encouraging protesters to take to the streets again. until this morning when we hear from the president, this was the position of the administration to strongly condemn the violence. >> today's events are deplorable. and they run counter to egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and general democracy. >> but when pressed about the $1.3 billion in aid the u.s. gives to egypt, a white house spokesman did not indicate any change in policy. >> we're going to continue to be in conversations with our counterparts there. and over the course of time, we're going to continue to review our assistance and we're going to make a decision about that assistance based on the best interest of american national security and best interest for stability in the region. >> but as the death toll is rising, the pressure was mounting. this morning, editorial boards for both "the new york times"

and washington post write it's time to cut off aid. we'll ask congressman ted deutsche about that and get the latest from egypt. let's start with kristin welker in martha's vineyard with the president. any indication what we'll hear from the president this morning? >> well, i think you will here president obama continue to condemn the violence in the strongest possible terms, sort of reiterating what secretary of state john kerry came out and said yesterday. i don't expect that he will announce a major shift in u.s. policy, chris, however, i wouldn't rule out that we will hear slightly new rhetoric today and possibly some new steps that the administration plans to take. we know that the administration has been reviewing the $1.3 billion in military aid that you just mentioned. we also know that they are considering delaying a military exercise called the bright star military exercise. this is a biannual event which includes the united states and other countries, involves

thousands of air and ground forces from the u.s. it's set to take place next month. so this would be a strong symbol of u.s. opposition to the violence, and the ongoing unrest in egypt if the united states were to delay this event. those are some of the things that the u.s. has been considering. so far the only real step the administration has taken is postpone sending three f-16 fighter jets to egypt. we know that president obama continues to get updated by the situation by his national security adviser susan rice who is traveling here in martha's vinyard with him so he'll likely discuss the latest information he has gotten on those briefings we know secretary of state john kerry has been in touch with counter parts in the region. >> kristin welker, we know you'll be standing by for us. in the meantime, i want to go to cairo. it is just after 4:00 in the afternoon. get us up to speed on what's been happening there today.

>> reporter: well, a lot of rapid developments unfolding here on the ground. first off, let's start with the security situation. supporters of ousted president of mohammed morsi stormed a building belonging to the cairo's governor's office not far away from a nearby district. according to police. supporters marching near that building, attacked it first setting it on fire with molotov cocktails and using live ammunition against the building. workers in that office building were evacuated. right now no clear numbers on the casualties or fatalities. police did arrive on the scene to use tear gas to disburse the crowd. firefighters trying to get there to put out the flame were hindered by protesters according to the department of the interior. that comes after protests following what happened yesterday.

the scope of which is still being realized. the official government death toll stands at 521 people killed. according to eye witnesses and others there are 200 bodies unidentified in a field hospital or a mosque converted to a field hospital allowing family relatives to come and identify some of those missing people. we expect the number to increase in the coming hour. meanwhile for the government it is business as usual to some extent. cabinet meeting still ongoing, still holding meetings throughout the course of the day to show semblance of normalcy. it's a government facing a political crisis and rabidly deteriorating situation on the street. >> we're watching live pictures as we're listening to you of the cleanup. are they getting rid of signs of camps that existed yesterday? >> that's right. the military and police were working in conjunction together with this one. they used military dozers to go

through the area and sweep out major camps. one of them took very few hours to completely fall into control of the police. the much larger camp where a lot of casualties reported lasted for seven hours. close to 11 hours and the clean-up operation lasted into the early morning. there were very powerful images of many tents there that were set on fire. now, according to supporters of ousted president encamped in that location. they said it was the military who set them on fire as they were cleaning the area. essentially they're describing it as a scorched-earth policy by the military to try to cover up the tracks of what unfolded and what they describe as a bloody massacre. at this stage the clean-up seems to be still under way. we understand traffic is not moving back freely but people, pedestrians have been allowed to walk into that square, in both squares, actually. it's an indication that in that area, both of those squares are

firmly in control of the government. >> thank you so much. i want to bring congressman ted deutsche who is a member of the foreign affairs committee. good morning. >> good morning, chris. we mentioned calls are growing louder to cut off aid to egypt. those who argue this aid gives the united states leverage can no longer do so with a straight face. time and again, repeated phone calls to chuck hagel. asking for restraint and similar exertations by john kerry have been ignored. what do you think you want to hear from the president what caught to be done here? >> well, first of all, there's a lot of talk about national security interests in egypt. those national security interests have to include the promotion of human rights and democracy. that was the case during morsi's government, during the muslim brotherhood government where they time and time again turn their backs on human rights,

work to build a government that was consolidating power that didn't respect human rights. now, the military came in and said they were going to be a guardian of democracy. that's clearly not what we've seen in the streets these past 24 hours. and it's imperative that we continue to promote human rights and democracy. that means taking a hard look at the billion and a half dollars in aid that we provide and making sure that we exercise as much leverage as we possibly can to ensure that the government recognizes the need to promote democracy and human rights which is again the opposite direction we've seen. >> are you suggesting, congressman that aid should be pulled or perhaps pulled with the understanding, the message being sent that if you change your ways, that it can be reinstated, but should that money be pulled right now? have we reached that point? >> i'm looking forward to h rg what the president has to say. i think we have to figure out, the administration with

congress's support has to figure out the best way to utilize that billion and a half dollars in leverage. it's not just sending a signal. not just a matter of youing back the funding in order to send a signal. we want to do the best we can to ensure the egyptian people are on a pathway to democracy. that may be conditioning aid. some very tough conditions imposed immediately. that's why i'm looking forward to what the president says next. >> let me ask you about your concerns here now. lindsey graham has said that he's concerned that if essentially egypt fails, and that was his term, then al queda has an opening. this is a major national security concern for us. do you agree with his level of concern? >> well, absolutely, i agree that there is a lot at stake in egypt. that aid that we provide to egypt, in exchange for that aid, egypt has been a partner to the camp david accords, has been at

peace with have israel. second kerry has been working on that. that's something that will be put in play if we simply pull the aid ought together right now. at the same time the muslim brotherhood doesn't have a great reputation. if you look at their reaction what's going on the slaughter is deplorable by the military and the muslim brotherhood lunched attacks against the christian churches as a response to that. there's a lot that needs to happen to ensure that democracy can go forward and we need to exercise the greatest influence that we can, more certainly than we have been thus far. >> congressman ted deutsche, thank you so much. i want to bring in david gregory. what are you hearing? what can we expect from him this morning? >> for one thing he has to get on the record an go further than secretary of state has gone,

john kerry and call the vie deplorable. the difficulty, he finds himself in, his administration supported the coup when mub mubarak was pushed out. the military, under the guise of creating some stability, pushed morsi out. now, morsi was an imperfect democrat, small d democrat, that is for sure, in terms of how he was leading egypt but this is the difficulty the u.s. finds itself in, what does it stand for and what is it going do about it, what you're hearing is the only leverage the united states has. a billion and a half in u.s. aid. so, whether it's senator rand paul who is saying what else do you need before you start cutting off aid or lindsey graham, another republican who is warning about, hey, wait a minute, what happens if you lose egypt in the ramifications?

there are not a lot of good options but it's also not clear what the u.s. strategy is at this point. i would say there's even something else that's more difficult which is, to what extent does the united states have influence here and how does it use that influence? i don't know that there's an easy answer to that question during such a fluid time in this post arab spring middle east. >> david, if you will stand by, i also want to bring in democrat congressman steve israel of new york. let me ask you your position on this. because the u.s. does have this $1.5 million in aid. it's 20% of the military budget. pretty significant in terms of total dollars over there. what kind of leverage does the united states have at this point, as we're seeing this crisis unfold? >> we have leverage, and it's worked before. i was the guy who, several years ago, called for a reduction in u.s. aid to egypt because the egyptian government was not

enforcing tunnels being dug from egypt into israel flew which all sorts of things -- into gaza which all sorts of bombs and armaments were being smuggled. the egyptian government responded not perfectly that proved the egyptian government can respond when we use our leverage appropriately. the other thing very briefly the world is more stable when the middle east is stable. the middle east can only be stable when egypt is stable. right now it's not stable. we need to use all our tools in our pool box to get it on a path towards stability. >> when you say use that appropriately, bo that be some conditional agreement you want to forge with egypt and say the money is gone now, here's what you have to do to get it back. >> i would use the precedent that worked before, whether it's conditional. and in fact, what we did before. i was the guy who led the fight on this, we reduced foreign military financing by $200 million until the government of

egypt demonstrated better capabilities and capacity to stop the smuggling of arms from rafa, egypt into gaza. that worked before to a certain extent. i would use the same kind of strategic view and application to the conditions now. >> you know what the argument is on the other side, though, that this is going cut off any lingering influence that we might have that we need to continue the open lines of communication, that we need to have some sort of relationship, because moving forward, obviously, we don't want to be cut off from any influence in that country. what do you say to those critics who say that's the wrong way to approach this? >> well, first, doing nothing is never a good strategy. secondly, we have that precedent. we did call for a reduction in $200 million, we made a condition on improved behavior and conduct on safety and security issues and the egyptians responded. there is precedent for the youth strategic and sensible and calibrated use of u.s. aid to

achieve better outcomes and if it worked before, we ought to try it again. >> congressman steve israel, always good to have you on the program. thanks very much. >> thank you, chris. >> what is the white house thinking right now, david? do we know in terms what to do about this billion and a half dollars? >> no, i don't think the president -- i don't know for certain. i don't think the president is prepared to advocate pulling that back at this point. you want to take a series of steps here. you know, the president's on vacation. it was john kerry, his secretary of state who came out yesterday and made a public statement about this. the president's obviously ratcheting it up today. i don't think the white house liked the idea you have some 500 dead an you haven't heard from the president yet. foreign policy is not exactly clear here. whether coming from within the white house or coming from the state department. what they've relied on in the past, what any administration has is exceptionally close relationships military to

military. once mubarak was in a lot of trouble and he was on his way out, and he was, deploying forces to quell the protesters in tahrir square. it was the military that held back, and they did that because of their tight relationship with the united states. what's difficult here is that you have the military moving forward and clearing, you know, these protesters out. so, this is the difficulty that the administration faces right now. and i think, you know, they're going to have to pursue a more definite strategy here. it's not just the united states. because you have israel as a key player here as well. the israeli military working very well in the egyptian military on issues that have to do with, you know, their border. and a very fragile peace treaty that exists between those two countries. there's a lot of different factors here, including the

future of the muslim brotherhood. mohammed morsi is less the issue than the muslim brotherhood. they say don't become part of a democrat democraticic /* party. the message was, hey, we have a democratically elected president and look what happened. that's what the united states has to manage, israel has to manage and other countries in the region. >> was the administration taken completely by surprise if you look over the course of a few days going into this there certainly wasn't any indication there would be anything from the military except a muted response, these plans that were leaked that suggest there would be a clearing operation that would go on over the course of days, certainly nothing about killing women and children. >> well, right. again, i don't necessarily know what the strategy is.

and it's not clear that the administration has a determined strategy about how they want to proceed. whether it's backing particular people, whether it's using the leverage of u.s. foreign aid to egypt. i think, from the beginning of the arab spring, there have been difficult choices that the administration has to make about how far you lean in and how far you step back understanding that there is some limit to american influence and a process that has to play out here that we can't always intervene in. you know, this is a foreign policy debate now that we've been engaged in for a decade, plus. which is -- goes back to the iraq war. it goes back to the future of afghanist afghanistan. you know, the united states, and i think the public in large measure has come to the conclusion that america can't want these kinds of changes more than the countries themselves want it for themselves. and the difficulty of how much the united states tries to put its thumb on the scale has

played out in afghanistan, and played out in iraq and it is now being tested in egypt. so, that's why i'm eagerly anticipating the president's remarks for the larger signals that it sends about the kind of leverage he intendeds to use and how much time he intends to dedicate to this particular issue which is not just -- remember, this is not just about the future of egypt. egypt, unlike other country, i think it's tom friedman and others say what happens in egypt doesn't stay in egypt. it's important for the region. important for israel and really important for the future of u.s. foreign policy. >> it's something i've always looked to as a trend-setter in the arab role. i want to bring in benjamin goldbe goldberger, times national editor. i want to start with you. this is a much larger question for that entire region. and i think one of the things we

haven't touched on is there's a political aspect of this but there is a real onthe ground aspect of it. which deals with the everday people there, who are concerned about things like the economy, jobs, food, health care. >> right. this didn't come out of nowhere. i think that's exactly right. there's a reason why mubarak left. there's a reason why morsi left. leadership in egypt has not been working for egyptians. they are poor, they are hungry, they are jobless. they are angry. organizations like the muslim brotherhood can pick up on that in one second and feel it. here, i have two concerns what i've heard so far. one is congressman israel talking about using aid as leverage and how successful that has been in the past. there was a government in place in the past which could respond to that which was mubarak who was quick to respond to u.s. pressure. we don't have na in place right now. makes me wonder how strong

leverage do we really have here. what can the united states do. i think david hit all of the hot-button issues on what is at stake for the egyptian people but also for the region. >> the big question, too, for this administration is, and i think david brought this point up as well, which is, you know, america has learned and doesn't seem to have the stomach for, trying to force its will on countries that don't want to do it themselves. >> absolutely. i think that one of the reasons for the hesitancy here was that there was initial hope that egypt could function as sort of a model of democracy in the region. now they're starting to recognize that it may demand action from descending into terrorism targeted at the west. >> all right. we're going to have dafna and benjamin stay with us. but louisa is a free lance journalist with the "global post." she joins me live from cairo.

what are you seeing there, louisa? >> it seems the death toll from yesterday was significantly higher than what we've already seen. we've seen reports it was 500 plus. the country today is absolutely reeling. people don't know how to process what happened. for now the state has been telling people these brotherhood are terrorists. they've been running with weapon weapons. >> of course, the overwhelming level of blood shed that we saw yesterday is not something that we have to tell people to move on from here. >> is there any feeling, anticipation what the president will say and whether the united states will have any influence on the situation on the ground there, louisa? >> to be honest, i'm not sure

it's really on the for front of people's minds here. anti-american sentiment is on the rise since the coup. they strongly blame america for the success of the other side. that's a sign that they want america on their side. but that said, i certainly have heard people talking about it today. >> you were in the mosque where i under it's a makeshift morgue where they are bringing in bodies. give us, if you can, a sense of -- we hear members, you say 521 people are dead. but it is just a number. give us a very real sense of what you're seeing, what people are feeling there. >> well, if you want plain numbers, the reality -- i can

see inside this mosque, there were families gathering around them. women crying, some of them screaming as people try to preserve the body of their loved ones. of course this isn't an official morgue. you walk around in bare feet. the carpet is soaked with ice people are putting on these dead bodice and also they're trying desperately to alie the rot, it is a very, very tragic scene one i don't hope to see again. louisa loveluck, on the ground reporting for msnbc news. we wait for the president to make the first statement since this bloody crackdown, that claimed thousands of lives and problems hundreds more. we'll be back after this. use neosporin to help you heal. it kills germs so you heal four days faster. neosporin.

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♪ now you can give yourself a kick in the rear! v8 v-fusion plus energy. natural energy from green tea plus fruits and veggies. need a little kick? ooh! could've had a v8. in the juice aisle. we're just getting word that foreign ministers from the european union plan to meet on

monday or tuesday to talk about the situation in egypt. one of them saying, we try to mediate this with representatives from the united states. all of us talking to egypt. the military leaders didn't want to hear any of it. in the meantime, we are waiting to hear from the president. we expect to hear from him in the next couple of minutes. let me bring in mike ginsburg, u.s. -- former u.s. ambassador to morocco. i think david gregory pointed out well that we are now coming to another very critical juncture in what has been a decade-long foreign policy debate. what would you expect to hear from the president in about 90 seconds from now? >> chris, the most important thing is for the president at this point in time to urge the egyptian military to begin a massive and significant outreach to those people who are essentially briefed by the events in egypt and to, in effect, encourage them to redouble their efforts to preach out to the muslim brotherhood.

that would be the most important message. and for the united states, once and for all, to find a position that they can stay with in so far as dealing with the egyptian government, i think david was masterful in his analysis of what the dilemmas are for the u.s. foreign policy. remember, going forward here, the events have already occurred. the military is in charge, they are going to be in control. the government is splintered with the resignation of vice president which is important. we have the capacity to deal with the more political leadership of egypt right now. that's where we are placing our markings -- >> i had a discussion with the national security team about the situation in egypt and i want to provide an update about our response the last several days. let me begin by stepping back for a moment. the relationship between the united states and egypt goes back decades. it's rooted in our respect of egypt as a nation.

and ancient center of civilization. and a cornerstone for peace in the middle east. it's also rooted in our ties to the egyptian people. forged through a long-standing partnership. just over two years ago, america was inspired by the egyptian's people's desire for change as millions of egyptians took to their streets to defend their dignity and demand a government responsive to their aspirations for political freedom and economic opportunity. and we said, at the time, the change would not come quickly or easily, but we did align ourselves with the set of principles, nonviolence, a respect for universal rights and a process for political and economic reform. in doing so, we were guided by values, but also by interests. because we believe nations are more stable. and more successful, when they

are guided by those principles as well. and that's why we're so concerned by recent events. we appreciate the complexity of the situation. while mohammed morsi was elected president in a democratic election, his government was not inclusive, and did not respect the views of all egyptians. we know that many egyptians, millions of egyptians, perhaps even the majority of egyptians were call forge a change in course, and while we do not believe that force is the way to resolve political differences, after the military's intervention several weeks ago, there remained a chance for reconciliation and an opportunity to pursue a democratic path. instead, we've seen a more dangerous path taken through arbitrary arrests, a broad crackdown on mr. morsi's associations and supporters and

now tragically, violence has taken the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousand more. the united states strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by egypt's interim government and security forces. we deplore violence against civilians. we support universal rights essential to human dignity, including the right to peaceful protest. we oppose the pursuit of martial law, which denies those rights to citizens under the principle that security trumps individual freedom or that mite makes right. today, the united states extends its condolences to the families of those who were killed and those who were wounded. given the depths of our partnership with egypt our national security interests in this pivotal part of the world and our belief that engagement can support a transition back to a democratically elected

civilian government, we've sustained our commitment to egypt and its people. but while we want to sustain our relationship with egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back. as a result, this morning we notified the egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise which was schedule for next month. going forward i've asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the u.s./egyptian relationship. let me say that the egyptian people deserve better than what we've seen over the last several days. and to the egyptian people, let me say the cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop. we call on the egyptian authorities to respect the

universal rights of the people. we call on those who are protesting to do so peacefully and condemn the attacks that we've seen by protesters, including on churches, we believe that the state of emergency should be lifted, that a process of national reconciliation should begin, that all parties need to have a voice in egypt's future, that the rights of women and religious minorities should be respected and commendments must be kept to pursue democratic elections of a parliament and president. pursuing that path will help egypt meet the democratic aspirations of its people while attracting tourism and international support that helps deliver opportunities to its citizens. violence on the other size will only feed the cycle of polarization that isolates egyptians from one another and from the world and that

continues to hamper the opportunity for egypt to get back on the path of economic growth. let me make one final point. america cannot determine the future of egypt. that's a task for the egyptiegy people. we don't take sides with any particular part or political figure. i know it's tempting inside of egypt to blame the united states or the west or some other outside actor for what's gone wrong. we've been blamed by supporters of morsi, we've been blamed by the other side as if we are supporters of morsi. that kind of approach will do nothing to help egyptians achieve the future that they deserve. we want egypt to succeed. we want a peaceful, democratic, prosperous egypt. that's our interest. but to achieve that, the egyptians are going have to do

the work. we recognize that change takes time and that a process like this is never guaranteed. there are examples in recent history of countries that are transitioned out of a military government towards a democratic government and did not always go in a straight line, and the process was not always smooth. there are going to be false starts. there will be difficult days. america's democratic journey took us through some mighty struggles to perfect our union. from asia to america, we know democratic transitions are measured not in months but even years but sometimes in generations. so the spirit of mutual interest and mutual respect, i want to be clear that america wants to be a partner in the egyptian people's pursuit of a better future, and we are guided by our national interest in this long-standing relationship.

but our partnership must also advance the principles that we believe in and so many egyptians have sacrificed for these last several years, no matter what party or faction they belong to. america will work with all of those in egypt and around the world to support a future of stability that rests on a foundation of justice, and peace, and dignity. thank you very much. president obama, from martha's vineyard addressing the crisis in egypt. strongly condemning what he called the more dangerous path taken by the leadership there in deploring the violence against peaceful protesters. let me bring in david gregory, host of nbc's "meet the press" once again. we had already postponed the sending of fighter jets. we did not hear him use the word coup which could trigger the removal of that $1.5 billion in

aid. your reaction from what you heard from the president, david. >> let's underscore something that the strongest part of the u.s./egyptian relationship is the military-to-military contact. that's why the president wants to send a message to the military where we had influence going back to officers school where their emerging officers would come and spend a lot of time with our officer corps that went on to be the highest-ranking officers in the pentag pentagon. that influence has been lost for a moment given what the military is doing. the president is drafting a military joint exercise. that's significant. what does the president want? what does the united states want? they want a democratic path for eqypt and all inclusive government. that's why the united states support aid coupe, even though it says -- the administration didn't say they did. but that was the reality and the reality was that way, because the president said it, mohammed morsi, yes, was democratically

elected but failed to usher in democratic change. he was not leading a democratic government in a democratic way. he was, you know, in effect, a bad guy in terms of how the united states viewed this. but the other part of this is what the president did not say and he wants to leave some things unsaid in terms of what the administration can yet do. that's military aid, which congress could vote on, or that's ramping up the pressure even further. the president is saying we have principles, this is what we like to see happen. transition to democracy is hard. you hear this a lot. this goes back to our immediate aftermath of iraq as well. transitions were difficult. we had our own tough transitions in the united states. the president said and this caught my eye, that our partnership. he said, must advance, based on the principles that we believe in. now, that's a statement of principle, that is not a statement of consequences as to whether this does not get turned around. the president is dangling some

consequences out there if things were to go worse. it's quite clear to me based on what the president is saying that he got a certain amount of levers here and he wants to ramp it up as he sees fit and this is the first step. >> mark ginsburg, let me bring you in. david if you can stand by. what do you think about the cancellation of joint military exercises and how significant that is? >> i was listening to to david and trying to put my self in general assisi's shoes. this is what i think he took away from this. he got a slap on the hands from the president of the united states, cuttinging off the exercises is the least symbolic gesture the administration can do. it did not have our ambassador return, did not cut off part of the aid, did not suspend economic assistance. what essentially he signaled to the egyptian government is i understand the circumstances which you acted. you acted too forcefully.

the relationship is too important for us to go any further and it's important to determine how you're going to proceed. the most important thing i recommend. now the president has to second secretary kerry to cairo to sit down with the political and military leadership to try to determine a path forward where the united states could play an important role. that's what i would like to see the president say. because in the end. embedded in the president's statement is the inherent message that you need to transition to a civilian government and secretary kerry has the export peace and wherewithal and knowledge of the political leadership to make that in effect a good facilitator here. >> we've seen his willingness to get involved in the israeli peace process, david. what do you think the next step is diplomatically? >> i think marc is right. this is the role for the secretary of state who at the moment is pushing forward on arab israeli piece. it may not be as relevant to

this but may not be as pressing. it has to be a real statement of commitment. look, in these countries, what we've seen, what does the recent history tell us, let alone longer range history that the course of building democratic institutions is very hard. it takes a long time and a lot of bad can happen before it actually bears fruit. this is why, in the after math of iraq, you have shia who are empowered because they are the most organized. they are the ones most prepared to take control of the government. this was the case in egypt where the muslim brotherhood was the most organized at a grass roots level, at a political level, you introduce democracy, they are the ones prepared to take over. our diplomat, secretary of state clinton said at the time of the arab spring that they weren't quite prepared for all of the building blocks of real democratic institution and party. what is the united states going do about that? is that financial aid? in what other ways does the

administration mid wife this or is the president saying we're a partner? we'll provide encouragement but there are limits to how far we are going to try to influence what happens. is that the strategy? that's the question to me. >> david gregory, thank you, we are going to take a quick break. when we come back, we are going to go live to egypt right after this. i like a clean kitchen.

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still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. the united states strongly con deps the steps that have been taken by egypt's interim government and security forces. we deplore violence against civilians. we support universal rights essential to human dignity. >> that was the president just moments ago. at the same time announcing the cancellation of u.s. joint military exercises known as bright star. i want to bring in nbc's reporter live in cairo. tell us about bright star and the significance of these joint military exercises.

>> well, it's certainly a significant training exercise for the egyptian military. keep in mind the egyptian military largely trained and funded by the united states or equipped by the united states. these operations or training exercises are extremely important for the development of egyptian military and has a great deal of prestige for egypt's regional standing. the fact it's now been canceled not as a result of circumstances on the ground but more importantly what it seems like, punitive measures against the egyptian military. that's going to resonate very lively across the egyptian society. keep in mind the u.s. had a whole host of tools it could use to condemn this attack. the fact it's canceling the military operations or training exercises with the egyptian military will be interpreted here as i a public rebuke of the egyptian military over the course of what it's done over the next several days. >> i also want to bling in congressman ted deutch standing

by listening to the president. here's a member of the foreign affairs committee. let me get your reaction to what you heard from the president. >> sure. i thought it was a very strong condemnation. it's on important step to take to cancel the military exercises. i thought the press did also something very important which is to point out this is not just a battle between the muslim brotherhood and military. that ultimately there are tens of millions of egyptians who poured into the streets six weeks ago, really clamoring for a more inclusive government and he made clear to the egyptian people our commitment to work to ensure there's a path to democracy, that was an important step, an important message for them to hear. i look forward to additional steps going forward to make sure we can do everything we can to see that path going forward. >> let's talk about the additional steps going forward. david gregory pointed out something that the president did say, he didn't use the word coup, didn't talk about removing

$1.5 billion in aid. and david said ramping up pressure even further. what are you looking for in the coming days? at what point do we say we need to take an additional step and what should that be? >> canceling the military exercise sends a message to the military. the next step is for diplomacy to happen at the highest level. >> would you like to see secretary of state kerry go to cairo? >> i would. and i would like to see the message brought directly to the egyptians that what the president said today in his statement, in support of the egyptian people's desire to move toward an inclusive democrat is is something that we are committed to. that combination of message to the military, and the highest level diplomacy is what we should do in the near term. from there, we have to be clear about using all of the additional leverage that we may have. but that's the next step and i hope that it happens soon.

>> congressman deutsche, member of the foreign affairs committee. thank you for staying with us this hour and average your analysis of this. we'll take a quick break. when we come back we have dafna linzner as well as benjamin goldburger, "times" editor. yeah - and it's on verizon's network. sweet! we can stay in touch when we go to school next year. that's so great! get the samsung galaxy s 4 for only $148 on verizon - america's largest 4g lte network. walmart. as soon as you feel it, weigh you down? try miralax. it works differently than other laxatives. it draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally. don't wait to feel great. miralax. take the miralax pledge to feel better sooner. get a reward like a beauty treatment, a dance class or a $5 gift card with purchase of a specially marked pack. go to miralax.com for details.

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the president just moments ago strongly con depping the violence in egypt but it is continuing with supporters with the president continuing in places from cairo alexandria. the official tet toll at 520, journalists say it may rise by hundreds more. let's bring in dafna and benjamin. dafna you spent so much time in the middle east. help us with that perspective. your reaction what you heard from the president? >> i think the president did so

many strings. he strongly condemns the violence. he wants it to stop immediately. those were important messages. at the same time i don't think the president can turn his back on egypt. there's a lot at stake with egypt. he said at the beginning of his remarkses it ate cornerstone of peace in the middle east. i think he's right. i think here you have him saying a number of things like, you know, we don't want to do these joint military exercises with the egyptian military but he knows they are in charge. these are people we're going to have to deal with. we heard people talking about sending john kerry back, the secretary of state. he's going to need a bigger team. the national security adviser, possibly the cia. head of the cia john brennan worked very hard in obama's first term dealing with arab spring issues. >> you wonder who are the people that can bring about change? how long can he last?

>> if he's not going be responsive to what the president is saying, that will make hick weaker and weaker in other world leaders. talked about european and foreign ministers trying to reach out. if they don't see he's responsive and understands ramifications of the kind of death toll we're seeing that will hurt him terribly with the u.s. military and u.s. as a partner. the president had to say something here, benjamin. he couldn't ignore the fact that there were more than 500 people dead in the streets of cairo. at the same time there was already pressure building. pressure building from members of congress, from editorial boards. how much pressure is on the white house right now? >> oh, a ton. he woke up today and realized that the statement from the secretary of state was not enough. he had to weigh in. it's clear that he believes egypt can still become a functioning democracy. however long that takes. it may be generations, as i said. the question is what is he willing to do to ensure it? >> and i guess that is the

question. and where do we go next, if that next step is to send john kerry, how much bigger will that get. how inclusive will that be and what are we holding in reserve besides that billion and a half dollars. >> right that's a really good question. what kind of steps can you take next? you can't come out and hit the egyptian military very hard. you want it to be very calibrated, very measure. david gregory spoke about strategy. that's important. it's not all tactic. that's really where he's got to be headed and that's got to be the folk us here. >> i want to thank dafna linzner and benjamin goldburger. an important statement by the president of the united states. strongly condemning violence in egypt. we've seen in cities throughout egypt today violence, despite the government's declaration of a nighttime curfew and state of

emergency, men, presumed to be supporters of the deposed president mohammed morsi storming into buildings including those housing the government and provincial government. thomas roberts will pick up coverage after a quick break, i'm chris jansing. that will do it for "jansing & company" today. see you tomorrow. any of our music. that's when i decided to switch. now that i'm on verizon, everything moves fast. with verizon, i have that reliability. i'm completely happy with verizon. verizon's 4g lte is the most reliable and in more places than any other 4g network. period. that's powerful. verizon. get the nokia lumia 928 for free.

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taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the u.s./egyptian relationship. hi, everybody, good morning i'm thomas roberts breaking news topping the hour on our agenda today. less than an hour ago president obama weighed in on the escalating violence from egypt in a statement from martha's vineyard. we'll get the tape playback from the news conference and we'll reair it in full. president obama's comments come on the heels of an attack by pro-morsi supporters. this is what is happening on the streets of cairo 24 hours since the arab spring upriding. supporters of ousted muslim brotherhood president mohammed morsi are not backing down. here's what we know right now at least 525 people are dead. more than 3700 injured in the des make of