National Security and Foreign Affairs

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) late Tuesday criticized President Trump after a report that Trump asked world leaders to contact him directly on his cellphone.

"Dear @realDonaldTrump: This is very stupid," Lieu tweeted, sharing a report titled, "Trump asks world leaders to call him on his cellphone."

Jamelle Bouie talks to Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., about the president's trip abroad and what he can expect when he makes his return stateside.

CLICK LINK FOR FULL PODCAST: https://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/trumpcast/2017/05/congressman_ted_lieu_on_donald_trump_s_foreign_trip.single.html

"Dear Jared: I have been told that Siberia, Russia has lovely weather this time of the year. You can backpack and back-channel all you want," Lieu wrote in a tweet.

Jared Kushner 'wanted to set up secret communications channel between Trump's transition team and the Kremlin - and had at least THREE undisclosed contacts with Russian ambassador'

During President Trump's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, he and King Salman agreed on a controversial multibillion dollar arms deal. The agreement promises Saudi Arabia $110 billion worth of arms immediately and an additional $350 billion over the next 10 years.

President Donald Trump's message Friday to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was "inappropriate" because of his references to terrorism, Rep. Ted Lieu said Friday.

"The message was inappropriate," the California Democrat told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "When you devote an entire paragraph to terrorist attacks, you are imputing to the 99.9 percent of Muslims who are peaceful that they are somehow linked to these terrorist attacks.

"You just don't do that in a holiday message."

President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Russia's ambassador to the United States discussed establishing a secret back-channel in order to avoid having their communications detected by US authorities, according to a report on Friday.

Democratic Rep.