JUDY WOODRUFF: And now let's turn to President Trump's national security adviser. He is Ambassador
Robert O'Brien. And he joins us from the White House.
Mr. Ambassador, welcome to the program.
You, the president is calling this a major turning point. How can you be certain that
that is what it is?
ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. National Security Adviser: Well, it's really a remarkable accomplishment,
Judy.
And it's an accomplishment that owes its birth to President Trump, who negotiated this deal
with Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of the UAE, and with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
And I want to compliment the leaders. Mohammed bin Zayed, MBZ, now enter the pantheon of
great Arab leaders that made peace with Israel, Anwar Sadat and King Hussein of Jordan. And
it was a very courageous move on his part to normalize relations. Embassies will be
open. There will be flights back and forth. There will be trade. There will be tourism.
And Bibi Netanyahu took a political risk. And we'd asked him to do so. And he did. And
so the parties came together. It was very courageous.
And the name of the accords are the Abraham Accords, which refers to Abraham, the father
of the three great religions that came from the Holy Land, Ibrahim in Arabic and Avraham
in Hebrew.
And so it's a really remarkable -- it's a very special day.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, we know two sides to every deal.
The UAE is saying they're calling this an immediate stop to annexation on the part of
the Israelis. The Israelis are stressing that that's only a temporary suspension. The president
and you and others are saying, stressing how temporary it is.
But if that's the case, how can they -- what is it that the UAE can count on? Was there
some sort of unspoken agreement for how long the suspension of this annexation will be?
ROBERT O'BRIEN: Well, look, Israel wants to extend sovereignty and its laws to parts of
the Holy Land. And we wouldn't refer to it as temporary. We would say it's a suspension.
What ultimately has to happen, Judy, is the Palestinians have to sit down with the Israelis
and they have to negotiate these issues. And Israel has said that they're not going to
extend sovereignty without an understanding from the United States.
And what we're pressing for is for more Arab countries and more Islamic countries to open
ties with Israel, as the UAE courageously did, and to bring the Palestinians to the
negotiating table.
And there's a lot that the Palestinians and Israelis can talk about. There are great opportunities
for the Palestinians. President Trump, in his vision for peace, endorsed a two-state
solution. It has economic plans that would double the Palestinian GDP in just a few years.
So, there's a huge opportunity here for the Palestinians. And the Palestinians and the
Israelis can sit down and talk about where the lines should be drawn on the real estate
in the region.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, that -- and that -- and I do want to get to that.
But I just want to clarify. So, you're saying the UAE will be OK keeping this diplomatic
arrangement as it is even if Israel goes back to annexation?
ROBERT O'BRIEN: Well, we don't think the Israelis are going to -- are going to extend sovereignty
at this point. This is a very important deal for Israel and brings peace between them and
one of their neighbors.
It's a great accomplishment of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And so, unless the U.S. gave the
Israelis the green light to extend sovereignty, I don't think that's going to happen. So,
I think all the parties are very satisfied with the arrangement today.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You mentioned the Palestinians and how they see this. You say you hope that
there can be some -- something worked out between the U.S. and the Palestinians, but,
clearly, they are not happy with this. They are saying they feel they have been sold out
by an ally.
And, given that, what -- are the Palestinians even a factor for the United States anymore
in this? Because they obviously turned down the most recent U.S. proposal for peace in
the Middle East.
ROBERT O'BRIEN: Well, look, this deal is going to take a long time to work out between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. And President Trump, who's a great deal-maker, knew that
from the start.
And, in fact, one of the things I have said earlier today is that President Trump is known
as a great deal-maker. I think history is going to remember President Trump as a great
peacemaker, having brought peace to Israel and the UAE, only the third Arab country to
have recognized Israel.
But he's very committed to the Palestinian people. And the vision for Middle East peace
that he's laid out that has a two-state solution, that has massive economic benefits to the
Palestinians, I'm hopeful that the Palestinian leaders will start to recognize that this
is a great opportunity for them to sit down with an interlocutor in Israel, but also with
President Trump, who would like to broker a great deal between Palestinians -- the Palestinians
and the Israelis.
And, hopefully, we can make some progress. In the meantime, I think you're going to see
some other Arab countries follow in the UAE's footsteps. And that's going to be great for
the Middle East. It's going to be great for the region.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you have mentioned other countries twice now. I mean, how far along
are those negotiations with these other countries? Could there be other countries involved in
this same thing by the time you sign this in September?
ROBERT O'BRIEN: I don't know if they will be here for the signing. And that's certainly
going to be a big event between the Emiratis and the Israelis.
But President Trump has been reaching out to leaders in the region. His diplomats have
been reaching out to folks in the region, from Secretary Pompeo, to senior adviser Kushner,
to myself. And we think there's some real appetite for a number of these countries that
see how dynamic Israel -- I mean, it's called -- Israel is called the start-up nation.
And how they want to -- they want to have security ties, economic ties, tourism ties.
One of the untold stories here is that now Muslims and Arabs are going to be able to
travel from the airport Abu Dhabi or Dubai, these great airports, fly into the airport
at Ben-Gurion Airport at Tel Aviv, and go visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Mount.
What a great thing for religious freedom in the region to have Muslims and Arabs be able
to travel to Israel and go up to the Temple Mount and worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
So, we think that this is going to -- we think that this is going to really lead to some
momentum. And we're hopeful that there are going to be some other countries that follow
in the UAE's footsteps.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to come back to something my colleague Nick Schifrin mentioned, and
that is that the U.S. and the UAE have been working together for a number of years, shared
concern over Iran.
I'm sure you know some observers are looking at all this, and they say this is really more
about an attempt to get Iran, to oppose Iran, than it is truly about a diplomatic coming
together on the part of Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
ROBERT O'BRIEN: Well, look, this is about Israel and the UAE.
But, having said that, I'm sure Iran is not happy about it, because Iran has tried to
stoke divisions and contention between Arab states and Israel for many, many years. Iran
is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the region.
And the UAE has a very capable military, and they have got a very strong leader in Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, that has stood up to Iran across -- even though it's a small
country, they have stood up to the big country just across the straits from them.
And now Israel and the UAE, working closely together with the United States and other
allies in the region, I'm sure that's something that doesn't make Iran happy. But that's not
the -- that's not the impetus behind this, although it's a great side benefit.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Final question, different subject, Ambassador O'Brien, and that has to do with
the intelligence community report late last week that the Chinese and the Iranians are
working in their own way to support Joe Biden in this presidential campaign.
But the Russians, who have a much more sophisticated interference campaign under way, are working
again to support President Trump.
So, my question is, what is the administration doing to counter the Russians?
ROBERT O'BRIEN: Well, it's not just countering the Russians. It's countering any state or
organization that wants to disrupt our elections.
Our -- the free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. They're what
make this country a great country. And we -- we're not going to tolerate any outside
country, whether it's China on behalf of Joe Biden -- and, by the way, I dispute -- the
one thing I would dispute, I think the Chinese have the most sophisticated global influence
programs and strategies and abilities and capabilities in the world.
But whether it's the Chinese, who are trying to elect Joe Biden, or the Russians, who are
denigrating Joe Biden, or the Iranians or the Venezuelans or Cubans or any other country,
they have to stay out of our elections.
We have hardened our election infrastructure. We're working with our secretaries of state
across all 50 states and the U.S. territories that will be voting for president. We're putting
unprecedented amounts of money in to make sure that they're not vulnerable, our election
systems aren't vulnerable to cyberattack.
And so this is something we're taking very seriously. We're taking it very seriously
in my shop at the NSC. President Trump is taking it very seriously.
And, look, there is zero place in an American election for foreign powers, whatever their
-- whatever they want to do or whatever they -- however they want to influence this country.
There's no place for it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Ambassador Robert O'Brien, national security adviser to the president,
we thank you.
ROBERT O'BRIEN: Thank you, Judy.