Christopher Ruddy on the President’s Visit to Britain

CHRISTOPHER RUDDY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NEWSMAX MEDIA INC.: People forget, especially in this country, I have to keep reminding them, we’ve never had a president that was not an elected politician or a general. So, this man did it his own way, became very successful in all sorts of things, not just business, the entertainment field and then politics, he went into that two or three years ago, nobody thought he would win, he’s president of the United States.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: OK. So, what was the banquet like? And I’m going to play a few soundbites, because they were meaningful from the queen obviously and from Trump in response. But what was the atmosphere like? I mean, you were seated there.

RUDDY: Well, I think it was felt historic. It felt regal. Everybody was just overawed. I was sitting next to Sarah Sanders. I was sitting next to the police commissioner here from —

AMANPOUR: Cressida Dick. Yes, she’s amazing.

RUDDY: Yes. And she’s a tremendous lady and I think keeps our city safe here. But I was — I just — the crowd, I think, was in awe. I think the president is not easily awed. I’ve seen him in circumstances over 20 years and he and Melania, I think, were blown away by the spectacular pomp and circumstance, but I think what I really saw was the respect he had for the queen. I talked to them both as I was coming in and I could see the president was very deferential to her and thinks very highly of him. So, I think the relationship between Britain and the United States remains very strong. You know, people say the president’s upset the queen made this reference about alliances. The truth is, the president has a beef with Germany. That’s (INAUDIBLE).

AMANPOUR: OK. But before he has a beef and before we talk about beef —

RUDDY: Sure.

AMANPOUR: — let us play this little bit of the —

RUDDY: Sure.

AMANPOUR: queen’s speech when she gave her toast welcoming him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF BRITAIN: After the shared sacrifices of the Second World War, Britain and the United States worked with other allies to build an assembly of international institutions, to ensure that the horrors of conflict would never be repeated. While the world has changed, we are forever mindful of the original purpose of these structures. Nations working together to safeguard a hard-won peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: And in that picture, we see Jared Kushner, the president’s son- in-law, sitting next to Princess Anne, the queen’s only daughter. But so, describe, have you talked to the president since that? Did he take exception to this obvious thing that the queen said?

RUDDY: I didn’t talk to him since the speech, but I did talk to him and I spoke to him a couple of times last week. I think he agrees with everything the queen says. You know, he’s really not against NATO, he’s not against the structures. He really wants to have a special relationship of all the countries in the world with Britain. His mother is from here. He loves this place. I think he feels an emotional tie that very few presidents have felt. But when he looks at Germany and he sees them only spending 1 percent of GDP on the military and when the U.S. is spending 4 percent, Britain’s living up to its commitment at 2 percent, that really irks him. When he thinks back, and I know people of his generation, his dad was of that generation, World War II, they look at the D-Day situation and the war against the Nazis, and they felt that war started, Hitler rose because we were weak