press challenge State Department: was there a coup? you cutting off aid?

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2013/07/211535.htm

QUESTION: So do you consider this to be a military coup? I know the President warned against a military coup. Do you consider this to be a military coup?

MS. PSAKI: Again, Said, because this is a very fluid situation, we’re monitoring it closely. But I don’t have any independent confirmation of many of these reports that have been out in the last hour or so.

QUESTION: But I want to understand you correctly. And, I mean, in the diplomatic parlance, whenever the military takes the president, the democratically elected president, and places him under house arrest, is that considered a coup d’etat?

MS. PSAKI: Again, I’m not going to speak to reports that we don’t have confirmation of.

QUESTION: Has the – anyone from the Administration, perhaps Secretary Kerry and others, spoken to the military to sort of ask for clarification of the situation?

MS. PSAKI: Well, again, not specific to this report, which we don’t have independent confirmation of, but we have been in touch with all factions of the government, the military, the opposition in Egypt, over the last several days.

QUESTION: So to understand you correctly, the – sort of the control and command that the military currently exercises in Egypt is not considered a military rule or a coup?

MS. PSAKI: Again, you’re ahead of what we know to be confirmed information, so I think we’ve done what we can on this particular question. Do we have more on Egypt?

...

QUESTION: Are you going to take any steps to freeze military or economic aid to Egypt?

MS. PSAKI: Well, there’s general – we talked about this a little bit yesterday, but let me just repeat so everybody has the accurate information. There’s general legislation applicable to any country to which we provide assistance as a part of the appropriations bill that takes a close look at this. With respect to the ongoing situation in Egypt, it’s premature to suggest that we have taken steps, we’re thinking about taking steps. I’m not going to get ahead of, of course, events on the ground, but clearly assessments would be made based on the facts on the ground and choices made by all parties, if needed.

QUESTION: In preparation for this briefing, you probably pulled the relevant part of the legislation. Can you say what that says?

MS. PSAKI: I believe I provided that to a number of you yesterday after the briefing. I don’t have it in front of me, but if anyone did not receive it, I’m happy to provide that again to all of you.

QUESTION: Jen, can you --

QUESTION: Jen, yesterday President Morsy stressed very emphatically several dozen times through his speech that he was the legitimate leader of Egypt, he was democratically elected. What is the U.S. position on that?

MS. PSAKI: Well, that he was democratically elected. We are not taking sides in this case, as you know because we’ve talked about it quite a bit. And we have been very clear – the President has been, the Secretary has been; I think I was clear in my comments as well today – that there’s more that he needs to do. Democracy is not just about being elected through the ballot box. It’s also about allowing the voices of the people in your country to be heard, taking steps to work with all sides. And those are steps that we have not yet seen.

QUESTION: So does he have the right to stand behind that legitimacy if those steps are not taken?

MS. PSAKI: Well, again, I think we’ve called for those steps. We are hopeful he’ll take those steps. And he was the democratically elected president, but we’ve clearly called for him to do more.

QUESTION: Sorry, is there a reason that you’re using the past tense? He “was” the democratically elected president?

MS. PSAKI: Well, he was elected. He was not – he’s not going – he was elected a year ago.

QUESTION: As far as you’re concerned, he still is --

MS. PSAKI: Yes.

QUESTION: -- the democratically elected president, yes?

QUESTION: But so if the steps are not met, is – does the military have the legitimacy to remove him?

MS. PSAKI: Again, we’re not taking sides in this. This is for the Egyptian people and all sides to work through together, and we’re hopeful that they can come to a political resolution.

QUESTION: At the same --

QUESTION: Just let me answer a couple of things.

MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: You say that you’re – you’ve said over and over and over again that you’re not taking sides. Yet, you believe that at least some of the grievances that the protesters have are legitimate and should be addressed, correct?

MS. PSAKI: Yes.

QUESTION: Okay. You also believe – or you also told President Morsy – not you personally, but this government has told, from the President and others, that he needs to take steps to address those legitimate grievances.

MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: And in his speech last night, you said that there was an absence of any significant specific steps and that it was unfortunate that that was the case. So you’re disappointed in that?

MS. PSAKI: Yes.

QUESTION: You have not taken or condemned the military’s ultimatum to the President, correct?

MS. PSAKI: Correct.

QUESTION: So how are you able to say that you’re not taking sides?

MS. PSAKI: Well, President --

QUESTION: It seems pretty clear that you are on the side of the military and the protesters here, and not on the side of the President.

MS. PSAKI: It’s never been, Matt – I know we talked about this yesterday – about any one individual. This is a case where all sides need to work together and work through the challenges, the issues they have with each other. It’s not our job to, or our role, or the proper role of the United States, to determine the next steps, and we’re not going to do that.

....

QUESTION: The President – President Morsy called for the formation of unity government. Do you think this could be a good solution for this situation right now, and should the opposition answer that call? That’s the first question.

The second question, I know you don’t want to speculate, but what sort of steps would amount to a military coup from your point of view?

MS. PSAKI: Well, let me take the first one first, as is natural in the order. This is something that President Morsy has called for in the past. In the past – it doesn’t take me stating this; you’ve seen from officials on the ground in the opposition and others – that that was not a satisfactory step. It is not for us to judge that, but it doesn’t seem like it’s a new step. And last night was an opportunity for him to propose steps or new steps, which he, as I mentioned near the beginning, did not.

And in terms of – I’m not going to get ahead. You are right; I’m not going to speculate, I’m not going to get ahead of where we are in the process or where things are on the ground.

QUESTION: I’m not asking you to speculate about what’s going to happen in Egypt. I’m assuming the Administration has certain definition for a military coup that probably can be applicable everywhere in the world. What’s your definition? What’s the Administration definition of a military coup?

MS. PSAKI: I’m happy to get you that, but I wouldn’t ascribe specific words. Each scenario is different, and if you need our specific formal government definition, we’ll get that around to everybody.

QUESTION: If the military forced Morsy to step down, would that amount to a military coup?

MS. PSAKI: Again, I’m not going to speculate on events that have not yet happened.

QUESTION: Thank you.

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Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman@justforeignpolicy.org