Pool Reports of May 16, 2025

Travel Pool Report No. 1 - rolling to Qasr Al Watan

Good morning from Abu Dhabi, I'll be your print pooler for this final leg of President Trump's trip to the Middle East.

We're rolling to the Qasr Al Watan as of 10:39 a.m. Your pooler briefly saw the Beast as the motorcade departed the Ritz.

Your pool is in a tricked out party bus and Fox News' Sean Hannity is tagging along.

Travel Pool Report No. 2 - arrival Qasr Al Watan

GooMotorcade passed the grand mosque that President Trump toured yesterday and charged down a grand avenues decorated with U.S. and UAE flags.

The ride was otherwise uneventful.

We arrived at 11:01. Didn't spot the Beast when we came in.

Travel Pool Report No. 3 - event begins

President Trump walked in at 11:05 to a large rotunda where five large screens are set up to show various kinds of investment - starting with "Making Energy Great Again."

He is speaking to attendees out of earshot.

He turned to the reporters and said "$440 billion"

"This is the most powerful woman in the petroleum business," Trump said of Vicki Holly's

"We appreciate it, the U.S. appreciates it,"

Trump was gifted a box containing a drop of oil.

"This is one drop of oil," he said cracking jokes about it.

More TK

From the White House:

• THE PRESIDENT arrives Qasr Al Watan and begins participation in U.S.-UAE Business Forum

U.S. Delegation:

The Honorable Martina Strong, U.S.Ambassador to UAE

Secretary Scott Bessent, Department of Treasury

Secretary Pete Hegseth, Department of Defense

Secretary Howard Lutnick, Department of Commerce

Secretary Chris Wright, Department of Energy

Susie Wiles, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff

Dan Scavino, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff

Taylor Budowich, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Cabinet Secretary

Karoline Leavitt, Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary

Note Taker: Jacques "Don" Archer, National Security Council Director of Gulf States

UAE Delegation:

H.H. Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE

H.H. Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

H.H. Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor

H.E. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of the UAEs Executive Affairs Authority

H.E. Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade

H.E. Ahmed Al Sayegh, Minister of State for Economic Affairs

H.E. Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure

H.E. Youssef Al Otaiba, Ambassador to the U.S.

U.S. Private Sector:

Mike Sicilia, Executive Vice President Oracle

Christopher Calio, CEO RTX Raytheon

Vicki Hollub, CEO Occidental

Tomislav Mihaljevic, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Josh Harris, Washington Commanders

Neil Chapman, Senior Vice President of Exxon

Ezra Yacob, CEO & President EOG Resources

Stephanie Pope, CEO Commercial Airplanes for Boeing

Aziz Koleilat, President and CEO for the METIS Region GE Aerospace

Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm

Tanuja Randery, President EMEA for AWS

Carey Smith, CEO of Parsons

Ayman Khattab, CEO of Baker Hughes

Richard Jenkins, CEO of Saildrone

Michael Williamson, President of Lockheed

Joseph Anis, GE Vernova President and CEO of Gas Power EMEA

UAE Private Sector:

H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ADIA

H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman Emirates

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, ADNOC / XRG / Alterra / Masdar / MOIAT

Mohamed Al Suwaidi, ADQ / Minister of Investment / Etihad

Jassem Al Zaabi, MODON / DOF / E&

Mohamed Al Mubarak, Chairman Department of Culture and Tourism

Mohamed Al Shorafa, Chairman Etihad

Antonoaldo Neves, CEO Etihad

Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman of the UAE Chambers of Commerce / AD DED

Mariam Al Mheiri, 2PointZero

Ahmed Yahia, MGX

Peng Xiao, G42/M42

Homaid Al Shimmari, EGA / Mubadala

Mohamed Al Hammadi, ENEC

Faisal Al Bannai, EDGE

Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World

Hana Al Rostamani, FAB

Hussain Sajwani, DAMAC

Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Co-Chairman of the US-UAE Business Council /Mubadala

Syed Basar, IHC

Mansour Al Mansouri, Dep of Health Abu Dhabi

Saif Ghobash, Crown Prince Office

Travel Pool Report No. 4 - event continues

After the energy section, Trump moved onto a healthcare demo and then onto aviation.

"They're working here, they're U.S. companies," Trump said giving Larry Ellison and Cleveland Clinic a shout-out

"I'm just thinking we have a president of the United States doing the selling, you think Biden would be doing this, I don't think so," Trump said, saying he was a "cheerleader" for the country.

"It's just my opinion but Boeing makes the best planes. they've had some headaches over the last few years, but they make the best planes."

"Hottest engine there is," Trump said of the GE-made engines.

"They don't need financing," he chuckled about Etihad's investment in Boeing planes.

"We've got the World Cup coming and the Olympics coming over the next few years," Trump said of Etihad's stadium investment in Queens.

He's moved onto an aluminum demo.

"You know what they're doing? Building a big plant in the U.S.," Trump said, noting how it was done to avoid his tariffs.

He went on:

"Now, can you imagine I'll be sitting home, who the hell knows where I'll be, and I'll say, I did that, and everyone will say, but somebody's going to be cutting a ribbon, but we're going to be finished long before that. Somebody's going to be taking the credit for this. You remember press this guy did it."

More TK

Quotes are rough.

Here's a full run-of-show -

Note: THE PRESIDENT will be guided through a 5 station walk through, each with U.S. and UAE CEOs briefing THE PRESIDENT on the investments and partnerships made between both countries in their respective sector

1. THE PRESIDENT will proceed to Station 1, Energy

Note: Brief will be conducted by Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of ADNOC, Neil Chapman, SVP Exxon Mobile, Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental, and Ezra Yacob, CEO of EOG Resources

2. THE PRESIDENT will proceed to Station 2, Healthcare

Note: Brief will be conducted by Peng Xiao, CEO G42 and board member M42,Larry Ellison, Co-founder of Oracle, and Tom Mihaljevic, CEO of Cleveland Clinic

3. THE PRESIDENT will proceed to Station 3, Aviation

Note: Brief will be conducted by Antonoaldo Neves, CEOEtihad, Mohammed Al Shorafa, Chairman of Etihad Airways, Mohammed Al Suwedi, CEO of ADQ, and a Representative from Boeing

4. THE PRESIDENT will proceed to Station 4, Industry

Note: Brief will be conducted by Homaid Al Shemari, Chairman Emirates Global Aluminum, and Christopher Calio, CEO of RTX Raytheon

5. THE PRESIDENT will proceed to Station 5, Entertainment

Note: Brief will be conducted by Mohammed Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi

6. THE PRESIDENT and Guests are invited to take their seats

7. THE PRESIDENT participates in Group Photo while seated

8. H.H. Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi delivers welcome remarks and introduces THE PRESIDENT

9. THE PRESIDENT delivers seated remarks

10. Roundtable discussion begins

Note: Moderated by Ambassador Martina Strong, U.S. Ambassador to UAE and Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to U.S. to call on 5 CEOs from each side with pre-arranged discussion points

11. Closing remarks by H.H. Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed bin Zayed and THE PRESIDENT

Travel Pool Report No. 5 - questions and event concludes

He answered questions at the end so some of that first - on Tiffany Trump, Russia/Ukraine.

"I think it's time for us to just do it. I said, you know, they all said Putin was going and Zelensky was going. And I said, If I don't go, I guarantee Putin is not going, and he didn't go. And I understand that, but we're going to get it we're going to get it done. We've got to get it done. 5000 young people are being killed every single week on average, and we're going to get it done.

When are you going to meet Putin?

"As soon as we can set it up. I was going to I would actually leave here and go. I do want to see my beautiful grandson, a son, and we'll be doing that, but I will, I will tell you that the world is a much safer place right now. And I think in two or three weeks we could have it be a much, much safer place. We're going to handle a couple of situations that you have here. We have some very serious situations, and we're looking at Gaza, and we got to get that taken care of a lot of people are starving. A lot of people, there's a lot of bad things going on."

On Tiffany:

"I have spoken to her a couple of times. She's doing great. The baby is great, and we'll be seeing them very soon."

Iran:

"Plus, we have an Iran situation, which we're going to take care of one way the other, we're taking care of it'll be taken care of 100% it'll be done nicely or not nicely. And the not nicely is not a good thing for them. And I think we're talking to them, and they're I think they've come a long way."

More Tk

Here's more event details -

The final stop was a cultural presentation. Showing off the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, which will open in 2026.

"The largest one by far. The famous one in New York can fit in one galley," Trump said.

"Been looking for the painting for the Oval Office," Trump chuckled about a painting of George Washington in a collection here. I'll try to get more info on the artist.

He was showed a slide on Warner Brothers Abu Dhabi, Harry Potter world, SeaWorld Yas Island and finally Disney. He was then showed sporting venues included one for UFC fights.

"Similar size? A good one," Trump said of the forthcoming Sphere venue. He was told it would be bigger than the one in Las Vegas.

"The money that's made here, comes back to us," he said.

"I leave now and get on a 42 year old Boeing, but new ones are coming,"

"My daughter had a baby. I'm going back home to see that little baby," he said.

"We'll see what happens to Russia and Ukraine."

He then did Q and A.

Travel Pool Report No. 6 - business roundtable

Pool was rushed into an ornate room with attendees seated at a U-shaped table with Trump at the head.

Other American officials are seated a row back.

He gave brief remarks about the trip. They were streamed live.

He again brought up Tiffany's baby.
"I should probably have left yesterday, but I didn't want to disappoint you. Your father would have been extremely upset," he joked to the crown prince.

Press was pulled at 12:03. Heading to vans.

Travel Pool Report No. 7 - rolling

The motorcade was rolling at 12:36 p.m.

Heading to the Abrahamic Family House.

Travel Pool Report No. 8 - Abrahamic Family House

Pool was able to see the new Guggenheim being constructed in the distance as we pulled into the Abrahamic Family House at 12:54 p.m.

We drove down Jacques Chirac street to get to our locale.

Co-pooler Michael Birnbaum solved this mystery - The George Washington portrait was painted by Gilbert Stuart, a Revolutionary-era portraitist who painted many copies of the same image of the first president to satisfy the commercial demand of the time.

Travel Pool Report No 9 - run of show

Sequence of Events
1. THE PRESIDENT proceeds to St. Francis Catholic Church Baptistry

2. THE PRESIDENT proceeds to Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue

3. THE PRESIDENT proceeds to Eminence Ahmed El-Tayeb Mosque

4. THE PRESIDENT proceeds to Abrahamic House Forum

5. THE PRESIDENT signs Guest Book

6. THE PRESIDENT signs Wall of Intention

Travel Pool Report No. 10 - church/synagogue

President Trump entered the church at 12:59 p.m. and slowly walked up the aisle out of earshot of press. We were pulled at 1:02 p.m. to preset the next location.

He was with Sheikh Nahyan, minister of tolerance.

Spotted: Lutnick, Bessent and Sean Hannity.

Travel Pool Report No. 11 - synagogue

The second stop was the synagogue. (Sorry for the misfire on the title of pool 10.)

Stephen Miller was walking through as we arrived.

There were no worshippers in either locale so far. And the buildings are extremely quiet.

Trump walked in 1:12 p.m. He stood in the corner and looked up at the impressive veiled ceiling. Lutnick was peeking through the door behind him. Pooler can also see Bessent.

At 1:14 p.m. Trump walked to the back of the aisles of pews.

"Amazing," he said, with he and press exiting at 1:15.

Travel Pool Report No. 12 - mosque

Next was the mosque - an impressive vaulted white structure.

Trump entered at 1:18 p.m.

The women, including American press, are wearing head coverings. And clothes to cover arms and legs. Shoes were kept on as a portion of the carpeting was covered.

Pool was pulled at 1:19 p.m. with the president keeping his conversations out of earshot. None of his staff walked in with him.

Travel Pool Report No. 13 - guest book signing/sock sighting

The president entered the forum at 1:22 p.m. and greeted guests. He walked across the rectangular room to participate in a guest book signing.

"This was a little bit of an endurance test. ... could have done it 10 times over," he said, wrapping up the trip.

He sat and signed the guest book with his large signature.

He asked by Peter Alexander if he had a message for the people of UAE/Abu Dhabi.

"Just a message of unity. When you look at what we've just seen, it's great unity, great faith. They're incredible people with a tremendous leader. He's a friend of mine," Trump said

Co-pooler Michael Birnbaum observed that POTUS was sporting socks when in the mosque.

We are rolling to the airport as of 1:30 p.m.

Travel Pool Report No. 14 - airport arrival - gaggle coming soon

Motorcade rolled up to the front of airport terminal at 1:55 p.m.

At the back of the terminal, a baby blue carpet had been rolled out for Trump's departure.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan greeted Trump at the airport. He and Trump walked out of the terminal at 2:09 p.m., followed by U.S. and UAE dignitaries.

He turned to the press and gave a fist pump and mouthed something. Nobody in the pool could make it out.

He walked onto AF1 st 2:11 p.m. gesturing and saying goodbye to the president.

Pool Report No. 15 - gaggle

Again he's expected to gaggle imminently.

Pool Report No. 16 - gaggle Otter

I understand the gaggle played out but here's the Otter just in case. We're taxiing.

https://otter.ai/u/5fCZTrBEmvDXCyAOSID9aVYxfGg

Pool Report No. 17 - Mildenhall refuel

Air Force One was wheels up at 2:29 p.m.

We landed at 6:19 p.m. local at Mildenhall for our refuel.

The Emirates - like the Qataris and Saudis - had fighter jets accompany the plane shortly after we took off.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt came back to the press cabin to say hello and thank everyone for a good trip.

Otherwise no additional visitors.

In pool report 3, Trump was speaking about Vicki Hollub, the CEO of Occidental. Apologies for the misspelling.

Travel Pool Report No. 18 - wheels up Mildenhall

We're wheels up at 7:27 p.m.

Next stop, JBA!

Travel Pool Report No. 19 - wheels down

Air Force One was wheels down at 9:08 p.m.

Flight was bumpy at times but uneventful. No visitors to the press cabin on this leg. Fox News played the whole time.

Travel Pool Report No. 20 - JBA departure President

Trump disembarked Air Force One at 9:19 p.m.

He's tie-less but still in his blue suit. He pumped his fist at the press and mouthed what appeared to be "thank you."

He boarded Marine One at 9:20 p.m.

Walt Nauta walked off AF1 a minute later and headed toward Marine One. Other aides followed including Margo Martin, Taylor Budowich et. al.

Marine One was wheels up at 9:27 p.m.

A big thank you to co-pooler Michael Birnbaum for tossing quotes to your print pooler quickly during this morning's hectic events.

Tossing it to the in-town pool. It's been a pleasure!

In-town pool report #1 gathering

Hello all,

Pool has gathered at the South Lawn awaiting President Trump's arrival.

Will update when he arrives.

In town pool #2

Marine One landing Marine One landed on the South Lawn at 9:36 p.m.

President Trump disembarked at 9:39 p.m.

In town pool #3 no gaggle and lid

President Trump did not respond to shouted questions from the pool.

He did wave to pool before entering the White House.

White House has called a lid.