“The message that Egypt takes away is that they don’t have to take these issues seriously… ultimately the U.S. will do whatever it takes to get Egypt the money because it sees Egypt as central to its security interests.”

“[Sisi] doesn’t trust the private sector. He doesn’t trust businessmen.”

“The [Department of Defense’s] perspective was that the priority placed on human rights made the problem more difficult. With or without that scratchiness, the Egyptians were a difficult partner.”

“Egypt may be working with the North Koreans on the contravention of sanctions that apply to North Korea. The thinking is almost certainly that if you’re going to do the waiver…[lawmakers] are going to ask the State Department to argue why.”

“Their attempted candidacies said to the Egyptian public that Sisi is doing a bad job and Egypt needs new leadership. That’s very provocative.”