For the first time, President Donald Trump called to order a meeting of the U.N. Security Council for a meeting on countering nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and said China has been meddling in the November election in the United States.

He offered few details, but said, “Regrettably, we found that China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election.”

U.S. intelligence officials have said previously that other nations could opt to try and copy Russia’s playbook of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But Trump’s comments Wednesday seem to confirm that China is actively interfering now.

Trump says Beijing doesn’t want him or the Republicans “to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade.”

Trump, seated at the center of an arc-shaped table, immediately uttered tough words against Iran, saying that a government with Iran’s track record “must never be allowed to obtain” a nuclear weapon.

At the same time, he thanked Iran, Russia and Syria for slowing their attack on Idlib province in Syria. Last week, Russia and Turkey reached a deal to avert an offensive against Idlib, the last major rebel-held stronghold in Syria.

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He endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He says that while he’s with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “100 percent,” Israel will have to do something that is good for the other side.

While meeting with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday, Trump said “deals have to be good for both parties,” but that he thinks the Palestinians “actually want to do something.”

Last week, eight European Union nations urged Israel to reconsider its planned demolition of a Palestinian community on the West Bank and said they will not give up on a negotiated two-state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and a new Palestinian state.

Trump said all U.S. options are on the table to help end the political, economic and humanitarian chaos in Venezuela — even the “strong ones.”

As he arrived Wednesday at the United Nations, reporters pummeled Trump with questions about whether the U.S. would ever intervene in the South American country. Venezuela’s inflation and homicide rates are among the highest in the world and more than 2 million people have fled the violence and conflict in recent years.

The Trump administration on Tuesday slapped financial sanctions on four members of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s inner circle, including his wife and the nation’s vice president, on allegations of corruption.

Asked if he would meet with Maduro, Trump said he would meet with anybody if it would help ease the suffering in Venezuela, which he described as a “disgrace.”


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