fashion. 
  
 Here are POLITICO’S five takeaways after traveling with the president through five stops: 
  
 Trump prefers one-on-one meetings to big multilateral summits 
  
 Trump seemed to enjoy the first leg of his trip, with visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican. His time in Saudi Arabia was dominated by a celebration in a gilded palace where Trump mingled among royalty. Along with the dealmaking in Saudi, the first half of the tour was dominated by talk about security and terrorism, both favorite Trump topics. 
  
 But in Brussels and Sicily, Trump found counterparts who were largely unified against him—and decided not to give them what they wanted, whether it was a public commitment to NATO’s mutual defense clause or assent to staying in the Paris climate deal. 
  
 The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. 
  
 The optics were the message 
  
 Trump glowed as he placed his hands on an illuminated orb alongside King Salman at the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. At the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Trump was reverent and peaceful as he touched the wall with a yarmulke on his head. At the Vatican, Trump grinned alongside his black-clad wife and daughter while Pope Francis glowered. 
  
 In Europe, Trump had more awkward encounters that telegraphed his attitude. The photo of him tightly gripping the hand of French President Emmanuel Macron and video of him appearing to push past the prime minister of Montenegro out of his way made headlines. At the G7 summit family photo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked away while standing next to Trump, who was looking down. 
  
 Trump’s ‘home-run’ accomplished very little – perhaps by design 
  
 Privately, some U.S. officials called the jaunt “completely useless.” Very few decisions were made in the summit meetings, while Trump played to his base with an "America First” approach to foreign relations. But the president got away without making any promises that would be hard to keep back in Washington—and managed to reverse positions taken by his predecessor, President Barack Obama, without causing major diplomatic rows. 
  
 EU Council President Donald Tusk called this weekend’s gathering “the most difficult G7 summit,” because Trump arrived seeking to reverse prior positions held by the United States. Co-signers, desperate to keep the agreement together, have privately accepted that they may have to higher emissions levels for the U.S. to keep them in the pact, which Trump could eventually tout as a win, according to a U.S. diplomat. 
  
 The end result for the G7 was a watered-down communiqué, in which six of the seven members reaffirmed their “strong commitment” to the Paris accord on climate change. Trump has said he’ll make a final decision as soon as next week. 
  
 But Trump finally took a position on Russia 
  
 While the G7 allies weren’t able to nail down Trump’s stance on the Paris climate accord, they did get some more clarity on the administration’s position concerning sanctions against Russia. 
  
 Chief economic adviser Gary Cohn initially suggested in Brussels that the White House didn’t yet have a position on sanctions stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, but then told reporters on Friday, “We’re not lowering our sanctions on Russia. If anything, we would probably look to get tougher on Russia.” 
  
 The final G7 communiqué maintained a hard line on Russia. 
  
 Trump hoped for a reset, but at least he got to avoid his trouble at home for a week 
  
 President Donald Trump did not give a single press conference on the trip, breaking with tradition of speaking with reporters during major trips to promote the White House narrative. 
  
 While the other six leaders that attended the G7 summit held press conferences Saturday at the conclusion of the event, Trump took off for a U.S. naval base, where he thanked his wife, Melania, for joining him, and touted his “truly historic week.” 
  
  ||||| President Trump returned home on Saturday to confront a growing political and legal threat, as his top aides tried to contain the fallout from reports that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is a focus of investigations into possible collusion between Russia and the president’s campaign and transition teams. 
  
 As Mr. Trump ended a nine-day overseas trip that aides considered the most successful stretch of his presidency, he was returning to a crisis that had only grown in his absence. The White House canceled a presidential trip to Iowa in the coming days and was putting together a damage-control plan to expand the president’s legal team, reorganize his communications staff and wall off a scandal that has jeopardized his agenda and now threatens to engulf his family. 
  
 Mr. Trump’s private legal team, led by his New York lawyer, Marc E. Kasowitz, was preparing to meet in Washington to face new questions about contacts between Mr. Kushner and representatives of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Trump may meet with Mr. Kasowitz as early as Sunday, and aides have recruited a series of prominent Washington lawyers with experience in political investigations for Mr. Trump to interview in hopes that they might join the legal team. 
  
 Mr. Kushner, who organized the president’s Middle East stops at the start of the foreign trip, chose to return to Washington with several days to go and has been unusually subdued since then. But he has no plans to step down from his role as senior adviser or to reduce his duties, according to people close to him. ||||| Story highlights Trump finished up his nine-day trip in Italy 
  
 He spoke at US Naval Air Station Sigonella before leaving for Washington 
  
 Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy (CNN) President Donald Trump couldn't return home from his first foreign trip without taking a quick victory lap. 
  
 But even as he touted the successes of his nine-day sweep through the Middle East and Europe before boarding Air Force One, Trump appeared eager to delay his return to Washington, where a storm of controversy awaits him. 
  
 "Maybe I'll stay down with you and celebrate together and just wave," Trump joked to the several hundred US service members and their families who crowded into an airplane hangar here to see him off. 
  
 Air Force One landed shortly after 9 p.m. ET Saturday at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, and he and first lady Melania Trump left by helicopter for the White House. 
  
 Now that he's back in Washington, he will have to confront the latest developments in the federal investigation into members of his campaign's potential collusion with Russian officials during the 2016 election. Most notably, soon after Trump touched down in Sicily for the final leg of his trip, news surfaced that the FBI is now looking into the role his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner held during the campaign and transition, including his contacts with Russian officials. 
  
 Read More |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?
– "I think we hit a home run," President Trump told a crowd of US service members at an Italian military base on Saturday as he wrapped up his whirlwind first trip abroad. "Maybe I'll stay down with you and celebrate together," he joked, per CNN, which notes that Trump called the trip "tremendously productive," "historic," and said of his peers on the world stage that "we made a lot of good friends this week." Air Force One touched down on US soil at 9pm Saturday night carrying the president and first lady, and the New York Times details some of the crises awaiting his attention, in particular reports that son-in-law Jared Kushner was in contact with Russians during the campaign. A look around the assessments of the trip: CNN compiles video highlights from the trip. The Washington Post calls him "alternately charming and boorish," but calls it "the role of a lifetime" for Trump. The AP delves into the disparity between the optics and imagery of the trip, which were conventional, and the rhetoric, which was not. The Hill has five takeaways from the trip, including the lecture he gave NATO. Politico also have five takeaways, and notes that the president seems more comfortable in one-on-one exchanges than in large summits.
Med sin första resa utomlands som president bakom sig, när president Trump Donald John TrumpRobert De Niro, Ben Stiller spela Mueller och Cohen i "SNL" parodi på "Möt föräldrarna" Trump order mål breda swath av offentliga biståndsprogram Comey säger Trump reagerade på nyheter om ryska inblandning genom att fråga om det ändrade valresultat Fler länder i Washington över natten lördag han anländer till en massa kontroverser belägra sin administration. Det kan vara ett ohyfsat uppvaknande efter vad Trump kallade en "homerun" av en resa. Vita huset har i stort sett hållit tyst om kontroverser som virvlar hemma och kommer sannolikt att försöka betona presidentens resframgångar under kommande dagar. Trump och hans medhjälpare hoppas kunna ta ett segervarv över sin första utlandsresa — en svepande niodagarsutflykt genom fem olika länder över Mellanöstern och Europa. I Saudiarabien, presidentens första stopp utomlands, säkrade Trump en massiv vapenförsäljning, värd cirka 110 miljarder dollar. ADVERTISEMENT I Jerusalem stärkte han Förenta staternas förbindelser med Israel och bekräftade sitt engagemang för fredsskapandet i Mellanöstern. Och i Bryssel, Trump ryckte upp sin uppmaning till Nato-medlemmar att stärka sina försvarsutgifter för att uppfylla sina fördragsskyldigheter. Här är fem takeaways från presidentens tumultartade resa. Trump tog en mjukare ton på islam Trump flyttade bort från sin en gång ihärdiga retorik om islam under en adress i Riyadh till ledare över hela den muslimska världen förra söndagen, och uppmanade istället till enighet i kampen mot islamistisk extremism. "Detta är inte en kamp mellan olika trosriktningar, olika sekter eller olika civilisationer," Trump sade. "Detta är en kamp mellan barbariska brottslingar som försöker utplåna mänskligt liv och anständiga människor, allt i religionens namn, människor som vill skydda livet och vill skydda sin religion. Detta är en strid mellan gott och ont." Inte en enda gång i sitt tal återgick Trump till sin en gång i tiden använda frasen "radikal islamisk terrorism" för att beskriva de extremistiska grupper och militanter han har svurit att bekämpa. Men han uppmanade också muslimska ledare att "driva ut terroristerna och extremisterna" från sina samhällen, och uppmanade dem att göra mer för att bekämpa extremistiska ideologier i den muslimska världen. Han bekräftade sitt stöd för Israel och tryckte på för fred i Mellanöstern Presidenten anlände till Israel mitt bland avslöjanden om att han hade avslöjat högt hemligstämplad underrättelse som nyckelalliansen lämnat till ryska tjänstemän. Men Trump lyckades snabbt lätta på kontroversen och bekräfta USA:s stöd för Israel. Israels premiärminister Benjamin Netanyahu ravade på Twitter om Trumps "tagande en så stark ståndpunkt för Israel och det judiska folket." Trump avlade ett högtidligt besök på Västra muren i östra Jerusalem, där han stannade ett ögonblick av tystnad innan han placerade en lapp mellan murens stenar. Det var den första resan till muren av en sittande president, även om andra presidenter har besökt den heliga platsen antingen före eller efter att ha lämnat Vita huset. Men han uttryckte också hoppet om att sluta fred mellan Israel och dess arabiska grannar, och förklarade aldrig sin avsikt att flytta USA:s ambassad från Tel Aviv till Jerusalem — ett drag som med säkerhet skulle göra palestinier arga, behaga Israel och komplicera fredsskapandet. "Jag har hört att det är en av de tuffaste affärerna i världen," sade han, med hänvisning till Mellanöstern fredsskapande. "Men jag är säker på att vi kommer att komma dit så småningom." Trump kritiserade NATO över försvar spendera Trumps "Amerika först" strategi för utrikespolitik var på full uppvisning i Bryssel när presidenten talade en samling av med NATO-medlemmar vid organisationens högkvarter i Belgien. I centrum för hans tal stod hans påstående att USA axlar en orättvis börda av Natos försvarskostnader, och att medlemsländerna måste spendera minst två procent av sin BNP på försvar, ett mål som alla medlemmar enades om 2014. För närvarande är det bara fem Natoländer som uppfyller detta utgiftsmål. "Detta är inte rättvist mot folket och skattebetalarna i USA", sade han, och talade direkt till världens ledare under en ceremoni i Bryssel. "Och många av dessa nationer är skyldiga enorma summor pengar från tidigare år och inte betala under de senaste åren." Klagomålet om att andra länder inte gör tillräckligt för att tillhandahålla sitt eget försvar är ett som Trump ofta tippade på kampanjspåret. Men efter ett möte med Natos generalsekreterare Jens Stoltenberg förra månaden, Trump pivoted på hans påstående att fördraget organisationen är "föråldrad", vilket leder några att ifrågasätta om presidenten skulle ta ett förhållningssätt till Nato mer typiska för tidigare presidenter. Trots detta vägrade Trump i sitt tal till Natos ledare att på nytt bekräfta USA:s stöd för organisationens princip om ömsesidigt försvar, och misslyckades med att ta itu med den växande europeiska oron över Rysslands avsikter i regionen. Han avböjde att utfästa stöd för Paris klimatavtal Trump vägrade att gå med i grupp av sju (G7) ledare på lördagen i att ta ett löfte att stödja Paris klimatavtal, lämnar det oklart om USA kommer att förbli en del av avtalet. Om USA drar sig tillbaka, som Trump har flutit i det förflutna, skulle det vara den första att göra det bland de 195 länder som har gått med på affären. Trumps beslut att inte ta löftet ytterligare belyste en stark uppdelning mellan USA och dess allierade i frågan om klimatförändringar. Men som presidentkandidat kampanjade Trump för att stärka amerikanska fossila bränslen, särskilt kolindustrin. Fortfarande, presidentens medhjälpare lämnade öppen möjligheten att Trump hålla sig till klimatavtalet, säger att hans åsikter i frågan är "evolving" som han talar till andra ledare om det. “Jag tror att hans åsikter utvecklas,” National Economic Council direktör Gary Cohn Gary Davivd CohnTop Trump säkerhetsrådgivare Tom Bossert avgår BET medgrundare krediter Trump skatt sänka med att föra svarta arbetare tillbaka till arbetskraften Vad hände med den ‘bästa och mest allvarliga människor’? Mer sagt. “Han kom hit för att lära sig, han kom hit för att bli smartare och han kom hit för att höra människors åsikter.” Trump höll aldrig en presskonferens Trump bröt traditionen i att aldrig fälta reportrars frågor i en nyhetskonferens under resan, vilket är olikt hans föregångare. Under veckan fram till sin avresa på resan stod Vita huset inför en rad kontroverser som började med presidentens beslut att sparka FBI-chefen James Comey tidigare i månaden. Dessa skandaler fortsatte att stiga under hela hans resa, och Vita husets tjänstemän har i stort sett varit tysta om dem, även om medhjälparna tog upp några frågor i medias gaggler och konferenssamtal. På en presskonferens på lördagen var den nationella säkerhetsrådgivaren H.R. McMaster och Cohn avböjde att svara på frågor om den växande kontroversen kring Trumps äldre rådgivare och svärson Jared Kushner. Cohn insisterade också på att Trump helt enkelt hade varit för upptagen på sin resa för att tilltala medlemmar av nyhetsmedierna. "Presidenten, sedan han lämnade [Washington] har att göra med utländska ledare, han har att göra med jobb, han har att göra med ekonomisk tillväxt, han har att göra med diplomati, han har att göra med orättvis handel, han har att göra med Paris, han har att göra med Kina," Cohn sade. "Hans agenda har flödat över. Han har varit helt uppslukad av vad som händer här." Högre tjänstemän i Vita huset på lördagen fortsatte att vara tysta som svar på avslöjanden som Kushner diskuterade med Rysslands ambassadör om att etablera en bakkanalslinje för kommunikation mellan Trumps övergångsteam och Moskva. Under tiden har Trump anlitat advokaten Marc Kasowitz som utomstående advokat för att hjälpa honom navigera den känsliga rättsliga grunden kring pågående federala utredningar om rysk inblandning i valet 2016 och eventuell samverkan mellan hans kampanj och Kreml. Med dagliga presskonferenser förväntas återupptas, kommer Vita huset sannolikt att ställas inför frågor om dessa kontroverser bland andra inom Trumps första dagar tillbaka i USA. I denna 26 maj 2017, foto, ledare för G7, från vänster, Europeiska rådets president Donald Tusk, Kanadas premiärminister Justin Trudeau, Tysklands förbundskansler Angela Merkel, USA: s president Donald J. Trump,... (associerad press) I denna 26 maj 2017, foto, ledare för G7, från vänster, Europeiska rådets president Donald Tusk, Kanadas premiärminister Justin Trudeau, Tysklands förbundskansler Angela Merkel, USA: s president Donald J. Trump, Italiens premiärminister Paolo Gentiloni, Frankrikes president Emmanuel Macron, Japans premiärminister... (associerad press) TAORMINA, Sicilien (AP) — När han rusade genom Mellanöstern och Europa, Donald Trump såg ut som en konventionell amerikansk ledare utomlands. Han lade högtidligt en krans vid ett förintelseminne i Jerusalem, hade audiens hos påven vid Vatikanen och stod mittscenen med västallierade vid de årliga toppmöten som dominerar den diplomatiska kalendern. Men när Trump talade lät han som allt annat än en typisk amerikansk president. Under sin första utlandsturné gjorde den nya presidenten inga försök att offentligt främja demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter i Saudiarabien, istället förklarade han att han inte var där för att föreläsa. I Israel och på Västbanken stödde han inte USA:s långvariga stöd för en tvåstatslösning på den svårhanterliga fredsprocessen. Och i hjärtat av Europa, Trump kritiserade Nato-allierade för sina ekonomiska åtaganden och skulle inte uttryckligen stödja "en för alla, alla för en" försvarsdoktrin som har varit hörnstenen i transatlantisk säkerhet i årtionden. Till Vita huset var Trumps första utlandsresa ett förkroppsligande av de löften han gav som kandidat för att sätta USA:s intressen först och bryta igenom skyddsräckena som länge definierat USA:s utrikespolitik. Trump rådgivare upprepade gånger beskrivit resan som historisk och banbrytande, inklusive en högre tjänsteman som brashly sade utan bevis att Trump hade "enat hela den muslimska världen." Trump talade till amerikanska trupper på lördag på en siciliansk flygbas strax innan han avgick till Washington, själv förklarade han: "Jag tror att vi slog en homerun." Trump gick ombord på Air Force One utan att ha hållit en enda nyhetskonferens på resan – en paus i presidentprejudikat som gjorde att han kunde undvika att ställas inför tuffa frågor om sin utrikespolitik eller de rasande kontroverser som involverade utredningarna om hans kampanjs möjliga band till Ryssland. Istället hoppades Vita huset att låta bilderna av Trump i statsmannaliknande miljöer berätta historien om hans första utlandsresa, och kanske lätta frågor om hans beredskap för den känsliga världen av internationell diplomati. Ändå kommer dessa frågor säkert att bestå, särskilt med tanke på Trumps anmärkningsvärda surrande av Nato-allierade i Bryssel. Vid sidan av sina kolleger anklagade presidenten länder som inte uppfyller Natos mål att spendera 2 procent av sin bruttonationalprodukt på att avsätta amerikanska skattebetalare. Han lämnade några allierade, redan nervösa för Rysslands sabel-rattling och Trumps offentliga tillgivenhet för den ryske presidenten Vladimir Putin, ytterligare flummoxed när han avslutade sina kommentarer utan att göra ett uttryckligt uttalande om stöd för artikel 5, den gemensamma försvarsklausulen som ligger till grund för den 68-åriga militäralliansen. "Stämningen i artikel 5, idén att vi alla är i detta tillsammans, är inte den stämning han förmedlade", sade Jon Alterman, en senior vice president på Center for Strategic and International Studies i Washington. "Det humör han förmedlade är att ni är ett gäng freeloaders." Vissa europeiska ledare tror att Trump fortfarande kan luras bort från sina kontroversiella kampanjpositioner. Vid 7-årsmötet i kuststaden Taormina inledde ledarna en aggressiv kampanj bakom kulisserna för att få honom att stanna kvar i Paris klimatavtal. Medan Trump framträdde från toppmötet utan ett slutgiltigt beslut om Parispakten, förklarade han i en tweet lördag att han kommer att fatta ett slutgiltigt beslut nästa vecka. Trumps återkomst hem lördagskväll skiftar också uppmärksamheten tillbaka till de stormmoln av skandal som svävar över Vita huset. I en genomgång med reportrar lördagen skiftade Vita husets tjänstemän obesvärat och vägrade kommentera när de tillfrågades om rapporter om att Jared Kushner, Trumps svärson och seniorrådgivare, försökte sätta upp hemliga kommunikationer med Ryssland efter valet. Trumps nio dagar långa, femstopps internationella turné resulterade i få påtagliga politiska landvinningar. USA drog in en 110 miljarder dollar i vapenförsäljning till Saudiarabien och avtäckte många affärsåtaganden i regionen, även om Vita huset aldrig gav några specifika detaljer om avtalens omfattning. I Nato, Vita huset tippade alliansens åtagande att öka försvarsutgifterna, även om resolutionen i huvudsak var en fortsättning på en pakt som man enats om två år tidigare. Ändå erbjöd resan den tydligaste bilden hittills av hur Trump planerar att sätta sin prägel på USA:s relation till världen. Från början satte han en ny riktning. Istället för att följa presidenttraditionen genom att göra sin internationella debut i en granndemokrati som Kanada eller Mexiko flög Trump till Saudiarabien, det repressiva ökenriket. Han verkade särskilt bekväm i omgivningen. I Riyadh fick han ett påkostat, guldpläterat välkomnande: Hans bild projicerades tvärs över lyxhotellets fasad där han stannade, hästar flankerade sin bilkortege när den flyttade till ett av kungens ökenpalats och ett extravagant firande hölls till hans ära, komplett med en traditionell saudisk svärdsdans. Trump förrådde ingen tafatthet på att njuta av den varma omfamningen av en av världens mest förtryckande regeringar. I stället återgäldade han med ett löfte att inte offentligt tukta den styrande kungafamiljen för dess ingripande mot politiska meningsskiljaktigheter. "Vi är inte här för att föreläsa — vi är inte här för att tala om för andra människor hur de ska leva, vad de ska göra, vem de ska vara, eller hur de ska dyrka," Trump sade. Trump var överdådigt feed i Israel också, omfamnas av en premiärminister som föraktade sin företrädare och var ivrig att smickra den nya presidenten. Trump fick flera stående ovationer — ett av sina favoritmått på framgång — under ett tal om USA:s relationer med Israel. Fotot av hans högtidliga besök på västra muren stänktes över förstasidorna i Israels tidningar. Liksom många av sina föregångare vädjade Trump personligen till fred mellan israeler och palestinier. Men han yttrade aldrig orden "tvåstatslösning", den långvariga amerikanska politiska plan som skulle skapa ett separat hemland för palestinier. Han nämnde inte heller nya judiska bosättningar på Västbanken, en viktig tvistepunkt för palestinierna. De mindre ögonblicken av presidentens resa var oändligt dissekerade också, från första damen Melania Trumps uppenbara motvilja att hålla sin makes hand vid tillfällen till hans knuffande åt sidan av Montenegros premiärminister för att komma till fronten på en flock ledare vid en NATO foto tillfälle. Vid G-7 var det Trumps samspel med andra ledare som ådrog sig uppmärksamhet. De sex andra statsöverhuvudena tog en kort promenad från en händelse till en annan och småpratade konvivalent när de vandrade genom de smala sicilianska gatorna. Trump höll sig tillbaka och bestämde sig för att inte gå med i sina kamrater. Istället fick han i en golfvagn och den amerikanske presidentens minimotorkortege körde ensam rutten, Trump återigen ha kartlagt sin egen bana. ___ Följ Julie Pace på http://twitter.com/jpaceDC och Jonathan Lemire på http://twitter.com/jonlemire <unk> <unk> Lite är mer viktigt för Donald Trump, varumärkesmannen-vände-amerikansk president, än bildspråk. Trump bemannade sin regering ur central rollbesättning, och den senaste veckan var det dags för honom att provspela för sin roll: ledare för den fria världen. I Washington syns Trump mest bara när han väljer: på en elektor i Rose Garden. Hälsar när han går ombord på Marine One. Bakom Resolute Desk of the Oval Office underteckna jumbo-storlek executive order, trycka på hans röda knapp för att kalla en butler med Diet Coke eller blinka en tummarna upp från hans högryggade körsbär läder stol. Men en nio dagars maratonresa utomlands som avslutades lördagen på Sicilien har erbjudit den första förlängda — och ofta ofiltrerade, tack vare den stadiga strömmen av råa kamerafilmer som tillhandahålls av hans värdländer — titta på Trump på världsscenen. Trump var charmerande och boorisk. Han var foglig mot Saudiarabiens och påven Franciskus kung, men ändå aggressivt oförskämd mot sina europeiska kolleger, och knuffade åt sidan en Balkanpremiärminister för att komma till sin plats och ställa sig i kö för en fotografering vid Nato. Den franska tidningen Le Monde förmanade Trump för “verbal och fysisk brutalitet” mot Nato allierade och sade att han “föreläste dem som barn.” [Trump tuktar andra Nato-medlemmar, kräver att de uppfyller betalningsskyldigheter] 1 av 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Trumps första resa utomlands som president View Photos USA:s president reste till Saudiarabien, Israel, Rom, Belgien och Sicilien, Italien. Bildtext USA:s president reste till Saudiarabien, Israel, Rom, Belgien och Sicilien, Italien. 27 maj 2017 Tysklands förbundskansler Angela Merkel, vänster, talar till president Donald Trump som Tunisiens president Beji Caid Essebsi lyssnar under en utökad session på gruppen av sju toppmöten i Taormina, Italien. Philippe Wojazer/Reuters Köp foto Vänta 1 sekund för att fortsätta. Han strövade runt hulkande. Han knäppte nervöst och knäppte upp sin kostymjacka. Han verkade ibland osäker på om han skulle le sitt tandiga grin eller blända, som han gör när han poserar för porträtt, så han växlade. Vid formella tillställningar visste Trump inte alltid vart han skulle gå eller vad han skulle göra. “Vad är protokollet?” frågade han Israels premiärminister Benjamin Netanyahu när de gick ner en röd matta vid en flygplats ankomstceremoni i Tel Aviv. — Vem vet? svarade Netanyahu. “Jag tror att de bara kommer att tala om för oss var att stå.” Trump var synbarligen bekväm i miljöer som framkallade hans egna, såsom Saudiarabiens förgyllda-och-förtrollade palats, men dök upp på plats i andra. Han anlände som en vrakkula till det nya Nato-högkvarteret, en glas- och stålbehemoth som står som symbol för globalism och byråkrati. Trumps familjemedlemmar gick i centrum. Dottern Ivanka och hennes make, Jared Kushner, båda Vita husets rådgivare, stod bakom eller bredvid presidenten när han höll sitt tal till muslimska ledare, bad vid västra muren, tilltalade israelisk-palestinska freden och träffade påven. De skalade av från resan i Rom, mitt igenom. Första damen Melania Trump var allestädes närvarande, om än till stor del tystlåten och känslolös. Hon och hennes man sågs sällan utbyta ord, och han gick ibland framför henne, nästan som om hon vore en prydnad. Men den första damen kom ut ur sitt skal vid solotillställningar, delade ut doktor Seuss böcker och målade med barn. Hon blev särskilt rörd av sitt besök på Bambino Gesù barnsjukhus i Rom, där hon läste en bok till och höll hand med en pojke som väntade på en hjärttransplantation. Några timmar senare fick den första damen veta att sjukhuset hade hittat en donator. — Att få tag i den nyheten är ett ögonblick jag aldrig glömmer, sade hon. (The Washington Post) En slovenskfödd före detta modell, Melania fick stor uppmärksamhet för sitt mode. Saudimedia fjäskade över sin klädsel i Riyadh som ”konservativ” och ”klassig”, även om hon höjde ögonbrynen och strövade på Siciliens gator i en färgglad blomjacka av den italienska designern Dolce & Gabbana som enligt uppgift säljer för $51.500. [Trump kallar muslimska nationer att konfrontera ‘Islamiska terror av alla slag’] Även om kritiker hemma hade förutspått stora gafféer, presidenten gjorde ingen. Och Trump deltog i och bidrog till innehållsrika möten om frågor från antiterrorism och handel till klimatförändringar och migration. “En president blir president”, sade Fred Davis, en republikansk mediestrateg. “Jag hoppas att denna resa ger honom en nivå av personlig fred, förtroende och gravitas som han kan använda hemma.” I Saudiarabien, Trumps uppmaning om samarbete i kampen mot den islamiska staten utan tvekan drev frågan framåt, med förnyad betoning på att stoppa finansiering av terrorism och blockera militanta meddelanden och rekrytering. Utöver alla väsentliga prestationer, Trump återupplivade arabiska ledare, särskilt i Persiska viken, som ansåg att de hade blivit respektlösa och ignorerade av president Barack Obama. "Förenta staterna skiftade under de senaste åtta åren som en neutral aktör, i bästa fall, som såg tvärtom på Iran aggression runt om i världen," sade Ari-Fleischer, en Vita huset pressekreterare under tidigare president George W. Bush. “Vi är nu där vi borde vara.” I Israel och på Västbanken upprepade Trump sitt löfte att föra samman israeler och palestinier i en fredsöverenskommelse, även om inga framsteg gjordes när det gäller att starta den processen. Han gladde Netanyahu och avskräckte troligen den palestinske presidenten Mahmoud Abbas genom att inte nämna en tvåstatslösning som mål. [Mitt i ett kyligare välkomnande i Europa, Trump fortsätter att tråna efter Saudiarabien] I Europa, Trumps bespottande anmärkningar om försvarsutgifter — under en Nato-ceremoni minnesfulla den gemensamma alliansen svar på 11 september 2001, terroristattacker — lämnade en dålig smak. Det fanns utbredd besvikelse över Trumps underlåtenhet att använda tillfället att bekräfta USA: s engagemang för alliansens gemensamma försvarspakt, artikel 5, även om nationell säkerhetsrådgivare H.R. McMaster sade att “naturligtvis” Trump stöder det. Trumps beteende, sade Stefan Leifert från Tysklands offentliga programledare ZDF, var “en örfil i ansiktet på alla andra alliansmedlemmar.” Men det fanns också positiva reaktioner. Tysklands Die Welt tidningskommentator Christoph B. Schiltz skrev att Trumps “uppror, hans buggning och hans ihärdighet har lämnat alliansen slutligen engagera sig mer i kampen mot internationell terrorism.” Vita huset verkade kliva på sina egna media applåder linjer genom att misslyckas med att ge lägliga faktablad eller kopior av undertecknade avtal Trump var touting offentligt som “historisk” och “episka.” Media talesmän var ibland dåligt utrustade för att ge grundläggande information. Och till skillnad från praktiskt taget varje president på liknande resor höll Trump inga nyhetskonferenser. På kampanjspåret, som Trump bedömde Obamas utrikespolitik, fixerade han sig vid en bild från Kina som han trodde symboliserade USA:s vikande makt: Obama landsteg Air Force One i Hangzhou, där han deltog i en grupp på 20 toppmöte, på en metallstege som sträcker sig från planets mage. ”De har bilder på andra ledare som är. . . kommer ner med en vacker röd matta. Och Obama kommer ner för en metalltrappa, "Trump sade vid ett stopp i Ohio. "Om det var jag skulle jag säga, 'Vet ni vad, gott folk, jag respekterar er mycket men stänga dörrarna, låt oss gå härifrån. " Trump behövde inte göra det samtalet på den här resan. Vid varje hållplats fanns det bättre-än-tillfredsställande trappor, från vilka han kunde stiga ner. På Riyadh-flygplatsen blossade trumpeter, soldater stod i givakt, stridsflygplan flög över och en fläckfri röd matta sträckte sig över asfalten. Den åldrande kung Salman, som anlände i en golfvagn och fick hjälp av en käpp, hälsade varmt presidenten vid foten av trappan. “Det var mycket spektakulärt,” Trump berättade senare europeiska ledare, med hjälp av sin karakteristiska hyperbol för att beskriva sitt välkomnande i Saudiarabien. — Jag tror inte att det någonsin har varit något sådant. Det var bortom allt som någon har sett.” [Vilken skandal? I Saudi ben av utländsk turné, Trump flyr “den där Ryssland sak.’] Vid sin ankomst till Tel Aviv, ett annat band, en annan röd matta och en annan statschef stod och väntade. Även i Rom och Bryssel, som knappast är Trump-vänliga orter, fick presidenten ett stort välkomnande. Trump fann sig ofta i centrum för uppmärksamheten, både på grund av Amerikas plats i världen och hans singularställning som internationell nyfikenhet. Men han verkade mest tillfreds med att spela den obestridda ledande mannen, såsom i Riyadh, där den saudiska kungafamiljen behandlade honom som en av sina egna, eller i Jerusalem, där Netanyahu lyfte upp honom vid varje tillfälle. “Det är störande att se hur lättpåverkad han är,” sade Jennifer Palmieri, en tidigare kommunikationsrådgivare till Obama och Hillary Clinton. ”Hans standard för om ett besök gick bra eller inte är hur väl han behandlades. Det är oroande att se ledarna i andra länder försöka överträffa varandra i att vädja till sitt ego som ett sätt att böja USA till sin vilja. "Trump förtroende var mindre uppenbart på Vatikanen, där han spelade den supplikant till påven, sitter över ett trä skrivbord som om han intervjuade för ett jobb. Allteftersom resan pågick tycktes Trump ha mindre roligt, kanske delvis på grund av att skandaler bryggde i Washington som skulle vänta honom. [Pope välkomnar Trump till Vatikanen trots tidigare meningsskiljaktigheter] I Bryssel, där han deltog händelser som firar Nato, såg Trump rakt uttråkad. När kungen av Belgien och andra ledare turades om vid elektorn, Trump fick fidgety, flytta på sin plats, ser upp mot himlen och ner till fötterna, och korsar armarna över bröstet. Presidenten — som medhjälparna säger har föga tålamod att lyssna på andra människor som talar — utstod sedan en middagssession där ledarna för alla 28 Natopartner gav kommentarer. Och här i pittoreska Taormina, vid gruppen av sju toppmötet på den klippiga sicilianska kusten, kämpade Trump för att se intresserad ut under långa möten med allierade i ett rum dekorerat med flaggor från andra länder. När de andra G-7 ledarna strövade omkring på gatorna i denna antika fästningsstad, följde Trump med i en golfvagn. En tyngd tycktes lyfta från Trumps axlar när han landade med helikopter vid USA. Naval Air Station Sigonella, på den sicilianska ön, för ett pep-rally med militärfamiljer innan han flög hem till Washington. Behovet av diplomatiska finesser var över. Musiken som spelades var hans kampanjsoundtrack. Den amerikanska flaggan som hängde bakom honom var flera berättelser lång. Trump kan vara Trump. Presidenten riffade om att vinna — "du kommer att göra en hel del vinna!" — och, evoking president Ronald Reagan, sade hans resa skulle bana väg för "fred genom styrka." "Det är vad vi kommer att ha," Trump sade. “Vi kommer att ha en hel del styrka och vi kommer att få en hel del fred.” Anthony Faiola och Stephanie Kirchner i Berlin; Stefano Pitrelli i Giardini Naxos, Italien, och Michael Birnbaum i London bidrog till denna rapport. Taormina, Italien (CNN) Swinging över den gröna Joniska havet lördag, hans första utländska resa bakom honom, President Donald Trump var i en dalettion humör. Bakom honom, uppsatt på bergssluttningen, låg det tidigare dominikanklostret där G7-ledarna just hade avslutat haranguing honom att överge sin kampanj löften om att dra sig tillbaka från ett stort klimatavtal. Han gav inte upp. Ahead var en skara amerikanska trupper stationerade på den här steniga italienska utposten, ivriga att höra deras befälhavare reprisera den utländska agenda han skulle spendera de senaste nio dagarna med tanke på. Efter nio dagars samtal med beräknande utländska ledare, var Trump ivrig att bekräfta en applåderande publik. "Vi har varit borta länge," Trump förklarade på Sigonella flygbasen här. "Vart jag än går -- vi har varit nära nio dagar, det här kommer att vara nio dagar -- jag tror att vi körde en homerun oavsett var vi är." Det var ett optimistiskt budskap för en ledare som för första gången träffade sin nya klubb av utländska motsvarigheter. Men under den punkt för punkt sammanfattningen av hans resa låg osäkerhet över hans agenda och dispyter med hans utländska motsvarigheter. Trumps första utlandsresa var en berättelse berättad i kapitel, var och en successivt mindre behaglig för en president som fortfarande tar ställning till hans ställning på världsscenen. Utöver en spridning av formella kommentarer, ingen av historien berättades av Trump själv, som vägrade att hålla en nyhetskonferens och, genom sina rådgivares eget medgivande, avslöjade lite av hans tänkande till topphjälp när han hoppade från nation till nation. Istället var det en resa berättas i bilder med volymen på stum. När han avgick Sicilien hade Trump levererat fyra stora adresser men klarlagt ingen av de frågor som omger hans utrikespolitik. På vissa sätt uppgick osäkerheten till en vinst, åtminstone i sinnet hos Trumps medhjälpare. Som Trump förberedde sig för att avgå Washington i fredags, fanns det lite säkerhet bland hans personal att nio dagars odyssé kunde gå vidare utan att misslyckas. Trump själv, som inte hade sovit i en säng som inte var hans egen sedan han tillträdde, förblev skeptisk en fem-lands resplan kunde sluta bra. En hemkropp med liten aptit för obehag, Trump inbillade sig det värsta. Obehaglig utländsk mat, vissnande jetlag och en obekant säng hade varit hans erfarenheter som affärsman utomlands. Även under dagarna fram till sin avresa frågade Trump om resan kunde trunkeras. Han gav utlopp åt det ambitiösa schemat till sina ledande rådgivare under dagarna fram till sin avresa. Men då var det för sent. Med möten låsta och världen förutser sin globala debut, Trump bosatte sig i sin bostad på Air Force One för en flygning fyra gånger längre än någon han hade tagit som president. Just WATCHED President Trump får Saudi guldmedalj Replay Fler videos ... MÅSTE WATCH President Trump får Saudi guldmedalj 01:43 En kungs välkomnande Fjorton timmar senare, Trump stoppades in i baksidan av sin bepansrade limousine, fortkörning in i centrala Riyadh tillsammans med kung Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud och titta på affischtavlor putsade med båda sina ansikten whiz förbi. All oro för en orolig touch-down utomlands försvann snabbt. Välkommen med hästparader, draperade med en guldmedalj och lockade in i en manlig-bara svärdsdans, Trump hade äntligen hittat ett land att behandla honom som en kung, om bara för en helg. För första gången på sitt presidentskap åtföljdes han regelbundet av den första damen, som konsulterade USA:s utrikesdepartement innan hon packade sin garderob och framträdde som den osannolika subploten till Trumps debut på världsscenen. Trumps medhjälpare utsåg Mellanösternriket som första stopp, delvis på grund av att den påkostade livsstilen som levdes av dess monarki med nödvändighet skulle utvidgas till att omfatta presidenten. Lansering av presidentens resa från Saudiarabien underströk också dess kritiska betydelse i Vita husets ögon, särskilt för svärsonen och den äldre rådgivaren Jared Kushner, som hyllade de affärsuppgörelser som nåddes på resan. Ändå hängde en air av naivté i luften efter presidentens tal till ledare för mer än 50 muslimska majoritetsnationer. Vita huset beskrev det som något av ett fait accompli, med en topptjänsteman två gånger som förklarade att presidenten hade "enat den muslimska världen". I sanning hade Trump inte gjort något av det slaget, även med sin väl mottagna Riyadh adress. Trumps policyrådgivare Stephen Miller -- vars roll att skriva talet höjde ögonbrynen -- hade utarbetat en försonlig adress som ersatte Trumps "radikal islamisk terror" paroll med den mildare "islamistisk extremism." Som Trump levererade sin öppning argument till ett rum fullpackat med ledare av muslimska nationer, dock, det nyslappna språket inte helt kom igenom. "Det finns fortfarande mycket arbete att göra," Trump sade. "Det innebär att ärligt konfrontera krisen av islamisk extremism och islamisterna och islamisk terror av alla slag." Misstaget inträffade eftersom presidenten var utmattad , hans rådgivare senare förklarade, bara två dagar in i vad som skulle bli en nio dagars sloggning genom möten och ceremonier. Just WATCHED Trump efter Storbritannien attack: Terrorister onda förlorare Spela upp fler videos ... MÅSTE WATCH Trump efter Storbritannien attack: Terrorister onda förlorare 02:39 Terror inkräktar Awaking i Jerusalem två dagar senare till nyheten om ett självmordsattack i England, Trump fann sig konfrontera på nära håll de tematiska grunderna för sin resa. Att kladda med medhjälpare i sin svit på King David hotellet med utsikt över den gamla staden, budskapet om extremism han hade levererat i Saudiarabien -- vilket kom med få detaljer -- verkade plötsligt svårare. I Israel, ett land som var intimt förtrogen med terrorns gissel och fredens befästa politik, framstod problemet som ännu mer oöverstigligt. Trump var missnöjd med det språk hans rådgivare hade förberett för ett tal senare samma morgon. Fördömelsen av attacken saknade verve, trodde Trump. Att beskriva angriparna i vanliga termer skulle inte räcka. Istället skrev han upp sin egen beskrivning, med hjälp av den förolämpning han länge ansett vara den mest skärande. "Jag kommer att kalla dem från och med nu förlorare eftersom det är vad de är. De är förlorare, "Trump sade några timmar senare står tillsammans med den palestinska presidenten Mahmoud Abbas. "Vi kommer att ha fler av dem. Men de är förlorare -- kom bara ihåg det." Budskapet mottogs väl. Men flera timmar senare stod det klart att Trump stod inför en brant stigning innan han överbryggade de luckor som länge har hindrat amerikanska presidenters försök att främja stabiliteten i Mellanöstern. "Jag hoppas att detta förebådar en verklig förändring," Israels premiärminister Benjamin Netanyahu sade inför Trumps kommentarer på Israel Museum. "För om angriparen hade varit palestinsk och offren hade varit israeliska barn, skulle självmordsbombarens familj ha fått ett bidrag från den palestinska myndigheten. Det är palestinsk lag. Den lagen måste ändras." Det var ett intrång av verkliga hinder i Trumps vision om fred, som han en gång ansåg lätt, men som han denna vecka förklarade den hårdaste uppgörelsen av alla. BARA VITTNA President Trump, påven Francis utbyte gåvor Replay Fler videos ... MÅSTE VITTNA President Trump, påven Francis utbyte gåvor 01:20 Klimatkontrovers När presidenten anlände till Vatikanen på en solsprängd morgon på onsdag, påve Francis inte föreläsa Trump. Han uppmuntrade honom försiktigt att göra något annat: Läs. Påven gav Trump en bunden kopia av sin encyklika om att skydda miljön, "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home." För alla de underliggande spänningarna som satte scenen för deras första besök, med tanke på deras ovanligt hårda utbyte förra året om invandring och huruvida byggandet av murar är en kristen sak att göra, tog påven en annan linje. En skicklig politiker i sin egen rätt, Francis finslipade på presidentens avvaktande beslut om att dra USA från Paris klimatavtal. Det var det första av flera samtal Trump förde denna vecka på landmärket koldioxidminskningsavtal, som han svor som en kandidat att skrota. Avgående G7, Trump sa att han skulle ta ett beslut nästa vecka. Men för de ledare han träffade på Sicilien verkade hans avsikter redan tydliga. Tysklands förbundskansler Angela Merkel sade att gruppen förde otillfredsställande samtal i frågan. USA avstod från att underteckna ett gemensamt uttalande om att stödja Paris efter toppmötet stängt; andra ledare sade Trump var inte beredd att ta det steget. Men i Vatikanen insisterade Trump på att hans sinne var öppet. "Jag kommer att läsa dem," Trump sade om essäer från påven om miljön och skapa fred. Kardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatikanens statssekreterare, vägde in med det direkta budskapet som uppmanade Trump och hans team att hålla sig till Parisavtalet. Presidentens första möte med Franciskus var genomsyrat av symbolik, det sista stoppet i att besöka de abrahamitiska religionernas tre hem: islam, judendom och kristendom. Han är den andre amerikanske presidenten som besöker Vatikanen under Franciskus påvedöme. Medan president Barack Obamas möte var 20 minuter längre än Trumps, slösade Heliga stolen lite tid på att jämföra de två. När han lämnade det apostoliska palatset sa Trump till påven: "Jag kommer inte att glömma vad du sa." Om han menade klimatförändringar, kommer påven att ha vunnit rond ett. Just WATCHED Trump kallar ut Nato-allierade för att betala upp Replay Fler videos ... MÅSTE WATCH Trump kallar ut Nato-allierade för att betala upp 02:04 Selektiv föreläsning Flyga norrut från Rom, Trump hittade temperaturen snabbt kylning. Han anlände till Natos högkvarter i utkanten av Rom under ett moln av misstankar på flera fronter. Efter känsliga brittiska underrättelser om Manchester attacken dök upp i amerikanska medier, premiärminister Theresa May fumed , säger att hon planerade att tala sina tankar när hon träffade Trump på mötena. Det var andra gången en utländsk regering uttryckte oro över att dela underrättelser med sina amerikanska motsvarigheter: Trump själv avslöjade hemlig information till ryska tjänstemän tidigare denna månad som kunde spåras tillbaka till Israel. I en av de enda off-script ögonblick av sin resa, Trump förklarade i Jerusalem att han inte hade nämnt Israel vid namn med sina ryska besökare. Men i Nato kokade oron fortfarande. Det var bara en av klyftorna mellan Trump och hans europeiska motsvarigheter. Efter öppna-arm välkomnande i Riyadh och Jerusalem, tog Trumps utländska swing en distinkt tonal skift. Istället för banketter och hästar blev Trump plötsligt influerad i spänningsfyllda möten med ledare djupt skeptiska till sin utländska agenda. De följande sessionerna fortsatte på liknande sätt. Trump enligt uppgift grep om hindren för att öppna golfbanor i Europa med Belgiens premiärminister Charles Michel. Europeiska rådets president Donald Tusk sade efter sitt möte med Trump att de inte kunde överbrygga meningsskiljaktigheter över Ryssland. Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa President Donald Trump och första damen Melania Trump går ombord på Air Force One lördagen den 27 maj 2017, på Naval Air Station Sigonella i Italien. De var på väg tillbaka till USA efter en nio dagar lång resa till Mellanöstern och Europa. Dölj bildtext 1 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa President Trump hälsar på människor den 27 maj, efter att ha talat med amerikanska trupper vid Naval Air Station Sigonella. Dölj bildtext 2 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa President Trump vänder sig till amerikanska trupper och deras familjer den 27 maj, vid Sigonella Naval Air Station. Dölj bildtext 3 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa President Trump och första damen Melania Trump anländer den 27 maj, för att tala till USA:s militärpersonal och familjer på Naval Air Station Sigonella. Dölj bildtext 4 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Ledare för G-7 och några afrikanska nationer poserar för ett foto den 27 maj, på den andra dagen av G-7 toppmötet i Taormina, Italien. Dölj bildtext 5 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa President Trump ger den 27 maj, under en G-7 session. Dölj bildtext 6 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa President Donald Trump och hans fru, Melania, anländer för en konsert av La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra medan i Taormina, Italien, på fredagen den 26 maj. Trumps är i Italien för ett två dagar långt G-7 toppmöte. Dölj bildtext 7 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump och andra ledare poserar för ett gruppfoto på G-7 toppmötet den 26 maj. Från vänster kommer Europeiska rådets ordförande Donald Tusk, Kanadas premiärminister Justin Trudeau, Tysklands förbundskansler Angela Merkel, Trump, Italiens premiärminister Paolo Gentiloni, Frankrikes president Emmanuel Macron, Japans premiärminister Shinzo Abe, Storbritanniens premiärminister Theresa May och EU-kommissionens ordförande Jean-Claude Juncker. Dölj Bildtext 8 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump och Trudeau går tillsammans efter gruppfotot. Dölj Bildtext 9 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa G-7 ledare samlas under en promenadtur den 26 maj. Dölj bildtext 10 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump omfamnar den nya franska presidenten Emmanuel Macron den 26 maj. Dölj bildtext 11 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Ledarna tittar på en fransk flygeskader. Dölj bildtext 12 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Melania Trump anländer till stadshuset i Catania, Italien, den 26 maj. Hon hade på sig en $51 500 Dolce & Gabbana jacka när hon träffade andra makar till G-7 ledare. Dölj bildtext 13 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump skakar hand med Macron i Bryssel, Belgien, på torsdagen den 25 maj. De deltog i ett Nato-toppmöte när alliansen officiellt öppnade ett nytt högkvarter för en miljard dollar. Dölj Bildtext 14 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump står med andra världsledare under en NATO-fotosession den 25 maj. Dölj bildtext 15 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump talar med den brittiske premiärministern Theresa May under en arbetsmiddag på Natos högkvarter. Dölj bildtext 16 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump står bredvid den tyska förbundskanslern Angela Merkel på Nato-toppmötet. Dölj bildtext 17 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Melania Trump besöker Magritte Museum i Bryssel med Amelie Derbaudrenghien, partner till Belgiens premiärminister Charles Michel. Dölj bildtext 18 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa En flicka tar en selfie med Melania Trump på ett barnsjukhus i Bryssel den 25 maj. Dölj bildtext 19 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump träffar Macron i Bryssel. Dölj bildtext 20 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump promenerar med Europeiska rådets ordförande Donald Tusk, center, och Europeiska kommissionens ordförande Jean-Claude Juncker, precis, efter att de möttes på Europeiska rådet i Bryssel den 25 maj. Dölj bildtext 21 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump, tredje från höger, deltar i ett möte med ledare på Europeiska rådet. Dölj bildtext 22 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump talar med kung Philippe av Belgien som drottning Mathilde och Melania Trump chattar under en mottagning på Kungliga slottet i Bryssel onsdagen den 24 maj. Dölj bildtext 23 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Tusk talar med Trump när han välkomnar honom i Bryssel. Dölj bildtext 24 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump står med Belgiens premiärminister Charles Michel medan nationalsången spelas under Trumps ankomst till Belgien den 24 maj. Dölj Bild 25 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Protesters i Bryssel demonstrera med effigies av Trump och Michel den 24 maj. Dölj bildtext 26 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump skakar hand med Italiens president Sergio Mattarella i Rom den 24 maj. Dölj bildtext 27 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Påven Francis står med Trump och hans familj under en privat audiens på Vatikanen den 24 maj. Med presidenten, från vänster, är Trumps svärson, Vita husets äldre rådgivare Jared Kushner; Trumps dotter och rådgivare Ivanka Trump; och första damen Melania Trump. Dölj bildtext 28 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump och påven utbyter gåvor. Trump presenterade påven med en första-utgåva uppsättning av Martin Luther Kings skrifter. Påven gav Trump en medalj av olivträd som påven sa symboliserar fred. Dölj Bildtext 29 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump och hans fru tittar på taket i Sixtinska kapellet. Dölj bildtext 30 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump talar till reportrar i Rom under ett möte med Italiens premiärminister Paolo Gentiloni, höger, den 24 maj. Dölj Bildtext 31 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Den första damen besöker ett barnsjukhus i Vatikanstaten den 24 maj. Dölj bildtext 32 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Melania Trump anländer till Vatikanen den 24 maj. Med Vatikanens protokoll i åtanke bar hon en svart slöja och långärmad svart klänning draperad ner till sin kalv. Ivanka Trump bar en liknande klädsel med en större slöja. Dölj bildtext 33 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa President Trump och Israels premiärminister Benjamin Netanyahu vågen på Israel Museum i Jerusalem tisdagen den 23 maj. Trump höll ett tal där, och bekräftade sitt lands engagemang för Israel samtidigt som han också höll upp judendomens historiska band till USA. Dölj bildtext 34 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Folk tar bilder av meddelandet Trump skrev på Yad Vashem, förintelsemonumentet i Jerusalem, den 23 maj. Dölj bildtext 35 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Med hjälp av US Marines låg Trump och hans fru en krans på Yad Vashem. Dölj bildtext 36 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump träffar Mahmoud Abbas, den palestinska myndighetens president, den 23 maj. Trump träffade israeliska ledare dagen innan och sade att han tror att båda sidor "är redo att nå fred." Dölj bildtext 37 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa En palestinsk säkerhetstjänsteman tar plats innan Trumps konvoj anländer till Betlehem på Västbanken. Dölj bildtext 38 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Israeliska och amerikanska aktivister håller skyltar måndagen den 22 maj under en anti-Trump protest bredvid USA:s ambassad i Tel Aviv, Israel. Dölj bildtext 39 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Melania Trump och Israels första dam Sara Netanyahu talar till barn under deras besök på Hadassah sjukhus i Jerusalem den 22 maj. Dölj bildtext 40 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Trump pratar med reportrar när han träffar Israels premiärminister Benjamin Netanyahu den 22 maj. Trump försökte vederlägga påståenden om att han skadat Israels underrättelsekapacitet genom att avslöja mycket hemligstämplad information till ryska agenter tidigare denna månad. "Bara så du förstår, jag nämnde aldrig ordet eller namnet Israel," Trump berättade reportrar som han började den andra etappen av sin första utländska turné. Dölj bildtext 41 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump berör västra muren, judendomens heligaste böneplats, medan i Jerusalem den 22 maj. Trump blev den första sittande USA-presidenten att besöka muren. Dölj bildtext 42 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump står i Västra muren plaza. Till vänster om honom, i svart, finns Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbinen vid Västra muren. Dölj bildtext 43 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Första damen Melania Trump, i vitt, besöker Västra muren. Längst till vänster ligger Ivanka Trump. Dölj bildtext 44 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Presidenten och första damen planterar ett träd i Jerusalem tillsammans med Israels president Reuven Rivlin. Dölj bildtext 45 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump välkomnas av Netanyahu vid ankomsten till Tel Aviv den 22 maj. Trump började sin resa med två dagar i Saudiarabien. Dölj bild 46 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa På väg till Tel Aviv talar USA:s utrikesminister Rex Tillerson med reportrar ombord på Air Force One. Dölj bildtext 47 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Medan i Riyadh, Saudiarabien, Trump deltar i invigningsceremonin för Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. Saudiarabiska kungen Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, center, och Egyptens president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, vänster. Dölj bildtext 48 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump talar i Riyadh under Arab Islamic American Summit på söndag, 21 maj. Trump såg till att klargöra att USA inte är i krig med islam. "Detta är inte en strid mellan olika trosriktningar, olika sekter eller olika civilisationer", sade han. "Detta är en kamp mellan barbariska brottslingar som försöker utplåna människoliv, och anständiga människor av alla religioner som försöker skydda det. Detta är en strid mellan gott och ont." Dölj Bildtext 49 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump sitter på toppmötet, som inkluderade ledare från 55 muslimska-majoritetsländer. Han uppmanade dem att göra mer för att utrota terroristgrupper som gör anspråk på islams mantel. "Vi kan bara övervinna detta onda om de goda krafterna är enade och starka och om alla i detta rum gör sin beskärda del och uppfyller sin del av bördan," Trump sade. "Muslimska majoritetsländer måste ta ledningen när det gäller att utrota radikalisering." Dölj Bildtext 50 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump poserar med andra ledare på Arab Islamic American Summit. Dölj bildtext 51 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Saudi King Salman skakar hand med Trump den 21 maj. Trump är den första amerikanska president som påbörjar sin första utlandsresa i Mellanöstern. Dölj bildtext 52 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump träffar andra statschefer i Riyadh den 21 maj. Dölj bildtext 53 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump talar med kronprinsen av Abu Dhabi, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Dölj bildtext 54 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Första damen Melania Trump chattar med barn under ett besök på American International School i Riyadh den 21 maj. Dölj bildtext 55 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Medan han är i Riyadh träffar president Trump Bahrains kung Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa den 21 maj. Dölj bildtext 56 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa President Trump och Egyptens president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi delar ett skratt under ett möte den 21 maj. El-Sisi komplimenterade Trump för hans "unika personlighet som är kapabel att göra det omöjliga." Trump utbytte artigheter tillbaka, prisade el-Sisis skor. Dölj bildtext 57 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump är överlämnad ett svärd under en välkomstceremoni på Riyadhs Murabba Palace lördagen den 20 maj. Dölj bildtext 58 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump sitter med medlemmar av sin personal och kabinett inför ett möte med den saudiske kungen Salman den 20 maj. Dölj bildtext 59 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump och kung Salman deltar i en signeringsceremoni på Saudi Royal Court i Riyadh den 20 maj. De två ledarna övervakade undertecknandet av en försvarsaffär värd nästan 110 miljarder dollar. Dölj Bildtext 60 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trumps tittar på en uppvisning av modern konst på Saudi Royal Court i Riyadh. Dölj bildtext 61 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Kung Salman ger Trump ett förgyllt halsband och medalj, landets högsta ära. Utmärkelsen delades också ut till presidenterna Barack Obama och George W. Bush. Dölj bildtext 62 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utlandsresa Den första damen chattar med den saudiske kronprinsen Muhammad bin Nayef vid medaljceremonin den 20 maj. Dölj bildtext 63 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Ivanka Trump deltar i medaljceremonin. Dölj bildtext 64 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump träffar kung Salman efter att ha anlänt till Riyadh den 20 maj. Dölj bildtext 65 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Soldater till häst bär USA:s och Saudiarabiens flaggor när de eskorterar Trump till Saudi Royal Court i Riyadh. Dölj bildtext 66 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trump välkomnas av King Salman efter ankomsten till King Khalid International Airport i Riyadh. Dölj bildtext 67 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Trumps deltar i välkomstceremonin. Dölj bildtext 68 av 69 Foton: President Trumps första utländska resa Presidenten och första damvågen från Air Force One efter landning i Riyadh. Dölj bildtext 69 av 69 På NATO hade stämningen inte förbättrats. Trots militärbanden och en militär jetöverflygning var Trump inte på försonligt humör. Medan han svor i Riyadh att USA inte längre skulle föreläsa om sina allierade -- särskilt om mänskliga rättigheter -- så var det en föreläsning han höll under en avtäckningsceremoni i militäralliansens nya byggnad. "Tjugotre av de 28 medlemsnationerna betalar fortfarande inte vad de ska betala och vad de ska betala för sitt försvar," Trump sade som hans med NATO ledare öppet hånskrattade. "Detta är inte rättvist mot folket och skattebetalarna i USA. Och många av dessa nationer är skyldiga enorma summor pengar från tidigare år och inte betala under de senaste åren." Trumps budskap innehöll inte ett uttryckligt stöd för Natos kollektiva försvarspakt -- en attack mot en är en attack mot alla -- även om hans medhjälpare senare insisterade på att budskapet var underförstått. När han blandade sig vid sitt första stora toppmöte med världens ledare, var det uppenbart att den nya medlemmen av det exklusiva samhället inte var ute efter att skaffa vänner. Han förblev till stor del isolerad under informella samtal, och talade intensivt med Natos generalsekreterare Jens Stoltenberg som andra ledare hukade runt Merkel, Europas mäktigaste ledare. När det var dags för en foto-op trängde sig Trump förbi Montenegros premiärminister till fronten. Det var långt ifrån välkomnandet han hade upplevt i Saudiarabien bara fem dagar tidigare. Och det berodde inte på förbättring när han flög till sitt slutstopp på Sicilien. Just WATCHED Trump rådgivare dodge Kushner frågor Replay Mer Videos ... MÅSTE WATCH Trump rådgivare dodge Kushner frågor 01:28 Ryssland frågor virvla Den veckolånga svängen genom Mellanöstern och Europa gav tillfällig lättnad för en belägrade Trump, vars president nådde sina mest prekära ögonblick i skandal-pockade veckan innan han avgick. Aides hade hoppats att han skulle kunna undkomma Rysslands kontroverser en kort stund medan han reste utomlands. Men när Trump kom fram till sitt slutstopp på Sicilien hade sonden in i Rysslands valårsgräl bara inkarnerat närmare Trumps inre krets. När han återvänder, kommer beslut om att anställa advokater och avskeda medhjälpare. Tillbringa sina första nätter som president hemifrån, Trump fann sig stuva över den senaste utvecklingen från utländska hotellrum sent in på natten. Även med hustrun, Melania, vid sidan av under den längsta sträckan av sitt presidentskap, förtärdes Trump av berättelsen som djupt har sidspårat hans agenda. På den klippiga bergssluttningen där ledarna höll på att mötas tycktes frågorna om Ryssland och kontroverserna där hemma sammansmälta. Ledare undrade om Trump -- vars kampanj fick hjälp av ryskt vals inblandning, enligt en amerikansk underrättelseanalys -- någonsin kunde litas på att konfrontera den ryske presidenten Vladimir Putin. Den ryska kontroversen hindrade också Trump från att fullt ut omfamna vad som normalt skulle vara ett kröningsögonblick av hans presidentskap. Ovilliga att möta frågor om kontroversen, Trump eschewed någon form av interaktion med pressen, en miljö han annars kunde använda för att tippa sina prestationer utomlands. De flesta andra ledare tog frågor när de avgick Taormina, många detaljpunkter av stridigheter med den nya USA-ledaren. Trump själv erbjöd ingen syn på sin sida av mötena och han kunde inte heller artikulera sin utrikespolitik samtidigt som han svarade på frågor om dem. Återkommen till Washington, Trump kvar i sin kokong -- nöjd med sig själv, men medveten tystnaden kommer inte att pågå mycket längre. President Donald Trump avslutade sin första utlandsresa på en flytande not lördag, berättar en skara amerikanska sjömän på en flottbas på Sicilien: “Jag tror att vi slog en homerun.” Men bortsett från att stänga en $ 110 miljarder vapenaffär med Saudiarabien på den första dagen av hans nio dagars turné, var det inte helt klart vilka konkreta mål presidenten uppnått. Story Continued Below Trump gjorde det genom den ansträngande resan utan en större diplomatisk incident-trots ett nära samtal i Israel, där han frivilligt till reportrar att han aldrig hade yttrat landets namn som källan till underrättelser han enligt uppgift delade med ryska tjänstemän under ett Ovala Office besök. Och han lyckades skjuta upp allierade som pressade honom att hålla USA i landmärket 2015 Paris klimatavtal, köpa sig utrymme för att göra ett diplomatiskt tafatt beslut som kommer att glädja hans bas hemma. Nu, Trump återvänder hem till fördjupade skandaler relaterade till hans medhjälpares band till Ryssland, efter att ha visat sin förmåga att representera USA på världsscenen i sann Trump mode. Här är POLITICO: s fem takeaways efter att ha rest med presidenten genom fem stopp: Trump föredrar en-mot-en möten framför stora multilaterala toppmöten Trump verkade njuta av den första delen av sin resa, med besök i Saudiarabien, Israel, och Vatikanen. Hans tid i Saudiarabien dominerades av ett firande i ett förgyllt palats där Trump blandade sig bland kungligheter. Tillsammans med uppgörelsen i Saudiarabien dominerades första halvan av turnén av prat om säkerhet och terrorism, båda favoritämnena Trump. Men i Bryssel och Sicilien, Trump hittade motparter som var i stort sett enade mot honom-och beslutade att inte ge dem vad de ville, oavsett om det var ett offentligt engagemang för Natos ömsesidiga försvar klausul eller samtycke till att stanna i Paris klimatavtal. Det mest pålitliga nyhetsbrevet om politik. Registrera dig för POLITICO Playbook och få de senaste nyheterna, varje morgon — i din inkorg. E-post Registrera dig Genom att registrera dig godkänner du att få nyhetsbrev eller varningar från POLITICO. Du kan avregistrera dig när som helst. Optiken var budskapet Trump glödde när han lade händerna på ett upplyst klot vid sidan av kung Salman vid Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology i Saudiarabien på söndag. Vid västra muren i Jerusalem var Trump vördnadsfull och fredlig när han rörde vid väggen med en yarmulke på huvudet. Vid Vatikanen flinade Trump vid sidan av sin svartklädda fru och dotter medan påven Francis glödde. I Europa hade Trump mer tafatta möten som telegraferade hans attityd. Fotot av honom hårt greppa handen på den franska presidenten Emmanuel Macron och video av honom visas för att driva förbi premiärministern i Montenegro ur hans väg gjorde rubriker. Vid G7 toppmötet familjefoto, tittade den tyska förbundskanslern Angela Merkel bort när han stod bredvid Trump, som tittade ner. Trumps "home-run" åstadkommit mycket lite - kanske genom design Privat, några amerikanska tjänstemän kallade jaunt "helt värdelösa." Mycket få beslut togs i toppmötet möten, medan Trump spelade till sin bas med en "Amerika First" strategi för utländska relationer. Men presidenten kom undan utan att ge några löften som skulle vara svåra att hålla tillbaka i Washington – och lyckades vända positioner tagna av sin företrädare, president Barack Obama, utan att orsaka större diplomatiska rader. EU-rådets ordförande Donald Tusk kallade helgens samlande "det svåraste G7-toppmötet", eftersom Trump anlände för att försöka vända tidigare positioner som hölls av USA. Medundertecknare, desperata att hålla avtalet tillsammans, har privat accepterat att de kan behöva högre utsläppsnivåer för USA för att hålla dem i pakten, som Trump så småningom kunde tout som en seger, enligt en amerikansk diplomat. Slutresultatet för G7 var en urvattnad kommuniké, där sex av de sju medlemmarna bekräftade sitt ”starka engagemang” för Parisavtalet om klimatförändringar. Trump har sagt att han kommer att fatta ett slutgiltigt beslut så snart nästa vecka. Men Trump slutligen tog en position på Ryssland Medan G7-allierade inte kunde spika ner Trump s inställning till Paris klimatavtal, de fick lite mer klarhet om administrationens ståndpunkt om sanktioner mot Ryssland. Chef ekonomisk rådgivare Gary Cohn föreslog inledningsvis i Bryssel att Vita huset ännu inte hade en ståndpunkt om sanktioner som härrör från Rysslands 2014 annektering av Krim, men sedan berättade reportrar på fredagen, “Vi sänker inte våra sanktioner mot Ryssland. Om något, skulle vi förmodligen se till att bli tuffare på Ryssland. "Den slutliga G7 kommunikén upprätthöll en hård linje på Ryssland. Trump hoppades på en återställning, men han fick i alla fall undvika sina problem hemma under en vecka President Donald Trump gav inte en enda presskonferens på resan, bryta med traditionen att tala med reportrar under större resor för att främja Vita husets berättelse. Medan de andra sex ledarna som deltog i G7 toppmötet höll presskonferenser lördag vid avslutningen av händelsen, Trump tog fart för en amerikansk flottbas, där han tackade sin fru, Melania, för att ha anslutit sig till honom, och tippade sin “sanna historiska vecka.” ^ President Trump återvände hem på lördagen för att konfrontera en växande politisk och juridisk hot, som hans främsta medhjälpare försökte att begränsa nedfallet från rapporter om att hans svärson, Jared Kushner, är ett fokus för undersökningar om eventuell samverkan mellan Ryssland och presidentens kampanj och övergång team. När Mr Trump avslutade en nio dagar lång utlandsresa som medhjälpare ansåg den mest framgångsrika sträckan av sitt presidentskap, han återvände till en kris som bara hade vuxit i hans frånvaro. Vita huset ställde in en presidentresa till Iowa under de kommande dagarna och satte ihop en skadekontrollplan för att utöka presidentens juridiska team, omorganisera sin kommunikationspersonal och mura av en skandal som har äventyrat hans agenda och nu hotar att uppsluka hans familj. Mr Trumps privata juridiska team, under ledning av sin advokat Marc E. Kasowitz i New York, förberedde sig för att mötas i Washington för att möta nya frågor om kontakter mellan Mr Kushner och företrädare för president Vladimir V. Putin i Ryssland. Mr Trump kan träffa Mr Kasowitz så tidigt som söndag, och medhjälpare har rekryterat en rad framstående Washington advokater med erfarenhet av politiska utredningar för Mr Trump att intervjua i hopp om att de kan gå med i det juridiska laget. Mr Kushner, som organiserade presidentens Mellanösternstopp i början av utlandsresan, valde att återvända till Washington med flera dagar kvar och har varit ovanligt dämpad sedan dess. Men han har inga planer på att avgå från sin roll som senior rådgivare eller att minska sina plikter, enligt personer i hans närhet. Historie höjdpunkter Trump avslutade sin nio dagar långa resa i Italien Han talade på US Naval Air Station Sigonella innan han lämnade för Washington Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italien (CNN) President Donald Trump kunde inte återvända hem från sin första utländska resa utan att ta en snabb seger varv. Men även när han tippade framgångarna med sin nio dagar långa svepning genom Mellanöstern och Europa innan bordning Air Force One, verkade Trump ivrig att fördröja sin återkomst till Washington, där en storm av kontroverser väntar honom. "Kanske jag stannar nere med dig och firar tillsammans och bara vinkar," Trump skämtade till de flera hundra amerikanska servicemedlemmar och deras familjer som trängs in i en flygplanshangar här för att se honom av. Air Force One landade strax efter klockan 21. ET lördag på Joint Base Andrews utanför Washington, och han och första damen Melania Trump lämnade med helikopter för Vita huset. Nu när han är tillbaka i Washington måste han konfrontera den senaste utvecklingen i den federala utredningen om medlemmar i kampanjens potentiella samverkan med ryska tjänstemän under valet 2016. Framför allt, strax efter Trump landade på Sicilien för den sista delen av sin resa, dök nyheter upp om att FBI nu undersöker den roll hans svärson och äldre rådgivare Jared Kushner höll under kampanjen och övergången, inklusive hans kontakter med ryska tjänstemän. Läs mer Vad är en sammanfattning av ovanstående artikel?
With his first trip abroad as president behind him, when President Trump Donald John TrumpRobert De Niro, Ben Stiller play Mueller and Cohen in "SNL" parody of "Meet the Parents" Trump order goal wide swath of public aid programs Comey says Trump reacted to news of Russian interference by asking about the changed election results More countries in Washington overnight Saturday he arrives at a lot of controversy besieging his administration. It may be a rude awakening after what Trump called a "home run" of a trip. The White House has largely kept quiet about controversy swirling at home and is likely to try to emphasize the president's travel success in the coming days. Trump and his helpers hope to take a victory lap over their first trip abroad — a sweeping nine - day trip through five different countries across the Middle East and Europe. In Saudi Arabia, the president's first stop overseas, Trump secured a massive arms sale, worth about $110 billion. In Jerusalem, he strengthened the United States' relations with Israel and reaffirmed his commitment to peace-building in the Middle East. And in Brussels, Trump uprooted his call to NATO members to strengthen their defence spending in order to meet their treaty obligations. Here are five takeaways from the President's tumultuous journey. Trump took a softer note of Islam Trump moved away from his once persistent rhetoric about Islam under an address in Riyadh to leaders across the Muslim world last Sunday, calling instead for unity in the fight against Islamist extremism. "This is not a struggle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," Trump said. "This is a struggle between barbaric criminals who are trying to wipe out human life and decent people, all in the name of religion, people who want to protect life and want to protect their religion. This is a battle between good and evil." Not once in his speech did Trump return to his once-used phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe the extremist groups and militants he has sworn to fight. But he also urged Muslim leaders to "eject the terrorists and extremists" from their communities, and urged them to do more to combat extremist ideologies in the Muslim world. He confirmed his support for Israel and pressed for peace in the Middle East The President arrived in Israel amid revelations that he had revealed highly classified intelligence provided by the Key Alliance to Russian officials. However, Trump quickly eased the controversy and affirmed U.S. support for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raved on Twitter about Trump's "taking such a strong stand for Israel and the Jewish people." Trump made a solemn visit to the Western Wall in East Jerusalem, where he stayed a moment of silence before placing a note between the stones of the wall. It was the first trip to the wall of a sitting president, although other presidents have visited the Holy Site either before or after leaving the White House. But he also expressed the hope of making peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours, never declaring his intention to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a move that would certainly make Palestinians angry, please Israel, and complicate peacemaking. "I've heard it's one of the toughest deals in the world," he said, citing Middle East peacemaking. "But I'm sure we'll get there eventually." Trump criticized NATO over defense spending Trump's "America First" foreign policy strategy was on full display in Brussels when the president spoke a collection of with NATO members at the organization's headquarters in Belgium. At the heart of his speech was his claim that the United States shoulder an unfair burden of NATO defence costs, and that Member States must spend at least two percent of their GDP on defense, a goal agreed by all members in 2014. At present, only five NATO countries are meeting this expenditure target. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States," he said, speaking directly to world leaders during a ceremony in Brussels. "And many of these nations owe huge sums of money from past years and do not pay in recent years." The complaint that other countries are not doing enough to provide their own defense is one that Trump often tipped on the campaign trail. But after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last month, Trump pivoted on his claim that the treaty organization is "out of date", leading some to question whether the president would take an approach to NATO more typical of former presidents. Nevertheless, in his speech to NATO leaders, Trump refused to reaffirm US support for the organization's principle of mutual defence, failing to address the growing European concern over Russia's intentions in the region. He declined to pledge support for Paris climate agreement Trump refused to join group of seven (G7) leaders on Saturday in taking a promise to support Paris' climate agreement, leaving it unclear whether the United States will remain part of the agreement. If the United States withdraws, as Trump has floated in the past, it would be the first to do so among the 195 countries that have agreed to the deal. Trump's decision not to take the promise further highlighted a strong division between the United States and its allies on the issue of climate change. But as a presidential candidate, Trump campaigned to strengthen American fossil fuels, especially the coal industry. Still, the president's aides left open the possibility of Trump sticking to the climate agreement, saying his views on the issue are "evolving" as he speaks to other leaders about it. “I think his views are evolving,” National Economic Council director Gary Cohn Gary Davivd CohnTop Trump security advisor Tom Bossert resigns BET co-founder credits Trump tax cut by bringing black workers back to the workforce What happened to the ‘best and most serious people’? More like that. “He came here to learn, he came here to be smarter and he came here to hear people’s views.” Trump never held a press conference Trump broke the tradition of never fielding reporters’ questions in a news conference during the trip, which is unlike his predecessor. During the week leading up to his departure on the trip, the White House faced a series of controversy that began with the president's decision to fire FBI chief James Comey earlier this month. These scandals continued to rise throughout his journey, and White House officials have been largely silent about them, although the aides raised some issues in the media's gags and conference talks. At a press conference on Saturday, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Cohn declined to answer questions about the growing controversy surrounding Trump's older advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Cohn also insisted that Trump had simply been too busy on his trip to address members of the news media. "The President, since leaving [Washington] has to do with foreign leaders, he has to do with jobs, he has to do with economic growth, he has to do with diplomacy, he has to do with unfair trade, he has to do with Paris, he has to do with China," Cohn said. "His agenda has overflowed. He has been completely consumed by what is happening here." Senior White House officials on Saturday continued to remain silent in response to revelations that Kushner discussed with Russia's ambassador about establishing a back channel line of communication between Trump's transition team and Moscow. Meanwhile, Trump has hired lawyer Marc Kasowitz as an outside attorney to help him navigate the sensitive legal basis around ongoing federal investigations into Russian involvement in the 2016 election and possible interaction between his campaign and the Kremlin. With daily press conferences expected to resume, the White House will likely face questions about these controversy among others within Trump's first days back in the United States. In this May 26, 2017, photo, leader of the G7, from the left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United States President Donald J. Trump, United States President Donald J. Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister of Japan... (Associated Press) TAORMINA, Sicily (AP) — As he rushed through the Middle East and Europe, Donald Trump looked like a conventional American leader abroad. He solemnly laid a wreath at an Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, had audience with the Pope at the Vatican, and stood the 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 American president. During his first overseas tour, the new president made no attempt to publicly promote democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia, instead declaring that he was not there to lecture. In Israel and the West Bank, he did not support the long-standing support of the United States for a two-state solution to the difficult-to-manage peace process. And at the heart of Europe, Trump criticized NATO allies for their financial commitments and would not explicitly support 'one for all, all for a' defence doctrine that has been the cornerstone of transatlantic security for decades. To the White House, Trump's first overseas trip was an embodiment of the promises he made as a candidate to put U.S. interests first and break through the guardrails that long defined U.S. foreign policy. Trump advisors repeatedly described the journey as historic and pioneering, including a senior official who Brashly said without evidence that Trump had "unified the entire Muslim world." Trump spoke to U.S. troops on Saturday at a Sicilian air base just before he resigned to Washington, himself declaring, "I think we hit a home run." Trump boarded Air Force One without having held a single news conference on the trip—a break in presidential precedents that allowed him to avoid facing tough questions about his foreign policy or the furious controversy involving the investigations into the possible ties of his campaign to Russia. Instead, the White House hoped to let the images of Trump in statesman-like environments tell the story of his first overseas trip, and perhaps easy questions about his readiness for the sensitive world of international diplomacy. Nevertheless, these issues will certainly persist, especially in view of Trump's remarkable buzzing of NATO allies in Brussels. In addition to his colleagues, the President accused countries that do not meet NATO's target of spending 2% of their gross domestic product on deposing US taxpayers. He left some allies, already nervous about Russia's saber-rattling and Trump's public affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, further flummoxed when he finished his comments without making an explicit statement of support for Article 5, the common defence clause that underlies the 68-year-old military alliance. "The tune in Article 5, the idea that we're all in this together, isn't the mood he conveyed," said Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The mood he conveyed is that you are a bunch of freeloaders." Some European leaders believe Trump can still be lured away from his controversial campaign positions. At the 7th anniversary meeting in the coastal town of Taormina, leaders launched an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign to get him to remain in Paris' climate agreement. While appearing from the summit without a final decision on the Paris Pact, Trump declared in a tweet Saturday that he will make a final decision next week. Trump's return home Saturday night also shifts attention back to the storm clouds of scandal hovering over the White House. In a briefing with reporters Saturday, White House officials shifted effortlessly and refused to comment when asked about reports that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, was trying to set up secret communications with Russia after the election. Trump's nine-day, five-stop international tour resulted in few tangible political achievements. The United States pulled in a $110 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and unveiled many business commitments in the region, although the White House never provided any specific details of the scope of the agreements. In NATO, the White House tipped the alliance's commitment to increase defence spending, although the resolution was essentially a continuation of a pact agreed two years earlier. Yet the trip offered the clearest picture to date of how Trump plans to put his mark on the US relationship with the world. From the beginning, he set a new direction. Instead of following the presidential tradition by making his international debut in a neighboring democracy such as Canada or Mexico, Trump flew to Saudi Arabia, the repressive desert kingdom. He seemed particularly comfortable in the surroundings. In Riyadh, he received a lavish, gold-plated welcome: His image was projected across the facade of the luxury hotel where he stopped, horses flanked his motorcade as it moved to one of the king's desert palaces and an extravagant celebration was held in his honor, complete with a traditional Saudi sword dance. Trump betrayed no awkwardness in enjoying the warm embrace of one of the world's most oppressive governments. Instead, he returned with a promise not to publicly discipline the ruling royal family for its action against political differences. "We're not here to lecture — we're not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship," Trump said. Trump was extravagant feed in Israel too, embraced by a prime minister who despised his predecessor and was eager to flatter the new president. Trump received several standing ovations — one of his favorite measures of success — during a talk about US relations with Israel. The photo of his solemn visit to the west wall was sprinkled over the front pages of Israel's newspapers. Like many of his predecessors, Trump personally appealed to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But he never uttered the words "two-state solution", the long-standing American political plan that would create a separate homeland for Palestinians. He also did not mention new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an important point of dispute for the Palestinians. The minor moments of the President's journey were endlessly dissected as well, from the apparent reluctance of First Lady Melania Trump to hold her husband's hand on occasions to his pushing aside by the Prime Minister of Montenegro to come to the front of a pack of leaders at a NATO photo occasion. At the G-7, Trump's interaction with other leaders attracted attention. The other six heads of state took a short walk from one event to another and chatted convivalently as they walked through the narrow Sicilian streets. Trump held back and decided not to join his comrades. Instead, he got in a golf cart and the American president's mini motorcade drove the alone route, Trump once again having charted his own course. ___ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jonathan Lemire at http://twitter.com/jonlemire <unk> <unk> Lite is more important to Donald Trump, the brand man-turned-American president, than imagery. Trump manned his government out of central cast, and in the past week it was time for him to audition for his role: leader of the free world. In Washington, Trump is most visible only when he chooses: on an elector in Rose Garden. Say hello when he boardes Marine One. Behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office sign the jumbo-size executive order, press his red button to call a butler with Diet Coke or blink a thumbs up from his high-backed cherry leather chair. But a nine - day overseas marathon that ended Saturday in Sicily has offered the first extended — and often unfiltered, thanks to the steady stream of raw camera footage provided by his host countries — watch Trump on the world stage. Trump was charming and boorish. He was docile to the king of Saudi Arabia and Pope Francis, yet aggressively rude to his European colleagues, pushing aside a Balkan Prime Minister to come to his seat and stand in line for a photo shoot at NATO. The French newspaper Le Monde admonished Trump for “verbal and physical brutality” against NATO allies and said that he “lectured them as children.” [Trump chastises other NATO members, demanding they meet payment obligations] 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Trump's first trip abroad as President View Photos U.S. President traveled to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Belgium and Sicily, Italy. Caption The President of the United States travelled to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Belgium and Sicily, Italy. May 27, 2017 German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks to President Donald Trump as Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi listens during an extended session at the group of seven summits in Taormina, Italy. Philippe Wojazer/Reuters Buy photo Wait 1 second to continue. He wandered around hulking. He unbuttoned nervously and unbuttoned his suit jacket. He sometimes seemed unsure whether to smile his toothy grin or dazzle, as he does when posing for portraits, so he switched. At formal events, Trump did not always know where to go or what to do. “What is the protocol?” he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when they went down a red carpet at an airport arrival ceremony in Tel Aviv. — Who knows? replied Netanyahu. “I think they’ll just tell us where to stand.” Trump was apparently comfortable in environments that evoked his own, such as Saudi Arabia’s gilded-and-witched palace, but appeared in place in others. He arrived as a wreck ball at the new NATO headquarters, a glass and steel behemoth that stands as a symbol of globalism and bureaucracy. Trump's family members went downtown. The daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, both White House advisors, stood behind or next to the President when he gave his speech to Muslim leaders, prayed at the western wall, addressed Israeli-Palestinian peace and met the Pope. They peeled off the journey in Rome, right through. First Lady Melania Trump was ubiquitous, albeit largely silent and unfeeling. She and her husband were rarely seen exchanging words, and he sometimes walked in front of her, almost as if she were an ornament. But the first lady came out of her shell at solo events, distributed Dr. Seuss' books, and painted with children. She was particularly touched by her visit to Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome, where she read another book and held hands with a boy waiting for a heart transplant. A few hours later, the first lady learned that the hospital had found a donor. “Getting that news is a moment I never forget,” she said. (The Washington Post) A Slovenian-born former model, Melania received great attention for her fashion. Saudi media fancied over her dress in Riyadh as “conservative” and “classy”, although she raised her eyebrows and roamed the streets of Sicily in a colorful flower jacket by Italian designer Dolce & Gabbana who reportedly sells for $51,500. [Trump calls Muslim nations to confront ‘Islamic terror of all kinds’] Although critics at home had predicted large gaffes, the president did not. And Trump participated in and contributed to substantial meetings on issues from anti-terrorism and trade to climate change and migration. “A president becomes president,” said Fred Davis, a Republican media strategist. “I hope that this journey gives him a level of personal peace, trust and gravitation that he can use at home.” In Saudi Arabia, Trump’s call for cooperation in the fight against the Islamic state undoubtedly pushed the issue forward, with renewed emphasis on stopping funding of terrorism and blocking militant messages and recruitment. In addition to all essential achievements, Trump revived Arab leaders, especially in the Persian Gulf, who felt they had become disrespectful and ignored by President Barack Obama. "The United States shifted over the past eight years as a neutral actor, at best, who looked the other way around Iran aggression around the world," said Ari-Fleischer, a White House press secretary under former President George W. Bush. “We are now where we should be.” In Israel and in the West Bank, Trump reiterated his promise to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in a peace agreement, although no progress was made in starting that process. He delighted Netanyahu and probably discouraged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by not mentioning a two-state solution as his goal. [Amidst a chillier welcome in Europe, Trump continues to yearn for Saudi Arabia] In Europe, Trump's scoffing remarks on defence spending — during a NATO ceremony commemorating the joint alliance response to September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — left a bad taste. There was widespread disappointment at Trump's failure to use the opportunity to confirm the United States' commitment to the Alliance's Joint Defence Pact, Article 5, although national security advisors H.R. McMaster said that “of course” Trump supports it. Trump’s behaviour, said Stefan Leifert of Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF, was “a slap on the face of all other alliance members.” But there were also positive reactions. Germany’s Die Welt newspaper commentator Christoph B. Schiltz wrote that Trump’s “insurgency, his bugging and his persistence have left the alliance finally getting more involved in the fight against international terrorism.” The White House seemed to step on its own media applause lines by failing to provide timely factsheets or copies of signed agreements Trump was touting publicly as “historical” and “epic.” Media spokesmen were sometimes poorly equipped to provide basic information. And unlike virtually every president on similar trips, Trump did not hold any news conferences. On the campaign trail, as Trump judged Obama's foreign policy, he fixed himself on a picture from China that he believed symbolized the declining power of the United States: Obama landed Air Force One in Hangzhou, where he participated in a group of 20 summits, on a metal ladder extending from the plane's belly. “They have pictures of other leaders who are. . . . . . . comes down with a beautiful red carpet. And Obama comes down a metal staircase," Trump said at a stop in Ohio. "If it was me, I'd say, 'You know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let's go away." Trump didn't have to make that call on this trip. At each stop there were better-than-satisfactory stairs, from which he could descend. At Riyadh airport, trumpets flared, soldiers stood in attention, fighter aircraft flew over and a spotless red carpet stretched over the asphalt. The aging King Salman, who arrived in a golf cart and was helped by a cane, warmly greeted the president at the foot of the stairs. “It was very spectacular,” Trump later told European leaders, using his characteristic hyperbole to describe his welcome in Saudi Arabia. “I don’t think there has ever been such a thing. It was beyond everything that anyone has seen.” [What scandal? In Saudi leg of foreign tour, Trump escapes “that Russia thing.”] On his arrival at Tel Aviv, another band, another red carpet and another head of state stood and waited. Even in Rome and Brussels, which are hardly Trump-friendly towns, the President received a great welcome. Trump often found himself at the center of attention, both because of America's place in the world and his singular position as international curiosity. But he seemed most content with playing the undisputed leading man, as in Riyadh, where the Saudi royal family treated him as one of their own, or in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu lifted him up on every occasion. “It’s disturbing to see how impressionable he is,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a former communications advisor to Obama and Hillary Clinton. “His standard for whether a visit went well or not is how well he was treated. It's worrying to see the leaders of other countries try to outdo each other in appealing to their ego as a way of bending the United States to their will. "Trump's trust was less apparent at the Vatican, where he played it supplicant to the Pope, sitting over a wooden desk as if he were interviewing for a job. As the trip went on, Trump seemed to have less fun, perhaps partly because scandals brewed in Washington to await him. [Pope welcomes Trump to the Vatican despite previous disagreements] In Brussels, where he attended events celebrating NATO, Trump saw straight bored. When the king of Belgium and other leaders took turns at the elector, Trump got fidgety, moving in his place, looking up to the sky and down to his feet, and crossing his arms over his chest. The president — as the aides say, has little patience to listen to other people speaking — then endured a dinner session in which the leaders of all 28 NATO partners made comments. And here in picturesque Taormina, at the group of seven summits on the rocky Sicilian coast, Trump struggled to look interested during long meetings with allies in a room decorated with flags from other countries. As the other G-7 leaders roamed the streets of this ancient fortress town, Trump joined a golf cart. A weight seemed to lift off Trump's shoulders as he landed by helicopter at the United States. Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Sicilian island, for a pep rally with military families before flying home to Washington. The need for diplomatic finesse was over. The music played was his campaign soundtrack. The American flag hanging behind him was several stories long. Trump could be Trump. The president riffed about winning — "you're going to make a lot of win!" — and, evoking President Ronald Reagan, said his journey would pave the way for "peace by strength." "That's what we're going to have," Trump said. “We will have a lot of strength and we will get a lot of peace.” Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin; Stefano Pitrelli in Giardini Naxos, Italy, and Michael Birnbaum in London contributed to this report. Taormina, Italy (CNN) Swinging over the green Ionian Sea Saturday, his first foreign trip behind him, President Donald Trump was in a valley mood. Behind him, set up on the hillside, was the former Dominican monastery where the G7 leaders had just finished haranguing him to abandon his campaign promises to withdraw from a major climate agreement. He didn't give up. Ahead was a crowd of U.S. troops stationed at this stony Italian outpost, eager to hear their commander reprise the foreign agenda he would spend the last nine days considering. After nine days of talks with calculating foreign leaders, Trump was eager to confirm a applauding audience. "We've been gone a long time," Trump explained at Sigonella Air Base here. "Whereever I go -- we've been almost nine days, this is going to be nine days -- I think we ran a home run no matter where we are." It was an optimistic message for a leader who met his new club of foreign counterparts for the first time. But during that point-by-point summary of his journey, uncertainty lay over his agenda and disputes with his foreign counterparts. Trump's first trip abroad was a story told in chapters, each gradually less pleasant for a president who still takes a stand on his position on the world stage. In addition to a dissemination of formal comments, none of the history was told by Trump himself, who refused to hold a news conference and, through his advisers' own consent, revealed some of his thinking to top aid when he jumped from nation to nation. Instead, it was a trip told in pictures with the volume on mute. By the time he resigned Sicily, Trump had delivered four major addresses but clarified none of the issues surrounding his foreign policy. In some ways uncertainty amounted to a gain, at least in the mind of Trump's aide. As Trump prepared to resign Washington on Friday, there was little security among his staff that nine days of odyssey could proceed without failing. Trump himself, who had not slept in a bed that was not his own since he took office, remained skeptical a five-country itinerary could end well. A home body with little appetite for discomfort, Trump imagined the worst. Unpleasant foreign food, withering jet lag and an unfamiliar bed had been his experiences as a businessman abroad. Even during the days leading up to his departure, Trump asked if the trip could be truncated. He vented the ambitious schedule to his leading advisers during the days leading up to his departure. But then it was too late. With meetings locked and the world foresees his global debut, Trump settled in his residence on Air Force One for a flight four times longer than anyone he had taken as president. Just WATCHED President Trump receives Saudi gold medal Replay More videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump receives Saudi gold medal 01:43 A king's welcoming Fourteen hours later, Trump was stuffed into the back of his armored limousine, speeding into downtown Riyadh along with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and watching billboards plastered with both his faces whiz past. Any concern about an uneasy touch-down overseas quickly disappeared. Welcome with horse parades, draped with a gold medal and lured into a male-only sword dance, Trump had finally found a country to treat him like a king, if only for a weekend. For the first time on his presidency, he was regularly accompanied by the first lady, who consulted the U.S. State Department before packing her wardrobe and appeared as the unlikely subplot to Trump's debut on the world stage. Trump's aide named the Middle East Kingdom as the first stop, partly because the lavish lifestyle lived by its monarchy would necessarily be extended to include the president. Launch of the President's journey from Saudi Arabia also underlined its critical importance in the eyes of the White House, especially for the son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, who paid tribute to the business deals reached on the trip. Yet an air of naiveté hung in the air after the President's speech to leaders of more than 50 Muslim majority nations. The White House described it as something of a fait accompli, with a top official twice declaring that the president had "united the Muslim world". In truth, Trump had done nothing of that kind, even with his well-received Riyadh address. Trump's policy advisor Stephen Miller -- whose role in writing the speech raised his eyebrows -- had worked out a conciliatory address replacing Trump's "radical Islamic terror" slogan with the milder "Islamist extremism." As Trump delivered his opening argument to a room packed with leaders of Muslim nations, however, the newly relaxed language did not fully come through. "There's still a lot of work to do," Trump said. "It means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and Islamists and Islamic terror of all kinds." The mistake occurred because the president was exhausted , his advisor later explained, only two days into what would be a nine-day batting through meetings and ceremonies. Just WATCHED Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers Play more videos ... MUST WATCH Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers 02:39 Terror invades Awakeking in Jerusalem two days later to the news of a suicide attack in England, Trump found himself confronting at close range the thematic grounds of his journey. To smudge with helpers in his suite at the King David hotel overlooking the old town, the message of extremism he had delivered in Saudi Arabia -- which came with few details -- suddenly seemed more difficult. In Israel, a country that was intimately acquainted with the scourge of terror and the fortified policy of peace, the problem appeared even more insurmountable. Trump was dissatisfied with the language his advisers had prepared for a speech later that morning. The damnation of the attack lacked verve, Trump thought. Describing the attackers in ordinary terms would not be enough. Instead, he wrote up his own description, using the insult he long considered the most cutting. "I will call them from now on losers because that's what they are. They are losers," Trump said a few hours later standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We'll have more of them. But they're losers -- just remember that." The message was well received. However, several hours later it became clear that Trump was facing a steep climb before bridging the gaps that have long hindered American presidents' attempts to promote stability in the Middle East. "I hope this heralds a real change," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of Trump's comments at the Israel Museum. "Because if the attacker had been Palestinian and the victims had been Israeli children, the suicide bomber's family would have received a contribution from the Palestinian Authority. It's Palestinian law. That law must be changed." It was an intrusion of real obstacles into Trump's vision of peace, which he once considered easy, but which he declared this week the hardest deal of all. Only WITNESS President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts Replay More videos ... MUST WITNESS President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts 01:20 Climate controversy When the President arrived at the Vatican on a sun-blowed morning on Wednesday, Pope Francis did not lecture Trump. He gently encouraged him to do something else: Read. The Pope gave Trump a tied-up copy of his encyclical about protecting the environment, "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home." For all the underlying tensions that set the stage for their first visit, given their unusually harsh exchange last year on immigration and whether the building of walls is a Christian thing to do, the Pope took a different line. A skilled politician in his own right, Francis honed upon the president's pending decision to pull the United States from the Paris climate agreement. It was the first of several calls Trump carried this week on the landmark carbon reduction agreement, which he swore as a candidate to scrap. Retiring G7, Trump said he would make a decision next week. But for the leaders he met in Sicily, his intentions already seemed clear. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the group was having unsatisfactory talks on the issue. The United States abstained from signing a joint statement to support Paris after the summit closed; other leaders said Trump was not prepared to take that step. But in the Vatican, Trump insisted that his mind was open. "I will read them," Trump said of essays from the Pope about the environment and creating peace. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, weighed in with the direct message urging Trump and his team to stick to the Paris Agreement. The President's first meeting with Francis was imbued with symbolism, the last stop in visiting the three homes of Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. He is the second American president to visit the Vatican during Francis' papacy. While President Obama's meeting was 20 minutes longer than Trump's, the Holy See wasted some time comparing the two. When he left the Apostolic Palace, Trump told the Pope, "I won't forget what you said." If he meant climate change, the Pope will have won round one. Just WATCHED Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up Replay More videos ... MUST WATCH Trump call out NATO allies to pay up 02:04 Selective lecture Flying north from Rome, Trump found the temperature quickly cooling. He arrived at NATO headquarters on the outskirts of Rome under a cloud of suspicion on several fronts. After sensitive British intelligence about the Manchester attack appeared in American media, Prime Minister Theresa May fumed , saying that she planned to speak her thoughts when she met Trump at the meetings. It was the second time a foreign government expressed concern about sharing intelligence with its American counterparts: Trump himself revealed secret information to Russian officials earlier this month that could be traced back to Israel. In one of the only off-script moments of his journey, Trump explained in Jerusalem that he had not mentioned Israel by name with his Russian visitors. But in NATO, the unrest was still boiling. It was just one of the gaps between Trump and his European counterparts. After the open-arm welcome in Riyadh and Jerusalem, Trump's foreign swing took a distinct tonal shift. Instead of banquets and horses, Trump was suddenly influenced in suspenseful encounters with leaders deeply skeptical of his foreign agenda. The subsequent sessions continued similarly. Trump reportedly seized on the obstacles to opening golf courses in Europe with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. European Council President Donald Tusk said after his meeting with Trump that they could not bridge differences over Russia. Photos: President Trump's first overseas trip President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump board Air Force One on Saturday 27 May 2017, at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy. They were on their way back to the United States after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe. Hide caption 1 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey President Trump greets people on May 27, after speaking to American troops at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide caption 2 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey President Trump turns to American troops and their families on May 27, at Sigonella Naval Air Station. Hide caption 3 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive on May 27, to address U.S. military personnel and families at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide caption 4 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Leaders of the G-7 and some African nations pose for a photo on May 27, on the second day of the G-7 summit in Taormina, Italy. Hide caption 5 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump gives on May 27, during a G-7 session. Hide caption 6 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for a concert of the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra while in Taormina, Italy, on Friday, May 26. Trumps is in Italy for a two-day G-7 summit. Hide caption 7 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump and other leaders pose for a group photo at the G-7 summit on May 26. From the left comes President of the European Council Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Hide Caption 8 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump and Trudeau go together after the group photo. Hide Caption 9 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey G-7 leaders gather during a walk on May 26. Hide caption 10 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump embraces the new French President Emmanuel Macron on May 26. Hide caption 11 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey The leaders are looking at a French air squadron. Hide caption 12 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Melania Trump arrives at City Hall in Catania, Italy, on 26 May. She was wearing a $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket when she met other husbands of G-7 leaders. Hide caption 13 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump shakes hands with Macron in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday 25 May. They attended a NATO summit when the alliance officially opened a new headquarters for $1 billion. Hide Caption 14 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump stands with other world leaders during a NATO photo session on May 25. Hide caption 15 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump talks to British Prime Minister Theresa May during a working dinner at NATO headquarters. Hide caption 16 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump stands next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the NATO summit. Hide caption 17 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Melania Trump visits Magritte Museum in Brussels with Amelie Derbaudrenghien, partner of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Hide caption 18 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad A girl takes a selfie with Melania Trump at a children's hospital in Brussels on 25 May. Hide caption 19 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump meets Macron in Brussels. Hide caption 20 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump walks with the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, centre, and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, just after they met at the European Council in Brussels on 25 May. Hide caption 21 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump, third from the right, attends a meeting with leaders at the European Council. Hide caption 22 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump speaks to King Philippe of Belgium as Queen Mathilde and Melania Trump chat during a reception at the Royal Palace of Stockholm in Brussels on Wednesday 24 May. Hide caption 23 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Tusk talks to Trump when he welcomes him in Brussels. Hide caption 24 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump stands with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel while the national anthem is played during Trump's arrival in Belgium on 24 May. Hide Picture 25 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Protesters in Brussels demonstrate with effigies of Trump and Michel on 24 May. Hide caption 26 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome on May 24. Hide caption 27 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Pope Francis stands with Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican on May 24. With the president, from the left, Trump's son-in-law, the senior White House adviser Jared Kushner; Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump; and first lady Melania Trump. Hide caption 28 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump and the Pope exchange gifts. Trump presented the Pope with a first-release production of Martin Luther King's writings. The Pope gave Trump a medal of olive trees that the Pope said symbolized peace. Hide Caption 29 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump and his wife look at the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Hide caption 30 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump speaks to reporters in Rome during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, right, 24 May. Hide Caption 31 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey The first lady visits a children's hospital in Vatican City on 24 May. Hide caption 32 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Melania Trump arrives at the Vatican on May 24. With the Vatican protocol in mind, she wore a black veil and long-sleeved black dress draped down to her calf. Ivanka Trump wore a similar outfit with a larger veil. Hide caption 33 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wave at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday 23 May. Trump gave a speech there, confirming his country's commitment to Israel while also holding up the historical ties of Judaism to the United States. Hide caption 34 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey People take pictures of the message Trump wrote on Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Monument in Jerusalem, on May 23. Hide caption 35 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Using US Marines, Trump and his wife lay a wreath at Yad Vashem. Hide caption 36 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump meets Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, on May 23. Trump met Israeli leaders the day before and said he believes both sides "are ready to reach peace." Hide caption 37 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad A Palestinian security official takes his place before Trump's convoy arrives in Bethlehem, West Bank. Hide caption 38 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Israeli and American activists hold signs Monday, May 22 during an anti-Trump protest next to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hide caption 39 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Melania Trump and First Lady of Israel Sara Netanyahu speak to children during their visit to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem on 22 May. Hide caption 40 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad Trump talks to reporters when he meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 22 May. Trump attempted to refute claims that he damaged Israel's intelligence capability by revealing highly classified information to Russian agents earlier this month. "Just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or name Israel," Trump told reporters as he began the second stage of his first foreign tour. Hide caption 41 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump touches the western wall, the most holy place of prayer of Judaism, while in Jerusalem on May 22. Trump became the first incumbent U.S. president to visit the wall. Hide caption 42 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump stands in the West Wall plaza. To his left, in black, is Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi at the Western Wall. Hide caption 43 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey First Lady Melania Trump, in white, visits the Western Wall. At the far left is Ivanka Trump. Hide caption 44 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad The President and the First Lady plant a tree in Jerusalem together with Israel's President Reuven Rivlin. Hide caption 45 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump is welcomed by Netanyahu upon arrival at Tel Aviv on May 22. Trump began his journey by two days in Saudi Arabia. Hide Image 46 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip On his way to Tel Aviv, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One. Hide caption 47 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump participates in the opening ceremony of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, center, and Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, left. Hide caption 48 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump speaks in Riyadh during the Arab Islamic American Summit on Sunday, May 21. Trump made it clear that the United States is not at war with Islam. "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," he said. "This is a struggle between barbaric criminals who are trying to wipe out human lives, and decent people of all religions who are trying to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil." Hide Caption 49 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump is sitting at the summit, which included leaders from 55 Muslim-majority countries. He called on them to do more to eradicate terrorist groups claiming the cloak of Islam. "We can only overcome this evil if the good forces are united and strong and if everyone in this room does their fair share and fulfills their part of the burden," Trump said. "Muslim majority countries must take the lead in eradicating radicalisation." Hide Caption 50 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump poses with other leaders at the Arab Islamic American Summit. Hide caption 51 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Saudi King Salman shakes hands with Trump on May 21. Trump is the first U.S. president to begin his first overseas journey in the Middle East. Hide caption 52 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump meets other Heads of State in Riyadh on May 21. Hide caption 53 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump speaks to the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Hide caption 54 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First Lady Melania Trump chats with children during a visit to American International School in Riyadh on May 21. Hide caption 55 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad While he is in Riyadh, President Trump meets Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on May 21. Hide caption 56 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad President Trump and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi share a laugh during a meeting on May 21. El-Sisi complimented Trump for his "unique personality capable of doing the impossible." Trump exchanged courtesy back, praising el-Sisi's shoes. Hide caption 57 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump is handed over a sword during a welcome ceremony at Riyadh's Murabba Palace on Saturday 20 May. Hide caption 58 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump sits with members of his staff and cabinet in preparation for a meeting with Saudi King Salman on May 20. Hide caption 59 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump and King Salman attend a signing ceremony at Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh on May 20. The two leaders oversaw the signing of a $110 billion defense deal. Hide Caption 60 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trumps is looking at a display of modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide caption 61 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey King Salman gives Trump a gilded necklace and medal, the country's highest honor. The award was also presented to Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Hide caption 62 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first trip abroad The first lady chats with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef at the medal ceremony on May 20. Hide caption 63 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Ivanka Trump takes part in the medal ceremony. Hide caption 64 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump meets King Salman after arriving in Riyadh on May 20. Hide caption 65 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Soldiers on horseback carry the flags of the United States and Saudi Arabia as they escort Trump to Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide caption 66 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign journey Trump is welcomed by King Salman after arriving at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Hide caption 67 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trumps participates in the welcome ceremony. Hide caption 68 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first women's wave from Air Force One after landing in Riyadh. Hide caption 69 out of 69 At NATO, the atmosphere had not improved. Despite the military ties and a military jet overflight, Trump was not in a conciliatory mood. While he swore in Riyadh that the United States would no longer lecture about its allies -- especially on human rights -- it was a lecture he gave during a unveiling ceremony in the new building of the military alliance. "Twenty-one of the 28 member nations still don't pay what to pay and what to pay for their defense," Trump said as his with NATO leaders openly scoffed. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe huge sums of money from past years and do not pay in recent years." Trump's message did not contain explicit support for NATO's collective defence pact -- an attack on one is an attack on everyone -- although his aides later insisted that the message was implied. When he intervened at his first major summit with world leaders, it was obvious that the new member of the exclusive community was not looking to make friends. He remained largely isolated during informal talks, and spoke intensively with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as other leaders crouched around Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader. When it was time for a photo-op, Trump pushed past Montenegro's Prime Minister to the front. It was far from the welcome he had experienced in Saudi Arabia just five days earlier. And it wasn't because of improvement when he flew to his final stop in Sicily. Just WATCHED Trump advisor dodge Kushner issues Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump advisor dodge Kushner issues 01:28 Russia issues swirl The week-long turn through the Middle East and Europe provided temporary relief for a besieged Trump, whose president reached his most precarious moments in scandal-pocked the week before he resigned. Aides had hoped that he would be able to escape Russia's controversy for a short while while traveling abroad. But when Trump reached his final stop in Sicily, the probe had entered Russia's election year quarrel only incarnated closer to Trump's inner circle. When he returns, decisions will be made to hire lawyers and fire aides. Spend their first nights as president from home, Trump found himself stowing over the latest developments from foreign hotel rooms late into the night. Even with the wife, Melania, alongside for the longest stretch of her presidency, Trump was consumed by the story which has deeply sidetracked his agenda. On the rocky hillside where the leaders were meeting, the issues of Russia and the controversy at home seemed to merge. Leaders wondered whether Trump -- whose campaign was aided by Russian waltz involvement, according to a U.S. intelligence analysis -- could ever be trusted to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian controversy also prevented Trump from fully embracing what would normally be a coronation moment of his presidency. Unwilling to face questions about the controversy, Trump eschewed some form of interaction with the press, an environment he could otherwise use to tip his achievements abroad. Most other leaders took questions when they resigned Taormina, many points of detail of contention with the new United States leader. Trump himself offered no view of his side of the meetings nor could he articulate his foreign policy while answering questions about them. Returning to Washington, Trump remains in his cocoon -- satisfied with himself, but conscious silence will not last much longer. President Donald Trump ended his first overseas trip on a floating note Saturday, telling a crowd of American sailors on a naval base in Sicily: “I think we hit a home run.” But aside from closing a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia on the first day of his nine days tour, it wasn’t absolutely clear what concrete goals the president achieved. Story Continued Below Trump did so through the strenuous journey without a major diplomatic incident-despite a close conversation in Israel, where he volunteered to reporters that he had never uttered the name of the country as the source of intelligence he reportedly shared with Russian officials during an Oval Office visit. And he managed to postpone allies who pressured him to keep the United States in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, buy himself space to make a diplomatic awkward decision that will delight his base at home. Now, Trump returns home to deepened scandals related to his aides' ties to Russia, having shown his ability to represent the United States on the world stage in true Trump fashion. Here are POLITICO's five takeaways after traveling with the president through five stops: Trump prefers one-on-one meetings over major multilateral summits Trump seemed to enjoy the first part of his journey, with visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican. His time in Saudi Arabia was dominated by a celebration in a gilded palace where Trump mingled among royalty. Along with the settlement in Saudi Arabia, the first half of the tour was dominated by talk about security and terrorism, both favorite topics Trump. But in Brussels and Sicily, Trump found counterparts who were largely united against him—and decided not to give them what they wanted, whether it was a public commitment to NATO's mutual defence clause or consent to stay in Paris' climate agreement. The most reliable newsletter on politics. Sign up for the POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign up By registering you agree to receive newsletters or warnings from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. The optics were the message Trump glowed as he laid his hands on an illuminated orb alongside King Salman of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. At the western wall of Jerusalem, Trump was reverent and peaceful when he touched the wall with a yarmulke on his head. At the Vatican, Trump grinned alongside his black-clad wife and daughter while Pope Francis glowed. In Europe, Trump had more awkward meetings that telegraphed his attitude. The photo of him hard gripping the hand of French President Emmanuel Macron and video of him is shown to drive past the Prime Minister of Montenegro out of his path made headlines. At the G7 family photo summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked away as he stood next to Trump, who looked down. Trump's "home-run" accomplished very little - perhaps by design Private, some U.S. officials called jaunt "totally useless." Very few decisions were made in summit meetings, while Trump played to his base with an "America First" strategy for foreign relations. But the president got away without making any promises that would be hard to hold back in Washington – and managed to turn positions taken by his predecessor, President Obama, without causing major diplomatic lines. EU Council President Donald Tusk called the weekend's gathering "the hardest G7 summit", as Trump arrived to try to reverse previous positions held by the United States. Co-signatories, desperate to keep the agreement together, have privately accepted that they may need higher emission levels for the United States to keep them in the pact, which Trump could eventually tout as a victory, according to a U.S. diplomat. The final result of the G7 was a watered down communiqué, in which six of the seven members confirmed their ‘strong commitment’ to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Trump has said that he will make a final decision as soon as next week. But Trump finally took a position on Russia While the G7 allies could not nail Trump's attitude to Paris' climate agreement, they gained a little more clarity about the administration's position on sanctions against Russia. Chief Financial Advisor Gary Cohn initially suggested in Brussels that the White House did not yet have a position on sanctions stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, but then reporters told on Friday, “We are not lowering our sanctions against Russia. If anything, we would probably make sure to get tougher on Russia. "The final G7 communique maintained a hard line on Russia. Trump hoped for a restoration, but he had to avoid his problems at home for a week President Donald Trump did not give a single press conference on the trip, breaking with the tradition of talking to reporters during major trips to promote the White House story. While the other six leaders who participated in the G7 summit held press conferences Saturday at the conclusion of the event, Trump took off for a U.S. naval base, in which he thanked his wife, Melania, for joining him, and tipped his “true historic week.” ^ President Trump returned home on Saturday to confront a growing political and legal threat, as his main aides tried to limit the fallout from reports that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is a focus for investigations into possible interactions between Russia and the presidential campaign and transition team. When Mr. Trump completed a nine-day overseas journey as an aide considered the most successful stretch of his presidency, he returned to a crisis that had only grown in his absence. The White House cancelled a presidential trip to Iowa over the next few days and put together a damage control plan to expand the president's legal team, reorganize his communications staff and wall off a scandal that has compromised his agenda and now threatens to engulf his family. Mr. Trump's private legal team, led by his lawyer Marc E. Kasowitz in New York City, prepared to meet in Washington to face new questions of contacts between Mr. Kushner and representatives of President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia. Mr. Trump may meet Mr. Kasowitz as early as Sunday, and aides have recruited a series of prominent Washington lawyers with experience in political investigations for Mr. Trump to interview in the hope that they can join the legal team. Mr. Kushner, who organized the President's Middle East halt at the start of the overseas journey, chose to return to Washington with several days left and has been unusually subdued ever since. But he has no plans to resign from his role as senior advisor or to reduce his duties, according to people in his vicinity. Historie highlights Trump ended his nine-day journey in Italy He spoke at US Naval Air Station Sigonella before leaving for Washington Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy (CNN) President Donald Trump was unable to return home from his first foreign voyage without taking a quick victory lap. But even when he tipped the success of his nine-day sweep through the Middle East and Europe before boarding Air Force One, Trump seemed eager to delay his return to Washington, where a storm of controversy awaits him. "Maybe I'll stay down with you and celebrate together and just wave," Trump joked to the several hundred U.S. service members and their families who are crowded into an airplane hangar here to see him off. Air Force One landed shortly after 9 p.m. ET Saturday at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, and he and first lady Melania Trump left by helicopter for the White House. Now that he is back in Washington, he must confront recent developments in the federal investigation into members of the campaign's potential interaction with Russian officials during the 2016 election. Above all, shortly after Trump landed in Sicily for the final part of his trip, news surfaced that the FBI is now investigating the role his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner held during the campaign and transition, including his contacts with Russian officials. Read more What is a summary of the above article?
– "Jag tror att vi slog en homerun," President Trump berättade en publik av amerikanska medlemmar tjänst på en italiensk militärbas på lördag när han avslutade sin virvelvind första resan utomlands. "Kanske jag stannar nere med dig och firar tillsammans," skämtade han, per CNN, som noterar att Trump kallade resan "trovärdigt produktiv," "historisk," och sade om sina kamrater på världsscenen att "vi fick en hel del goda vänner denna vecka." Air Force One landade på amerikansk mark klockan 21.00 lördag kväll med presidenten och första damen, och New York Times beskriver några av de kriser som väntar på hans uppmärksamhet, särskilt rapporter om att svärson Jared Kushner var i kontakt med ryssar under kampanjen. En titt runt bedömningarna av resan: CNN sammanställer video höjdpunkter från resan. The Washington Post kallar honom "alternativt charmig och boorisk," men kallar det "livets roll" för Trump. AP fördjupar sig i skillnaden mellan resans optik och bildspråk, som var konventionella, och retoriken, som inte var det. The Hill har fem takeaways från resan, inklusive föreläsningen han höll NATO. Politico har också fem hämtlingar, och noterar att presidenten verkar bekvämare i ett-mot-ett utbyte än i stora toppmöten.
“I think we hit a home run,” President Trump told an audience of American members service on an Italian military base on Saturday when he finished his whirlwind first trip abroad. "Maybe I'll stay down with you and celebrate together," he joked, per CNN, noting that Trump called the trip "credibly productive," "historically," and said of his comrades on the world stage that "we made a lot of good friends this week." Air Force One landed on U.S. soil at 9 p.m. Saturday night with the President and First Lady, and the New York Times describes some of the crises awaiting his attention, particularly reports that Jared Kushner, son-in-law, was in contact with Russians during the campaign. A look around the assessments of the trip: CNN compiles video highlights from the trip. The Washington Post calls him "alternatively charming and boorish," but calls it "the role of life" Trump. AP immerses itself in the difference between the trip's optics and imagery, which were conventional, and the rhetoric, which was not. The Hill has five takeaways from the trip, including the lecture he gave NATO. Politico also has five take-offs, noting that the president seems more comfortable in one-on-one exchange than in major summits.