JUAN GONZÁLEZ: President Donald Trump is scheduled to welcome Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the White House today. Sisi, a former military general, is the first Egyptian president to visit the White House since Egypt’s 2011 revolution. He rose to power in 2013 through a military coup, overthrowing Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi. The Trump administration has already indicated it will not publicly address Egypt’s grave human rights record during today’s meeting. Sarah Margon of Human Rights Watch said, quote, "Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a [stable] strategic relationship."
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump has called Sisi a "fantastic guy," after meeting him on the sidelines at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year. And el-Sisi was reportedly the first world leader to congratulate Trump on winning the presidency in November in a phone call. El-Sisi’s meeting with Trump comes shortly after en Egyptian court freed Hosni Mubarak from prison, six years after the former dictator led a crackdown on protests that killed hundreds of people opposed to his 30-year rule.
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from democracy now. you can square this with american governments mythical support of freedom and democracy around the world.
