the National Security Advsior, Robert C. O’Brien, joined me this morning:

Audio:

01-29hhs-o’brien

Transcript:

HH: But now we are joined by Robert C. O’Brien. Good morning, Mr. Ambassador, good to have you.

ROB: Hey, it’s great to be back on the show, Hugh. It’s been a while.

HH: It’s been a while. I have to disclose to everyone you are a very close friend. We are former law partners. Indeed, I wrote the preface to your 2016 book, While America Slept. So with that out of the way, I want to cover four things with you quickly – Bolton, Huawei, Coronavirus, and the Mid-East. I don’t even know if you can tell me, but have you read Ambassador Bolton’s book? And if so, can you tell us about it?

ROB: Well, it’s under the normal review process here at the NSC. Anyone who was at the White House and has access to top secret or sensitive compartmented information has to submit their books for review. The Ambassador did that. It’s under review by the career staff, and for classification purposes and otherwise, and we’ll see how that turns out. They’re in contact with Ambassador Bolton’s lawyers on the process, and that’s all I want to get into. It’s Ambassador Bolton’s book. You know, it’s, you know, you’re always concerned when anyone writes, immediately leaves work at the White House and writes a book and talks about their interactions and that sort of thing with the President. That’s something that’s, you know, not the greatest form. But it’s under review by the career staff. They’ll deal with Ambassador Bolton, and we’ll see how it plays out.

HH: Secondly, Huawei, I just saw you tell Maria Bartiromo “We’ll go old school if we have to, paper documents.” You explained “Five Eyes” to me originally years ago. This is a major compromise of Five Eyes trust. I am really disappointed in Boris Johnson. You were being the consummate diplomat. But inside the White House, are there not harsh words for our, the close relationship, the special relationship?

ROB: Well, one thing I’m not going to do, maybe unlike others, I’m not going to talk about what’s being said inside the White House. What I will tell you, and we’ve talked about this before on your show, Hugh, is Five Eyes is the most important, enduring intelligence sharing arrangement that this country has ever had. It gives us a huge edge against our adversaries and great powers such as Russia and China. China’s been trying to chip away at Five Eyes for many years. And unfortunately, they’ve come right in through the front door, and they’re getting Huawei and the 5G system in the UK. But look, we’ll still have great relations with the UK. We’ll figure out how to deal with things. And as I said, if we have to do carrier pigeons or have couriers going back and forth with briefcases handcuffed to their arms, we’ll do that. But we’ll get through it. It’s just this is a very disappointing development that was, and disappointed not just for us, but for the UK. I think a lot of members of the UK Parliament, I think there are a lot of British people that don’t want the Communist Party of China to have access to their health care records and their tweets and their social media and their bank records and all those sorts of things. So it’s, you know, I think it’s a disappointment not just for us, but for the people of the UK, and we’re going to keep working with the Brits, and hopefully, they’ll reconsider.

HH: Coronavirus – Senator Cotton yesterday called for suspension of all inbound flights from China. Is that on the table? And do you believe that you are adequately prepared for the Coronavirus in the United States?

ROB: It’s an incredibly dangerous virus. We’re meeting on it every day. The President’s being briefed by his advisors, Alex Azar, by CDC on an almost hour by hour basis. So we’re watching it carefully. We did note that the British Airlines, one of the great airlines in the world, and with a very international reach, has suspended direct flights in and out of mainland China. So we’re monitoring that. I believe that was a company decision, not a UK government decision, but I think it’s, I think that sends a message to the American people. The travel advisory at the State Department has been upped to level three, so we’re encouraging folks without essential business in China not to go to China. And we’ll keep looking at things, but it’s, this virus is deadly, and it’s a matter of great concern to the President and to the administration.

HH: Now to the Middle East peace plan, the main event. I’m reading from the New York Times. They say “reaction from Arab countries surprisingly solid. A statement from United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al Otaiba called the plan ‘a serious initiative that addresses many issues raised over the years.’ And Saudi Arabia’s minister of foreign affairs issued a muted statement saying it appreciates the efforts of President Trump’s administration to develop a comprehensive peace plan.” I believe Bahrain, Oman and Egypt as well supportive of this. Are you generally encouraged? Is the President encouraged by the reaction of the Arab states?

ROB: Yeah, we’ve never seen anything like this before on a peace plan. There were a number of firsts that took place yesterday. I believe, I could be wrong, but I believe that this is the first time that a president in his first term with an election coming up has risked political capital to try and bring peace to the Middle East and solve this very thorny problem that’s bedeviled presidents my entire lifetime of peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Number two, we got the Israelis, who are in the midst of a very difficult election campaign, actually three election campaigns in a row, we’ve brought them together with Gantz an Netanyahu. I think that was the first great accomplishment of this plan to get the Israelis to come together as a vast majority of Israelis to get them behind the peace plan. And then third, you’ve seen this really strong, positive reaction coming out of the Middle East, coming out of Europe in favor of the idea of the Israelis and Palestinians sitting down and talking about this plan, which is a two-state solution, Palestinian capital in the eastern municipality of Jerusalem, access to the holy sites, Muslim holy sites for all Muslims from around the world so they can make pilgrimages to the al Aqsa Mosque, $50 billion dollar investment plan that could turn this Palestinian state into the Singapore of the Middle East. There are a lot of great things. If you’re a Palestinian, there are a lot of great things in there for you. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.

HH: Now Mike Gallagher, your friend and mine, said the biggest problem is what will Abbas do, the president of the Palestinian Authority. Admiral Stavridis earlier in the program said this is the last exit before the tunnel in front of the Palestinian Authority. I’ve said I’d come back and ask for more money and more land, but I’d make a counteroffer. Do you have a partner to negotiate with, Robert C. O’Brien?

ROB: Well, I hope so. I think, you know, the playbook for the Palestinians over the last 40 years is anytime an American president whether, you know, it’s Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, anytime an American president tries to get the peace process going, the Palestinians stop it. So you know, we can expect that sort of initial reaction. But I think once the wave breaks in a couple of days, and they realize that their close friends in the Arab world, and their supporters are telling them that this is a good deal and they should sit down and negotiate, and like you said, Hugh, these guys are master negotiators on the Palestinian side. They’re going to ask for more land. They’re going to ask for more money. Why not? But sit down at the table and do it, and get involved in the process and try to create a great future for the Palestinian people. They’re very talented, highly-educated, hard-working folks. This is their opportunity to rally shine, and we hope that the Palestinian leadership will give them a chance to have their own state and have a great future.

HH: Now of course, Hamas is not a partner to this deal. But do you have any signs at all that within the Palestinian Authority there are people who do want to have a conversation, whether it’s backdoor and quiet at the beginning, or open and out in front of everyone? Do you have any positive signs?

ROB: Yeah, I think there are a lot of Palestinians that want what we all want. They want a great future for their kids. They want their kids to be able to grow up at peace, to go to college, to have opportunities to get a good job. This plan would cut the Palestinian unemployment rate in half. It would double their GDP, potentially triple their GDP. So we think there are a lot of Palestinians, including folks that work in the PA that would love to sit down and negotiate out a great deal for their future. Now Hamas has come out against it, and I thought this morning, well, that’s a dog bites man story. I mean, a terrorist organization is against a peace plan, so you know, that’s not a surprise. But we think there are a lot of great Palestinian folks, including folks that live under Hamas’ grip in Gaza that would like to spend their time building a tunnel for a high-speed rail that connects Gaza to the West Bank instead of having their leaders try to build tunnels into Israel to commit terrorist acts. So let’s put their tunnel-building skills and their ingenuity and their engineering ability to building a great new Gaza for the people of Palestine and stop with the terrorism.

HH: Last question, Ambassador O’Brien, National Security Advisor to President Trump. Would President Trump be willing to host a Camp David 2.0 including President Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu, maybe Benny Gantz, as well as Arab state representatives? Is there a Camp David 2.0 out there?

ROB: Oh, I think it would be great to get all those folks together at Camp David. It’s a beautiful site, wonderful place, and also an historic place when you think on Israeli-Egyptian Camp David accord. So I think that would be, I think there are a lot of wonderful places in America that a peace deal could be signed or negotiated. Camp David is certainly at the top of the list because of its historic connection to the region. And so I think that would be fantastic. I think President Trump would do whatever it takes to bring peace to the Middle East. He’s shown a tremendous amount of courage, and you saw that in the rollout yesterday, the great response that we received. So I think President Trump would be happy to host a lot of folks here, and whether it’s at Camp David or at the White House, or in the middle of an Iowa cornfield in the great American heartland, I think he’d love to get those folks together and help bring peace to that region.

HH: Ambassador O’Brien, always good to talk to you. Come back early and often. Thank you, and good work on the peace plan. I hope it is successful.

ROB: Thank you, sir.

End of interview.