Trump, Netanyahu hold 'positive and productive' meeting after president scolds Bibi over 'Pickaxe Mountain' intel

WASHINGTON — President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met behind closed doors at the White House Tuesday to discuss the next steps in their five-month-old conflict with Iran. Ahead of their sitdown, Trump publicly rebuked Netanyahu during a TV interview after The Post reported that the leader of the Jewish state was expected to present evidence that Iran is pursuing nuclear technology at its subterranean Pickaxe Mountain site. "Well, I don't need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved," Trump told "Fox & Friends" when asked about the expectation Netanyahu will bring up Pickaxe Mountain ahead of an Oval Office meeting. "We know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem. We took out their nuclear site, and we'll have to take out Pickaxe if we don't make a deal." But, despite the prickly statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the nearly 90-minute Oval Office sitdown was "positive and productive." "If they don't make a deal, then I go back, and I finish the job. But that's going to take them forever to rebuild. I could take out most of their bridges in less than an hour, less than an hour. It really decimates a country. So those are the big things. And then there's always the desalination plants, and who am I hurting there? I'm hurting the people, so I'm not looking to do that. I just want, very simply, they cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.