Trump: Egypt leader has ‘great friend’ in U.S.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pledged “strong backing” for one of the United States’ most important and controversial Arab allies, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah elSissi, as the two held private White House meetings Monday at the start of a week of high-stakes international diplomacy.
“We agree on so many things,” Trump said of elSissi as the two men met in the Oval Office and shook hands.
El-Sissi, Trump said, has “done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt.”
“You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me,” Trump told el-Sissi.
El-Sissi, whose government has been accused of killing, jailing or torturing tens of thousands of opponents, is the first Egyptian head of state to visit the White House since 2009.
Responding to Trump through an interpreter, elSissi said he admired the U.S. president’s “unique personality” and praised Trump for fighting “this evil ideology,” an allusion to Islamist-inspired terrorism.
In sharp contrast to the Obama administration, which kept its distance from el-Sissi, Trump had not been expected to raise critical issues such as human rights, the president’s aides said. Instead, the daylong session was aimed at “rebooting” a bilateral relationship often strained in the past, a senior administration official said.
Human rights advocates were appalled. “Inviting (elSissi) 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,” said Sarah Margon, Washington director at Human Rights Watch.