CNN’s Don Lemon has examined why President Donald Trump seemed unwilling to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin or Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to their faces at the G20 summit in Argentina on Friday.

The “CNN Tonight” host on Friday aired footage of Putin and MBS embracing each other at the event. And “why not?” asked Lemon. “The President of the United States, the leader of the free world, the only man who could stand in their way is weak, weak, weak.”

Lemon said Trump was “afraid to cross two brutal and repressive leaders who oppose everything this country stands for.” Trump had “the perfect opportunity to call them both to account at the G20 face to face,” Lemon noted, but “he seems to be doing everything he can to avoid that.”

“The president seems to care more about covering his tracks with the Mueller investigation closing in than standing up for American values,” he added. “Whatever happened to America first?”

Check out the clip here:

"This President seems to care more about covering his tracks with the Mueller investigation closing in than standing up for American values." @DonLemon reports on President Trump's refusal to confront Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/DNccc0Grvy — CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) December 1, 2018