Trump meeting with Arab leaders ahead of major speech

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — US President Donald Trump will use the nation that is home to Islam’s holiest site as a backdrop to call for Muslim unity in the fight against terrorism Sunday, as he works to build relationships with Arab leaders.

On the second day of his first trip abroad, Trump seeks to demonstrate that he’d made progress with an agreement with Gulf Arab states on countering terrorist funding.

Under the memorandum of understanding with the Gulf Cooperation Council announced in Saudi Arabia, participants are pledging to prosecute the financing of terrorism, including individuals. The White House does not immediately release the document. But White House adviser Dina Powell says she hopes the deal with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be the “farthest reaching commitment to not finance terrorist organizations” and will lead to prosecutions.

Trump’s Sunday speech, the centerpiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, will address the leaders of 50 Muslim-majority countries to cast the challenge of extremism as a “battle between good and evil” and urge Arab leaders to “drive out the terrorists from your places of worship,” according to a draft of the speech obtained by The Associated Press.

Trump, whose campaign was frequently punctuated by bouts of anti-Islamic rhetoric, is poised to soften some of his language about Islam. Though during the campaign he repeatedly stressed the need to say the words “radical Islamic terrorism” — and criticized his opponent, Hillary Clinton, for not doing so — that phrase is not included in the draft.

— AP