Saudi Arabia’s Richest Man Prince Alwaleed bin Talal on Trump’s Tariffs, DeepSeek, Israel, and Iran

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is one of the biggest media investors in the world. Here’s why he thinks X now dominates everything. (00:00) Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Thoughts on Donald Trump (02:26) Saudi Arabia’s Relationship With Israel and Iran (06:55) Negotiating With Trump (07:56) Wokeism and Transgenderism (11:34) Rupert Murdoch, Corporate Media’s Left-Wing Bias, and Investing in X (19:26) Why Are Bezos and Zuckerberg Suddenly Pro-Trump? (26:31) Western Europe Is Very Sick Paid partnerships with: Hillsdale College: Take a free online course today at https://TuckerforHillsdale.com Silencer Central: Promo code Tucker10 for 10% off your purchase of banish suppressors at https://www.silencercentral.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Tucker Carlson?

  Prince Lee, thank you very much. The reason I've been so anxious to talk to you is because, as someone who's been investing more successfully than almost anyone around the world for 45 years, I think you've got a pretty good handle of what's going on in the world.

• 0:17Tucker Carlson?

  Are you hopeful right now in this moment? Let's just start biggest possible picture.

• 0:21Speaker 01

  Yes, I'm positive. I'm hopeful.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  With the Trump administration coming very forcefully,

• 0:28Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  with clear vision about where the world should be heading. I'm optimistic, cautiously optimistic, but it's going to take some time because the legacy that Trump had is a big one.

• 0:41Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  On foreign policy, domestic policy, debt, immigration, we will talk about all these things obviously today. But the legacy is so big. And we've seen that the first week of Trump or now the first 10 days is coming very strongly. And I really hope that this momentum stays and have a positive effect on the international community as much as it will have a good impact on the domestic policy.

• 1:27Tucker Carlson?

  When Trump was elected in November, the world was really on the cusp of two major conflicts that could potentially get much bigger in Eastern Europe and in this region. Do you think he can successfully resolve those conflicts?

• 1:44Speaker 01

  Look, we all know Netanyahu is going to meet him tomorrow.

• 1:47Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 1:47Speaker 01

  And I really hope that President Trump is very forceful in imposing, or at least forcing Israel to have a peaceful resolution to this Palestinian issue that's been going on since the late 1940s. It's about time to have a fine solution for the Palestinian cause to stop all those terrorist acts that are really unwanted, like the one happened in October. And obviously, you're alluding to the Ukraine war. Also, it's about time to have this war end, the useless war between Russia and Ukraine that caused hundreds of thousands of people to die from both sides, civilians and otherwise.

• 2:27Tucker Carlson?

  What's the solution to the problem in the Middle East?

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Look, the state, the official position of Saudi Arabia, which I really support, of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was announced on your X channel, Fox.

• 2:40Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 2:40Speaker 01

  He said publicly that, you know, we are having discussions with Israel, acknowledging each other. But as a good broker, we need to have Palestinian state. We have, we need to have the rights of the Palestinians acknowledged. And we need to have Palestine independent and have its capital city is Jerusalem. So if these things are met, I think Saudi Arabia is more than ready to have diplomatic relations between Saudi, between, between Saudi Arabia and Israel, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a few months ago.

• 3:12Tucker Carlson?

  From an outsider's perspective, Saudi Arabia does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel, but it's certainly aligned with Israel against Iran. That's the way it looks from outside. Is that, do you think that's fair to say?

• 3:23Speaker 01

  Oh, look, I mean, it's very easy to get against Iran, aligned against Iran. Iran is, you know, is, is, is a nation based dogmatically on, on, on terroristic ideas. You know, we have seen how every country that Iran goes to, you have turmoil. Look at Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan. All those countries, what's coming among them, you have the Iranian infiltration in them. So clearly, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not difficult at all to be in alliance with any country against Iran, because Iran always planted the seeds of trouble, chaos and confusion, wherever they are.

• 4:06Tucker Carlson?

  So that's the view of Israel too?

• 4:08Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly.

• 4:09Tucker Carlson?

  So you have that, that big perspective in common with the Israeli government, despite your differences. So there's been progress, I would say, between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but I don't think there's been any progress on the prospect of a Palestinian state. People have been saying that for, you know, well, certainly since 1967, but we're, feels like we're farther from that.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  We are very far, of course, after what happened in Gaza. But I think with the strong leadership from the United States and with the effectiveness that the United States could really have in the West Bank with the Palestinian authorities. If they can have these people being more effective and more dynamic and inject some fluidity and some some power and influence in them, they could really be the power to reckon with. So where Israel could have negotiate with the Palestinian Authority and hopefully that they can have a control over what's happening in Gaza also.

• 5:14Speaker 01

  How closely are people in the Arab world following what's happening there? Oh, for sure. The Arab world has been following very closely the destruction that happened in Gaza. I mean, for sure, a terrorist attack did happen there in October. But the disproportionate and the complete disproportionality of the Israeli attack on Gaza that wiped out the whole northern part of Gaza was really unwanted. You know, hospitals, schools, cities, universities, they were all demolished completely. So yes, we're following them very closely, for sure. Do people here hold the United States responsible for that? I'm not sure at all that they hold the United States. I mean, some do that

• 5:58Speaker 01

  and they capitalize on the very positive and strong alliance between the United States and Israel. But realistically speaking, what happened there really was really Israeli-based. Clearly, the United States did support that. But we have seen also, even the Biden administration and even Trump, you know, I'm not sure he was very much happy with what happened there at all. But at the end of the day, you know, what happened did happen and now we need to see how we can put this behind us and open a new chapter in the Middle East. Clearly, with the Syrian regime neutralized and having a new, I'll not say pro-Western regime, but at least not anti-America regime in Syria,

• 6:41Speaker 01

  with Hamas hopefully demolished completely. And more important, Hezbollah being almost neutralized in Lebanon. These are big pluses for the inducement to have a peaceful solution for the Palestinian cause. You know Donald Trump well. I know long time ago, you know, from the time we bought from him the Plaza Hotel. And we also bought from him the, his Trump Princess yacht that I still have.

• 7:08Tucker Carlson?

  How did you wind up with Donald Trump's yacht? Not many people can say that. Not many people have Donald Trump's yacht, but you do. How'd you get it? I mean, how did that happen?

• 7:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, we, we, we bought it, I think, you know, in the, in the late eighties. And Trump did take possession of it, and he renovated it. And I think he reached a stage where he, you know, he did not really want to have it anymore. So we did buy it from him.

• 7:29Tucker Carlson?

  What's he, what was your experience with Trump? What's he like?

• 7:32Speaker 01

  Oh, I mean, look, with Trump, I think if you're straight with him, you know, you get a straight answer. You know, we had very good dealing with President Trump, you know, when he was a businessman. Whether during the, the, the purchase of the Plaza Hotel from him, or buying his, his Trump Princess yacht.

• 7:47Tucker Carlson?

  So you were not anti-Trump?

• 7:49Speaker 01

  Oh, no, no, we can't be anti-Trump, you know, we, because we are pro-America. We have to be pro-Trump, especially with the new policies that he's taking right now. You know, I'm very much conservative, socially speaking.

• 8:00Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  And all his policies right now in being anti-woke, being anti-left wing, being anti, all those crazy things that's happening on the left. We are for sure pro-Trump on these matters. And also, all his policies, economic policies that, that, and looking after the eradication of the US deficit. These are all conservative policies that we, we support. Look, I lived in America, I, I graduated from the West Coast, you know, from university in California. And I finished my masters in the East Coast in America. So we all love America. We want America to be strong.

• 8:36Tucker Carlson?

  What did you think over the last eight years as you watched the woke, the sexual politics in the United States?

• 8:43Speaker 01

  I mean, it went just too far, too much, you know, really. And it's about time for America to get a logical person, a pragmatic person like Trump. I know some of his policies are extreme to some people. But, but his social policies, being anti-woke, being anti-left wing completely, being too liberal. I mean, these are really policies that, you know, that's illogical, you know. Look, I'm a religious person, you know. America is, is still a very conservative country. And one of the main ingredients of the success of, of Trump in, in having, in the last election was really his social policies. Many people in America believe that America went too much to the left.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  So I think getting back America to the center, at least the center, not necessarily to the right, to the center. That in itself is a big achievement for America.

• 9:35Tucker Carlson?

  So you hear that in countries around the world. We admire the United States. The entire leadership of most of the world went to college in the United States.

• 9:43Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:43Tucker Carlson?

  How did people in this region and other countries visit feel about seeing men dressed as women at the White House and all that stuff? Were they?

• 9:52Speaker 01

  It's crazy. It's nonsense. It's nonsense. And this transgender idea right now. I mean, having the military, all those transgender people, you know, and toilets, you know, having been mixed. And, you know, having, for example, a male who was transferring the lady going to compete into women's sports. I guess it's too much. It's going too far. It's just too much. I mean, we reached a stage in America. If you're not woke, I mean, you are crazy or you are anti-establishment. And I don't think, it's too much. It's going too far. So I think what Tom is doing right now is at least moving to the center. You know, we are not, and again, L B G T Q, even the plus, whatever the plus means.

• 10:30Tucker Carlson?

  What is the plus?

• 10:32Speaker 01

  That's the scary part. I would rather not talk about it.

• 10:35Tucker Carlson?

  You'd rather not talk about the plus?

• 10:37Speaker 01

  I would rather not talk about it. That's very scary.

• 10:38Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 10:39Speaker 01

  The plus, L B G T Q, you understand, but the plus, that's, you know, we can have another interview for that. Let's put this aside.

• 10:45Tucker Carlson?

  I'm comfortable with that. Thank you very much. So that, I mean, you must have been confused watching that. This is a country you went to school and you know well.

• 10:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. I lived in America. And when I was in America, you know, I mean, you have left wing, right wing, that's fine.

• 10:58Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  But to go that much to the left and have this woke movement? No, it went too far. Look, America leads the world. I understand there are, you know, China wants to be there, India want to be there, the European want to be there. And then today, America is leading the world, whether you like it or not. No matter how isolationist policies are adopted in America, America will still lead the world for many years to come.

• 11:21Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 11:22Speaker 01

  Politically, economically, financially, in all, in all, in all cases. So we want America, America to lead, to lead the right way. You cannot lead America, you cannot lead the world with this woke movement. You cannot. We would not accept that.

• 11:35Tucker Carlson?

  You're one of the biggest media investors in the world and have been. I worked for a company and I think you were the biggest outside investor, I think, in News Corp, Fox News. And you've got investments in a million different media companies. Many of those media companies. Went way to the left. What did you think of that as a shareholder?

• 11:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, our main investment was with Fox, frankly speaking, and News Corp with Mr. Murdoch. Murdoch was always, you know, mainstream to the right a little bit, obviously. So, we did have a lot of other investments, small ones, but they were all divested long time ago. But our main investment in old media, legacy media, was with Mr. Murdoch. And we sold out, you know, a year before he merged his entities with Disney.

• 12:17Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 12:17Speaker 01

  Yes. So, no, the media in America went too much to the left, and most of them. The only remaining shareholder, frankly speaking, who really withstood the heat is Lee Murdoch, the Murdoch empire. Whether it's Fox, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Fox, they are all, you know, center of the right.

• 12:35Tucker Carlson?

  So, you divested from Fox, from News Corp, and then you made a huge investment in X under Elon.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 12:43Tucker Carlson?

  Why did you do that?

• 12:44Speaker 01

  Yeah. Most of our investments now went to X and XAI, obviously, with Musk. Now, I call X, really, as the new media, frankly speaking, X. That's why we invested. And with Mr. Musk, I think, you know, he's a big force to be reckoned with, frankly speaking. And we are second biggest shareholder in X and XAI.

• 13:05Tucker Carlson?

  So, the sale of X was closely watched by everybody around the world. He wound up buying the company at what seemed like twice its actual value, and people made fun of him. Where is it now, would you say?

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Yeah. On our books, you know, we have two investments. We have Kingdom Holding, which I share.

• 13:27Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 13:28Speaker 01

  And I have my private investments. So, we have with Musk around $3 billion investments. In our books, it's valued more than 50% more. Clearly, as for X, we never devalued it. You know, some entities did devalue it by 30, 40, 50%, we never devalued it. Clearly, now, after the election of President Trump, and after the strong alliance between Musk and President Trump, we've seen the market having revalue upwards dramatically, at least to its par value, at the $44 billion that they paid for it.

• 14:08Tucker Carlson?

  What do you think its actual value is?

• 14:10Speaker 01

  I believe the actual value is more than double, frankly speaking.

• 14:14Tucker Carlson?

  More than double the forty-four he paid.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  Exactly, and it's gonna happen right now because video is gonna come and you know now pay is gonna come into it, you know, they're gonna pay X, it's gonna happen right now in the first quarter, so many things is gonna happen to X to have as the main hub and anchor for many things around it.

• 14:37Tucker Carlson?

  So, but as a political and social force, is there a more powerful media organization?

• 14:44Speaker 01

  As stands today, I believe X is really number one. We've seen how Meta tried to have another company, Thread, but it didn't take off.

• 14:52Tucker Carlson?

  Why?

• 14:53Speaker 01

  Look, I think X really began very forcefully and strongly and the freedom of speech was there, was open, you know, clearly whenever it was against X, freedom of speech and freedom of expression without much fact checking, that gave it the forum to be the anchor of the new media in the world. And you see right now, Meta is moving the X model. As I told you when I just met you off the record a minute ago, that Meta now is being exercised, it's being like X right now. And this helps X reaching its potential of being fully valued

• 15:35Speaker 01

  at forty-four billion dollars and more. So all the advertisers that really so-called fled or left X are coming back right now because the alternative is doing exactly what X used to do.

• 15:45Tucker Carlson?

  Right. So you think that Elon Musk has had a big effect on Mark Zuckerberg?

• 15:52Speaker 01

  There's no doubt because we have seen now Mark Zuckerberg and Meta is moving to the X model. Not only that, you know, not only operationally, but you have seen just lately that Meta is gonna move this so-called administrative headquarters from Delaware to Texas. So really Musk and X being followed across the board.

• 16:13Tucker Carlson?

  So you think Zuckerberg's just kind of trailing behind Elon Musk, doing what he does?

• 16:18Speaker 01

  Well, you know, Musk is very close to the leader of the whole world, President Trump. And no one wants, no businessman, whether it is Musk, Zuckerberg, or Mr. Bezos, or the Google head, want Musk to be the only man who has the ear of President Trump. They all want to have at least a small piece of the pie.

• 16:40Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 16:40Speaker 01

  And that's what's happening, basically.

• 16:41Tucker Carlson?

  But what's interesting, clearly, but what's interesting is that they didn't want it the first time. All these businessmen, smartest, most powerful in the world, made a bet in 2016 that opposing Trump would pay off for them.

• 16:55Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 16:55Tucker Carlson?

  Why do you think they did that?

• 16:56Speaker 01

  It was a wrong bet.

• 16:57Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 16:58Speaker 01

  Very bluntly speaking, it was a wrong bet. Trump came back in a major upset.

• 17:03Tucker Carlson?

  He must have scared the hell out of them when he got elected, can you imagine?

• 17:06Speaker 01

  No one expected Trump to come back, frankly speaking. And frankly speaking, the Democrats played a very big, made a big mistake. They custom made, you know, I talk as an independent, I'm a Saudi.

• 17:16Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 17:16Speaker 01

  I'm a royalist, neither Democrat or Republican. You know, I love America. They clearly custom made those lawsuits against him.

• 17:24Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 17:25Speaker 01

  To be in election year. And I understand this very delicate, not many people in America could speak this language freely. But they custom made it to be in election year. And that backfired, frankly speaking, and helped Trump being elected.

• 17:37Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  You know, and they were custom made to be. I mean, why waited three years after Trump left? And they all came, there's lawsuits in the last one year, last one year of the Biden era. That was too much.

• 17:49Tucker Carlson?

  So you didn't, you didn't see that as the equal application of the law?

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Come on, give me a break, that's very clear. I lived in America, I know America very well, there's too much politics. That's one of the attributing, attributing reasons that caused Trump to win. The American public rejected these lawsuits and all those so-called indictments or whatever they are.

• 18:08Tucker Carlson?

  Do you ever feel like you can't trust the things you hear or read? Like every news source is hollow, distorted, or clearly just propaganda lying to you? Well, you're not imagining it. If the last few years have proven anything, it's that legacy media exists. To distort the truth and to control you, to gatekeep information from the public instead of letting you know what's actually going on. They don't want you to know. But there is however, a publication that fights this, that is not propaganda, one that we read every month and have for many years, is called Imprimis. It's from Hillsdale College in Michigan. Imprimis is a free speech digest that features some of the best minds in the country addressing the questions that actually matter, the ones that are not addressed

• 18:51Tucker Carlson?

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• 19:21Speaker 02

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• 20:20Tucker Carlson?

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• 21:46Speaker 01

  Well, at least, you know, to acknowledge your mistake and to correct it is better than continuing with your mistake.

• 21:51Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 21:52Speaker 01

  And to be honest with you, you know, I'm invested in Meta also. Smaller scale, not like X, but I'm invested in X. And he's right, look at the share price, reflect on the share price.

• 22:01Tucker Carlson?

  You've invested in X AI. What do you envision the world looks like after, in 10 years, thanks to AI?

• 22:10Speaker 01

  Well, no doubt that, you know, artificial intelligence is going to play a big role in having evolution in the whole, in the social industry, in the economics, politics, economics, finance, et cetera. So AI is just beginning. We're in the first inning right now.

• 22:24Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 22:25Speaker 01

  And there's no doubt that AI and artificial intelligence will really impact the life of everybody.

• 22:31Tucker Carlson?

  I often hear people say that. I'm not exactly, I mean, I know that. Like the entire upper middle class of the United States is going to be unemployed. It sounds like that's bad, but I don't I don't understand what the other effects are of AI.

• 22:45Speaker 01

  Look, it's too early to judge frankly speaking right now. But I I hope that the AI really is used, you know, for the good causes. We hear a lot of doomsday scenarios. You know, I I talked to Musk about that, you know.

• 22:57Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 22:58Speaker 01

  I had with him three video calls and I did ask him about this question very explicitly. And, you know, he he believes that, you know, eighty to ninety percent will be positive. But still, you know, zero to ten percent could be evilish. So we have to be very careful about that. But I'm positive about AI because, you know, most people are really, you know, good, positive. And they utilize AI in any in any any way to to help the world society.

• 23:25Tucker Carlson?

  Elon, when he came into X, when you invested, fired what percentage of the staff?

• 23:31Speaker 01

  Uh, when Musk took over, they had around eight thousand people. And he fired six thousand five hundred people and went down to one thousand five hundred. And that's all documented, obviously, yes. And that's one of the items where I'm really upset from the legacy media. Where they said they cursed Musk and and X for firing six thousand five hundred people. And they worried about their social lives and how disrupted their lives, which is fine. I mean, eventually they'll have jobs. But no one talked about the economical and financial impact of having firing six thousand five hundred people on Twitter. They saved more than two billion dollars. And that saved the day because, you know, many advertisers did, you know, leave, leave X.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  And there are two components of profitability, increased revenues or decreased expenses. So clearly revenues did go down, but expenses went down dramatically also. So that broke even. So really, that saved the day. Yes, six thousand five hundred people were out and and X was running more efficiently. Because I'm always in touch with Glinda.

• 24:33Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  You know, the CEO of, and I was in touch with Jared, right hand man of of Musk and I'm in touch with Musk. And I follow this very closely because I'm, you know, a private investor there. So we know what's going inside. The company is performing a lot better with with one thousand five hundred people. So, Mr. Musk, duplicate that.

• 24:50Speaker 01

  On what he's doing right now with the US budget. And he can save hundreds of billions of dollars, forget two, three hundred dollars, maybe that's a bit too extreme. But he can save hundreds of billions of dollars. And you can have America reduce its budget deficit dramatically. Let alone, uh, to have it balanced, that would be a huge achievement. Huge achievement for, uh, for Mr. Musk personally and for the US administration, Trump and the US people.

• 25:15Tucker Carlson?

  You think he can do it?

• 25:18Speaker 01

  Look, he's a bulldozer. I know him very well. And when I talked to him, the guy is just so straight to the point, you know, no nonsense at all. Uh, if there's anyone to do it, frankly speaking, it's Musk. Through the, uh, dodge.

• 25:32Tucker Carlson?

  So you know Elon Musk and you know Donald Trump, they're in close alliance now. Elon is not a government official, obviously, but he is, you'd have to say, one of the top advisors. Can that partnership last?

• 25:44Speaker 01

  Look, they are both, uh, uh, big figures. But, uh, uh, Trump is President of the United States. Musk is, is, is, uh, is the richest man in the world. He is one of the most powerful, if not most powerful man in the world. You have to acknowledge that, that's a fact.

• 25:58Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 25:59Speaker 01

  And I think for the sake of the United States, uh, we want them to function very well. We want them to succeed very well. You know, clearly each one has huge ego for sure, and rightly so. They have to have an ego. Nothing wrong with that at all. And I really sincerely hope that they can function together. Musk is a very pragmatic person, logical person, because he has a mission. He wants to cut the cost in the, in the, and the, in the, in the US system, in the US budget system. And he wants to really, to balance the budget as much as he can. He told me that personally in my last phone call with him. And I believe he's given the tools, and he's given the tools, frankly speaking. And I hope they're all successful for them, frankly speaking. We all love the United States. We want America to have strong footings. You cannot be strong if you have all these budget deficits and trade deficits.

• 26:43Speaker 01

  And that will, will, will, will make you limp eventually.

• 26:47Tucker Carlson?

  Western Europe seems like it's falling apart. Is that your impression?

• 26:52Speaker 01

  Western Europe is aging, is sick. You know, you've seen most of the West Europe specifically.

• 27:02Speaker 01

  Wrong policies, bureaucracy, low speed and movement. You know, we see Italy, for example, under Meloni, you know, she's not the star. She is a conservative, I would not say right-wing, frankly, she's conservative, very conservative and pragmatic lady. And look now, Italy is still, is the star in all Europe right now. But really, Europe-

• 27:25Tucker Carlson?

  Do you ever think you would live long enough to say Italy is now the star of Europe?

• 27:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, I really hope that Europe wakes up because, you know, West Europe is alive in the United States.

• 27:35Tucker Carlson?

  Of course.

• 27:35Speaker 01

  But really, look, the policies in England, UK, France, Germany, Spain, they are all really very much backwards. They need to wake up, frankly speaking.

• 27:46Tucker Carlson?

  Can a country run without energy?

• 27:49Speaker 01

  It's almost impossible, you cannot, you cannot, I mean, look at UK, I mean, look, the Labour took part, took the reign of power from the Conservatives and look where they are right now. They're exactly where the Conservatives were when they left the government.

• 28:03Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 28:03Speaker 01

  A few months ago.

• 28:05Tucker Carlson?

  So, the UK is running out of natural gas. And, but, and that's true across Western Europe. These countries don't have enough energy to have first world economies. Will that change?

• 28:20Speaker 01

  Look, I'm not worried about that, frankly speaking, because, you know, they will always find a way to find gas, you know, whether it's the United States or other parts. You see, the Arab world also did help a lot in supplying the Western Europe with the gas, you know, once they shut down the pipes from Russia, so-

• 28:40Tucker Carlson?

  I think the Biden administration blew them up, right?

• 28:44Speaker 01

  We heard about that, you know.

• 28:45Tucker Carlson?

  Did you hear about that?

• 28:46Speaker 01

  I know that, I was about it, unfortunately.

• 28:49Tucker Carlson?

  Why would the Germans allow their allies in Washington to blow up their natural gas pipeline and not say anything about it?

• 28:57Speaker 01

  You said it, you know, you should answer that question.

• 29:01Tucker Carlson?

  I have some theories.

• 29:04Tucker Carlson?

  But you're saying that that all their ideas are leading to their destruction.

• 29:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, I think at least they're leading to their, their, uh, it's, uh, look, they have so many problems, uh, in West Europe. And unfortunately, they are not being acknowledged. And you have seen them, a lot of, uh, right-wing parties, like in France, Le Pen, for example, coming very strongly.

• 29:27Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 29:28Speaker 01

  She may win, she may win, may well win, win the elections.

• 29:31Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 29:31Speaker 01

  A few years from now. So all this causing the right-wing to come up very strongly. And, uh, I, I, unless they wake up so fast and, and do some, uh, quick remedies to their economical policies and also their political system.

• 29:45Tucker Carlson?

  It's just funny to hear you say that. So in Europe, you often you're say it's a battle between, you know, the native population and the Muslim immigrants. Here you are, a Muslim with prayer beads in your hand, saying you want more right-wing parties in Europe.

• 29:58Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I, I, I really am asking for it to be more, more, more, more centrist, for sure. Look at, for example, Meloni, when she ran, she won't run on, on a very right-wing, uh, policy.

• 30:08Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  But when she took over, she just went to center.

• 30:11Tucker Carlson?

  That's true.

• 30:11Speaker 01

  You know, they, they, they, when you reign, when you take power, you are forced to be more pragmatic.

• 30:16Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  She's a pragmatic lady.

• 30:17Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 30:17Speaker 01

  You know, and her, her policies are very logical and centrist. So, uh, uh, many policies of the left-wing really failed in, in Europe, did not work. And I really hope that, uh, uh, that they go back to center and, and they, and, and find really, uh, uh, take major decisions to really jumpstart the process, like Trump is doing out in America. America, Trump is shaking up the whole US political system, political system, economic system, financial system. Even now, we have CS tariffs now. I mean, this is still, you know, uh, we're on uncharted territory. We don't know where they're going to be heading. We don't know if these tariffs are there to stay or they're there, they're there for negotiating tool to reach some conclusions with Canada and Mexico.

• 31:01Tucker Carlson?

  Well, you've negotiated with Trump, against Trump, you know, to buy his, the plaza and his, and his boat. What do you think?

• 31:08Speaker 01

  Well, when negotiating with businessman, now he's the leader of the strongest country in the world, the United States of America. I think with Trump, if you come with him straight and not necessarily succumb to what he's asking for, but if you're logical and pragmatic with him, you can reach a conclusion, a deal, and very fast.

• 31:25Tucker Carlson?

  How long did it take you to negotiate the purchase of the plaza?

• 31:30Speaker 01

  Less than a week.

• 31:31Tucker Carlson?

  Less than a week?

• 31:32Speaker 01

  Yes. And it's bought less than a week. But it's swift, very fast.

• 31:38Tucker Carlson?

  So you think the tariffs are just an opening round in negotiation?

• 31:42Speaker 01

  Possibly, we don't know yet, possibly, possibly. But the 25% tariffs on, you know, on both the northern neighbor and southern neighbor, Canada and Mexico are pretty high. You've seen now how the auto industry was devastated today, they are down more than 10%, 15%.

• 31:57Tucker Carlson?

  Sure. In trading, but the industry itself is the same.

• 32:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, sure. It's still, it's too early to judge frankly, that's the trading, you know, because today they announced the, this is, and today is Monday, they're going to announce, it was announced just now, and the instantaneous reflection on that was very negative, obviously, on the auto industry.

• 32:17Tucker Carlson?

  So, you know, getting into a trade war with Canada and China, both of whom are totally dependent on the United States, they couldn't exist without the US, is different from doing that with China? How does that work?

• 32:28Speaker 01

  Well, look, China, I was reading yesterday that China, Xi Jinping did not really answer, did not reply yet. This thing is time, he's composed, you know, he's more long-term. Look, China, look, his dynasty has been 4,000 years old, so really, one year, one month, 40 years of tenure of any president, really. They're not too fast in replying. We have seen, Chinese government didn't officially reply yet. We've seen Trudeau, we've seen Mexico, replying already very aggressively in putting similar tariffs, especially in Canada. So we have not seen the reply of China yet. But China for sure is different behemoth completely, it's different ballgame.

• 33:11Tucker Carlson?

  Do you believe the story about DeepSeek, their AI project, that it was developed for under $6 million, and is that?

• 33:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, look, look, we're invested with Musk and Musk is a genius of our era. And clearly, you know, he's very conservative in the way he spend now. We put to them, you know, billions of dollars in having all these big mega centers being built in the United States. So really, five point six million dollars for this deep sea, you know, I really doubt this a little bit. So, and we're still very early part of this developing story to see if it's true or not and to see whether they did steal anything from OpenAI or where the truth is exactly. But, but I, you know, I think you have to give it some more time to see where the deep

• 34:00Speaker 01

  sea fit in the overall AI equation globally.

• 34:07Tucker Carlson?

  So there's, I mean, by far, the biggest real estate investments in the US and probably around the world are in data centers for AI and other processing. Can those data centers run on windmills and batteries?

• 34:22Speaker 01

  Well, we have seen now many of those big companies now are trying to go other paths, you know, nuclear, nuclear. So we are really very much in the early innings about all what's happening. But, you know, our bet, frankly speaking, is on Musk, on the AI, on the AI game. We were invested with them in the first round and second round, we're backing them all the way. And we've seen very strong alliance between XAI and X. There's a lot of relationship between them that's really causing a lot of positive for both companies.

• 34:54Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 34:54Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 34:55Tucker Carlson?

  But, you know, for the past 15 years, the rest of us have been getting lectures about renewable energy, the green agenda, carbon zero, you know, basically hydrocarbons are bad, solar windmills are good. And the second it became clear that AI would need a lot more energy than projected, people like Larry Fink said, well, you know, maybe we look to, maybe it's a, you know. It's a whole bunch of different energy sources. Do you think the green agenda is over, thanks to AI?

• 35:25Speaker 01

  Well, for sure, with the Trump election, the green revolution now has diminished a little bit. You know, it's not as being in the prime time, if I can use this term now. It's there, but I don't think it's going to be so much as being a number one priority for the Trump administration.

• 35:43Tucker Carlson?

  You don't think it's going to be the number one priority?

• 35:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know, maybe number nine or 10.

• 35:48Tucker Carlson?

  But other, I mean, your peers in business, big investors, have been pushing green energy projects, all subsidized by various governments.

• 36:00Tucker Carlson?

  Do you think that will stop? Do you think we'll stop getting lectures about how windmills are the future?

• 36:04Speaker 01

  No, it will not stop, frankly speaking. You know, I know Bill Gates, you know, we are partners with him in many projects, and we have with him a project called the BEV, the Breakthrough Energy Venture, that is invested in hundreds of companies that are in non-carbon energy. And they're moving, frankly speaking, moving ahead. So I think, you know, they'll still be there, but it will not be the same momentum and same oomph.

• 36:30Tucker Carlson?

  Do you think the United States will change its relationship with Venezuela because of Venezuela's oil reserves?

• 36:36Speaker 01

  Well, we have seen the US embassy yesterday being there, he met Maduro in Venezuela. So, and I think it was very cooperative, he gave some hostages, and he welcomed getting back all the immigrants. So he was very welcoming, and I'm sure Mr. Trump will love this. So we have to, it has to remain to be seen, because Venezuela, frankly speaking, they have a lot of oil reserves, you know, more than 280 billion barrels.

• 37:03Tucker Carlson?

  So I think they have the deepest reserves in the world, proven reserves.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  Exactly, exactly. So I don't know what's the ultimate policy for Mr. Trump. Trump is a very sophisticated man, and I think the fact that his embassy went immediately to Venezuela, whereby, you know, they have no relationship between both countries.

• 37:17Tucker Carlson?

  No.

• 37:18Speaker 01

  And Venezuela was very welcoming. So that story you have to follow, because it's a development story.

• 37:26Tucker Carlson?

  Well, I mean, we've spent the last, I don't know, 10 years trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

• 37:30Speaker 01

  Unsuccessfully.

• 37:32Tucker Carlson?

  Quite unsuccessfully. But then in one day, all of a sudden Venezuela says, yeah, here are all your hostages.

• 37:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, sure.

• 37:39Tucker Carlson?

  And flies the American flag in Maduro's office, like, what is this?

• 37:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I mean, this is a trampero. Summary, quick summary.

• 37:48Tucker Carlson?

  What would happen if the US did some sort of big energy deal with Venezuela?

• 37:53Speaker 01

  Well, I, I'm, I'm, look, at the end of the day, Trump is pragmatic. Trump also has good allies in Saudi Arabia, in UAE, in Qatar. We're always friends, you know. I mean, even if Venezuela is, is, is being blessed by the United States, doesn't mean that they can go and produce 2, 3 million barrels within, within months or weeks. So it's going to take them time to go back, you know, there. All what they have has been obsolete, frankly speaking. No new equipment has come to there, so, so even the capacity of Venezuela, they cannot produce more than 24 million barrels. So it's still okay, you know, it will not really impact the whole industry dramatically. It will impact it for sure, but not necessarily devastate it.

• 38:33Tucker Carlson?

  But over time, and it takes a while to build the infrastructure necessary to efficiently extract it. But, I mean, over the next 10 years, you could, you could see cheaper oil prices as a result of that, right?

• 38:44Speaker 01

  Well, for sure, I mean, I mean, that's why Saudi Arabia is transitioning from being an oil-based country into being a diversified economy. So that's why we're investing heavily in tourism. We're investing heavily into new minerals. We're investing into, into other alternatives to oil. We are diversifying our economy in many areas. So really, when the price of oil do sink to below 70 or 60 dollars, we have other alternatives really to withstand the heat, understand the, the pressure of having less oil, less price of oil.

• 39:17Tucker Carlson?

  It's just funny that, you know, it was a year ago, if you talked to any big investor, at least in public, they would say, no, no, the future is not more drilling for oil. The future is more windmills and solar panels. But you're saying actually, the future sounds like it's more drilling for oil.

• 39:35Speaker 01

  Well, what I'm saying is a Trump, you know, a drill, baby, drill, you know. Trump wants the price of oil to go down. Yeah, clearly, but also, Trump also has his eye on the fracking United States. Because the, the, the, the, the average cost to produce a barrel of fracking oil is also in the 50s to 60s also.

• 39:55Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 39:56Speaker 01

  doesn't want that also to go uh to go off. So there's a balance here to what Mr. Trump can do, obviously.

• 40:03Tucker Carlson?

  You can put your own domestic extractors out of business.

• 40:05Speaker 01

  Exactly. You don't do that. So you want to balance it now. Clearly, Trump came with a lot of, you know, with auto momentum. But at the end of the day, you know, when he has discussions with Saudi Arabia and with other other countries, they will know that also Saudi Arabia wants the interest of the consumers to be taken into consideration also.

• 40:21Tucker Carlson?

  Right. There are a lot of competing interests on the question of price per barrel. What do you think the the kind of right number balancing all that is?

• 40:30Speaker 01

  It's very difficult to judge this. Really, it all depends on on on supply and demand, frankly speaking. And you see China, China also has a big role in that. And you see, the economy of China right now is is moving in the five, six percent growth direction every year. So, you know, there are a lot of factors that that that contribute into this in this whole big equation.

• 40:51Tucker Carlson?

  Do you think, I know that obviously Donald Trump wants it in the 60s. Do you think we'll see it there? For barrel?

• 40:58Speaker 01

  I I hope, not frankly speaking, because I have this of Saudi Arabia.

• 41:01Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 41:01Speaker 01

  You know, I I don't want to be 60, but I think long term, there's no doubt that the that the price of oil is heading, not necessarily to the 100, but at least to where it is now, 670, 80.

• 41:12Tucker Carlson?

  Okay, you think it'll stay there?

• 41:13Speaker 01

  I think so.

• 41:15Tucker Carlson?

  I was in a restaurant the other night, in fact, this weekend, and I had a little trouble hearing what people were saying. And I thought to myself, I'm a little young to go deaf. Why? Well, because I grew up shooting, bird hunting, target shooting. And I remember my father saying, just stick a Marlboro filter in your opposite ear and you'll be fine. I wish we'd had suppressors, but we didn't. You can now. Check out Silencer Central. Silencers play a crucial role in improving accuracy, maximizing your experience and protecting your hearing. They're not dangerous or scary. It's just the opposite. Not using them can be dangerous. Have dinner with me in a restaurant and you'll know what I mean. Silencer Central can fix your problems immediately.

• 41:59Tucker Carlson?

  They will find the perfect silencer for you and make it very easy to buy one. It's not the hassle you thought it was. I know because I just went through it. So you get approved and then Silencer Central ships your order straight to your door. No hassle whatsoever. It is easy. It doesn't get any better, in fact. So if you thought it was impossible to shoot suppressed, you were wrong. Go to silencercentral.com right now. Start browsing. Use the code TUCKER10 for 10% off your first purchase of Banish suppressors. Highly recommended. You made a big bet on Russian energy right after the war in Ukraine started, 2022, I think, with Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosneft. I think those three.

• 42:44Speaker 01

  Correct. We invested in these three companies.

• 42:46Tucker Carlson?

  How'd you do?

• 42:47Speaker 01

  Well, we did well, frankly speaking. We did sell part of it. We did with some small profit and now we still have some stake there.

• 42:55Tucker Carlson?

  So the war starts in Ukraine and everyone's running away from Russia and Russian energy. The world is reorienting away from hydrocarbons in general and you swoop in and make a huge bet on traditional Russian energy. Why'd you do that?

• 43:09Speaker 01

  This was part of our investment philosophy and policy. We invested in so many companies that year in Western Europe, United States, and these three Russian companies were among them.

• 43:20Tucker Carlson?

  Right, but other people were not doing that. Why did you do that?

• 43:25Speaker 01

  We are sometimes contrarian and successfully so.

• 43:28Tucker Carlson?

  If you were to pick apart from AI and energy, like another two or three industries that you think are a good bet moving forward?

• 43:36Speaker 01

  Technology.

• 43:37Tucker Carlson?

  What kind?

• 43:38Speaker 01

  Well, look, we are invested, very heavily invested in technology. For example, in China, we are in many companies like Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Didi. Baidu is very heavily on board also in artificial intelligence. In America, we are also invested in Meta, we are X, XCI, in Snapchat. We are many companies also in America. So we have a diversified portfolio in technology. We are also in hospitality, in Four Seasons and Accor. We have a very diversified portfolio.

• 44:13Tucker Carlson?

  So you're in Alibaba, 10 years ago, a little over 10 years ago, Jack Ma was a very famous person in the United States. He was doing his roadshow with JP Morgan. Everyone loved Jack Ma. Company gets, you know, one of the biggest market caps in the world, and then Jack Ma disappears. Whatever happened to Jack Ma?

• 44:28Speaker 01

  You know, I know Jack Ma very well.

• 44:29Tucker Carlson?

  I bet you do.

• 44:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, I used to meet him always at the Microsoft meeting with Bill Gates. You know, I think, you know, Jack Ma really, you know, you know, China, look, is a centralized political system. And I think he went a bit too far, you know, with the, I'm being very frank with you. He went a bit too far in his being outspoken against the regime and against the communist system. So he was just told to just to cool it down a little bit. And I think that's what happened. He's now in a cooling down period.

• 44:59Tucker Carlson?

  He's in a cooling down. Are his whereabouts known?

• 45:03Speaker 01

  No, he's settling between Japan and China. He's coming in our public a little bit right now, but he's not as high-profile as before.

• 45:10Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, no, he's not. Can, um, the United States has a big military footprint in East Asia, mostly in Korea and Japan, but also other countries. Can that continue?

• 45:21Speaker 01

  Well, look, as I told you, that America is a big force to be reckoned with. America, America is an empire. Now, we don't call it empires these days, but America is an empire. You know, you, uh, you, you, you have hegemony on the world, the whole world. And America is a force to be reckoned with, too. So I think these, these, these bases are very important to stay there, to counter what's, what's going on with China also.

• 45:45Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 45:45Speaker 01

  So I know America now is being more, somehow a bit isolationist in its approach. But, you know, I think once Trump, you know, get more in the second term, he will, he will acknowledge the fact that America needs to have these, this presence in all these areas to keep the strength of America consolidated.

• 46:07Tucker Carlson?

  So you say that as a big investor in Chinese companies, you want to see American troops in Asia stay there.

• 46:13Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, not necessarily against China, but you have a crazy guy in North Korea.

• 46:20Tucker Carlson?

  He was really a proxy for China, though.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  You know, but still, he's loose cannon also.

• 46:25Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 46:25Speaker 01

  Then, I mean, he does take orders from China and somehow from Russia, but also he's a very independent guy and loose cannon also.

• 46:33Tucker Carlson?

  Do you know him?

• 46:34Speaker 01

  No, I don't know him.

• 46:35Tucker Carlson?

  You've no North Korean investments at all?

• 46:37Speaker 01

  No, not at all. If I'm going to be there, I'll ask Trump to introduce me to him. He's his friend. It was a bold move from President Trump to meet him.

• 46:46Tucker Carlson?

  Oh, I was there. It was a bold move. There's no doubt about it. And he took a lot of criticism. I mean, what do you... Since you're from the Middle East,

• 46:57Tucker Carlson?

  I would say your mother was Lebanese, you're related to people in power in a bunch of different countries. It's very common here for adversaries to meet and talk. In the West, in the last couple of decades, the idea has been, if we disagree with you, we're not talking to you. What do you think of that?

• 47:12Speaker 01

  No, frankly speaking, I am very much supporting what Trump does here. To talk to his adversaries, I think it's a plus. I mean, now we hear that Trump is going to open communication with Putin on Ukraine. I think I'm for it, frankly speaking. You know, unless you engage, how can you reach a conclusion, an agreement, or an engagement? I'm for it, frankly speaking. I think that's very bold from him to meet the leader of North Korea.

• 47:37Tucker Carlson?

  Yes. How would you describe Putin?

• 47:40Speaker 01

  Well, Putin is, you know, is a very smart man, and he calculates very well his moves. You know, he's a very smart guy. And clearly, one of the things he said, he feels sorry for the day that the Soviet Union disintegrated into all these 15 republics. So he has this empire mentality in him.

• 48:06Speaker 01

  It's in him. It's in his mind, for sure. He still craves for the Soviet Union empire and the Tsarist empire that used to be there before the revolution happened in 1917.

• 48:18Tucker Carlson?

  Yes. Everyone wants an empire. Do you think China wants an empire?

• 48:23Speaker 01

  Look, China, I think, you know, they have 1.3 billion people. I think the first priority really is to control their domestic situation and have growth. Because, look, China has a big problem. Look, you have a very open, capitalistic, economical system in China. Yet, the political system is very centralized, authoritarian, and communist, obviously. Now, these two don't go well together. So the question now, until when these two could happen and continue? You know, China is very concerned about this internal situation, obviously. And they want to have this growth happening to really, to have its people migrate from being

• 49:08Speaker 01

  the poor level to being middle class.

• 49:10Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 49:11Speaker 01

  So that's, I think that's the main worry, frankly, speaking Russian for foreseeable future.

• 49:14Tucker Carlson?

  But couldn't you say that about a lot of countries? Like, if you had a monarchy that was liberalizing its economy and opening itself to the world, had a state religion, had, you know, a thousand-year-old culture, wouldn't you be worried? I mean, how would that work? How could you maintain political control?

• 49:30Speaker 01

  Look, I think alluding to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region. I don't know, which is fine, which is fine, nothing. Look, we, you know, we talk freely and openly. Look, Saudi Arabia has legitimacy. And I, you know, I just said in one interview a few weeks ago, look at the six monarchies in the Arab world.

• 49:47Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 49:47Speaker 01

  Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Kuwait. These six monarchies. Add to them Morocco. Add to it Jordan. These are eight monarchies. Look how, I'm not sure, how good they're doing, how stable they are.

• 50:00Tucker Carlson?

  That is true.

• 50:01Speaker 01

  How legitimate they are. Look at Jordan. Look at the neighborhood of Jordan around it. Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel, and Hamas. And look how stable it is right now. Clearly, it's still a very difficult situation there. Eight monarchies, compare them with the other 14 republics in the Arab world. There are 22, obviously. There's no comparison between them. So we have legitimacy here when the monarchies headed by Saudi Arabia and the other, you know, seven countries.

• 50:29Tucker Carlson?

  I mean, of course, I disagree with you as an American, but I agree with you as a traveler. What you're saying is obviously true. But in our system, legitimacy comes from the consent of the governed. Our leaders are legitimate because we vote for them. No one votes for your Crown Prince, but it's also true that your country is thriving and the other five, the other seven monarchies you mentioned are doing well relative to the republic. So what, why do you think that's true?

• 50:57Speaker 01

  If you go to the republic here and rate Prince Mohammed bin Salman,

• 51:02Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 51:03Speaker 01

  he will get 70 to 80%, if not 90% approval rating.

• 51:06Tucker Carlson?

  I think that's true.

• 51:07Speaker 01

  To be honest with you.

• 51:08Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, I believe that.

• 51:08Speaker 01

  And this says it all, frankly speaking. People would like to get stability, wants continuity, wants to be sure that the economy is doing well. People are fed up from all these wars and all these turmoils and they see what's happening to their neighborhood. We've seen what's happening in, for example, our Gulf region, Saudi, head by Saudi Arabia. We see what's happening in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen. We don't want all that. We don't want all that. So really, frankly speaking, we are a very happy country here. All the Saudis are very happy with what's going on. Crown Prince is very popular. King Salman is beloved by everybody here. So frankly speaking, forget the elections. We're happy. We're okay.

• 51:48Tucker Carlson?

  Well, I disagree with you in theory, but agree with you in practice because it's just, what you're saying is, it's just true. It's a fact. I don't want it to be a fact, but it is a fact. So what is that? I mean, is the, I mean, democracy is just a kind of brief interlude in all human history. It's a pretty new thing. I mean, do you think it has a future?

• 52:08Speaker 01

  What do you mean by democracy in our region?

• 52:10Tucker Carlson?

  Well, if you're saying, I don't know. I mean, you're saying that all the republics in your region are struggling, all the monarchies are thriving, and that is roughly speaking, true, there are other factors.

• 52:21Speaker 01

  We have seen what happened to the so-called Bush democracy in Iraq. We have seen what happened there. That how could this whole thing collapse completely? You know, Iraq is a republic, correct? And we had the elections there and we see the results. We don't want that confusion and chaos. Look, we have monarchies. We're happy with them. People are happy. That's what counts for us, to be honest with you. With all respect to Americans, with all respect to Tucker Carlson, my friend, you know, we're happy with our systems and we're going to continue with it.

• 52:50Tucker Carlson?

  What is crypto exactly?

• 52:53Speaker 01

  Well, crypto is a new system, a currency system that I don't buy, frankly speaking. We're not investing in crypto at all. And I don't think it's for us at all, but it's there, it's facts right now.

• 53:10Tucker Carlson?

  It's a huge part of the fastest-growing sectors of the American economy.

• 53:15Speaker 01

  But still, I'm not a believer in that at all.

• 53:17Tucker Carlson?

  Why?

• 53:17Speaker 01

  I would not invest in crypto. It's not regulated well. Many US big businessmen do agree with me on that subject. I don't understand it very well. And it is a new form of currency that is really very confusing for me and complicated, and I don't understand it.

• 53:36Tucker Carlson?

  Is it a currency? Or is it...

• 53:38Speaker 01

  It's a form of payment.

• 53:39Tucker Carlson?

  That's what it's supposed to be, but from what I can tell, it's something that you invest in.

• 53:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:45Tucker Carlson?

  It's kind of imaginary goals.

• 53:46Speaker 01

  We have so many other investments. The world is full of investments and better investments to invest in. And we never invested in crypto.

• 53:54Tucker Carlson?

  You're never going to invest in crypto? Then why are the banks, big banks in the United States, all your friends, they're all in crypto?

• 54:01Speaker 01

  They are forced to. Even J.B. Morgan, that never believed in that, now they're forced to. Sometimes you have facts that you have to go with. But not necessarily with full conviction, but they are forced to go with it, unfortunately.

• 54:14Tucker Carlson?

  Why are they forced?

• 54:15Speaker 01

  Well, look, many other banks are doing it, so they are forced for the clients. So many clients believe in crypto. Many clients in the world believe in crypto. And so they have to reflect the needs and wishes of their own clients. So they go with it reluctantly.

• 54:29Tucker Carlson?

  I mean, if you have enough assets invested in crypto, at some point, it becomes kind of dangerous, doesn't it?

• 54:36Speaker 01

  Sure, definitely. I believe it could be a time bomb waiting to explode. I could be wrong, but that's my own belief. And that's the belief of the head of J.B. Morgan, also Jimmy Diamond.

• 54:49Tucker Carlson?

  You think he still thinks that?

• 54:51Speaker 01

  He thinks that. And actually, when he was in Davos, they asked him a question, and he refused to comment on it completely. I saw his interview, he declined to comment on it. Because he's fed up from saying it's bad, bad, bad, bad.

• 55:03Tucker Carlson?

  So he's just giving up and not commenting?

• 55:06Speaker 01

  Exactly, that's what's happening.

• 55:08Tucker Carlson?

  Huh. Uh, are any other countries in this region embracing crypto?

• 55:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, there are some countries, you know, yeah, some, but not heavily, not heavily.

• 55:18Tucker Carlson?

  What about gold?

• 55:19Speaker 01

  No, gold, the gold is, you know, is, many countries have, have gold as, as one of their investments, for sure, yes.

• 55:25Tucker Carlson?

  Are you an investor in gold?

• 55:26Speaker 01

  No, no, but, but we do have some small portfolio of gold, but nothing major, nothing major, no. Nothing major.

• 55:33Tucker Carlson?

  Do you expect it to go much higher?

• 55:35Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I mean,

• 55:39Speaker 01

  it goes up and down like, based on supply and demand, you know, but to us really it's not a priority, you know, uh, gold, we're not very heavily invested in the gold.

• 55:48Tucker Carlson?

  For your country, for Saudi Arabia, you've opened it up very dramatically, both physically opened it up, you're issuing visas to everybody, which you were not doing, ever. Um, but you've opened it up socially, women in the workforce, getting rid of guardianship, women driving most famously. Um, what are the reforms, the liberalizations that you wouldn't do here? Where would you draw the line?

• 56:13Speaker 01

  Look, Saudi Arabia opened a lot since nineteen fifty, since the twenty fifteen when King Salman took over and Prince Mohammed Salman got in charge of the local situation. And we opened up a lot. And I'm very happy with this complete liberalization of the economy, liberalization socially, whereby women became incorporated in the society, equal opportunity, women can drive now. Basically, it's, it's a normalization of, of the women incorporation into the society.

• 56:52Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 56:52Speaker 01

  So Prince Mohammed just made a woman equal to two men, frankly speaking.

• 56:58Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 56:58Speaker 01

  It was a big achievement for us because for many years before that, we were deprived from that. And I called for that many years ago, and thanks God it happened. So really, uh, there's no limit to where we can go, but obviously, you know, no one wants to go beyond the limit, you know, it's just like America, you know, if you do, you do everything within the law, within the legal system, it's acceptable. And that's what's happening here, you know, our country became normal. We're normalizing the situation with all our countries in the world.

• 57:26Tucker Carlson?

  Well, normal in the West is, you know, well, alcohol for one thing, legalized marijuana, transgender teachers, transgender admirals.

• 57:36Tucker Carlson?

  I mean, are there points where you say, "We don't want that"?

• 57:39Speaker 01

  No, look, frankly speaking, I'm very conservative. You know, I live in America, you know, I'm anti-alcohol. And I'm very happy that my country has no alcohol, frankly speaking, and I don't mind that at all.

• 57:51Speaker 01

  I'm a very liberal man socially, yet I'm very conservative in the... when it comes to, for example, using drugs or alcohol. I'm very much against that. So, so these are off the limits for us, for sure, and we will not accept that in Saudi Arabia.

• 58:03Tucker Carlson?

  You can have tourism without alcohol?

• 58:06Speaker 01

  It's happening already.

• 58:08Tucker Carlson?

  That's true.

• 58:09Speaker 01

  It's happening already, to be honest with you. And if it's happening already, so it's been tested already right now. So, frankly speaking, the answer is, yes, it's possible, and it's happening.

• 58:18Tucker Carlson?

  And you think they'll stick with it, the government will stick with it?

• 58:20Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I think this for Saudi government to decide.

• 58:22Tucker Carlson?

  Of course.

• 58:23Speaker 01

  I'm not government official. So far, so good. But it's for the government to decide what are the next steps on that front specifically.

• 58:30Tucker Carlson?

  So, in our country, we had prohibition of alcohol for, what, 14 years?

• 58:35Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 58:36Tucker Carlson?

  And it is described to everybody, I mean, universally believed to be a massive failure. I don't know if that's actually true, but that's how history has recorded it. But that's, I mean, you think it's a success here. Why do you...

• 58:50Speaker 01

  Look, Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country. Religion is very, an integral part of our society.

• 58:56Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 58:57Speaker 01

  And not having alcohol here is not really something that says people are miss a lot. You know, clearly, when you have a Westerner come here, for sure, he would like to have some alcohol. I mean, there's no need to deny that, obviously. But I think to have an experience in Saudi Arabia without alcohol is something to be tried. But then today, it's the government, Saudi government, to decide if this policy to continue or not to continue. I'm going to continue in certain areas. You know, you've been to Red Sea, I think?

• 59:28Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 59:28Speaker 01

  In certain areas, if you would like to have this, to be permitted or not. It's not for me, but I'm willing to live with both scenarios.

• 59:36Tucker Carlson?

  It's just interesting, because it's the, one of the last pretty sober societies in the world. I mean, and you've lived in a number of places. What are the differences?

• 59:46Speaker 01

  It's good to be sober.

• 59:47Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, it is good to be sober.

• 59:49Speaker 01

  It's nice to be sober.

• 59:51Speaker 01

  I'll call you for that. Beautiful to be sober. Love it.

• 59:56Speaker 01

  You're, you're something else, Taker, huh?

• 59:59Tucker Carlson?

  Prince Ali, thank you very much for taking all this time.

• 1:00:01Speaker 01

  Pleasure.

• 1:00:02Tucker Carlson?

  Thank you.

• 1:00:07Tucker Carlson?

  I want to tell you about an amazing documentary series from our friend Sean Stone called "All the President's Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump." It is a series of interviews with people at the very heart of the first Trump term, many of whom are close to the heart of the second Trump term. This is their stories about what permanent Washington tried to do to them, in many cases, send them to prison for the crime of supporting Donald Trump. Their words have never been more relevant than they are now. Steve Bannon and Cash Patel, I'm in there even. "All the President's Men: The Conspiracy Against Trump," and you will find it only on TCNTuckerCarlson.com. Highly recommended.