square would dissipate has evaporated. so i think mr. mubarak recognizing that the situation was now beyond any reproach is probably doing the right thing. he s going to probably make a speech tonight, address the egyptian people, and announce that he is seeking some constitutional framework to turn over his powers to vice president omar suleiman. the reason why this is important is that under egyptian constitution, technically speaking, a resignation by hosni mubarak would automatically transfer powers to the speaker of the parliament, not necessarily to the vice president. so in this case, are the powers then going to the vice president? are what we understanding from our sources, that he will now take that seat? yes, i think they re going to finesse this somehow, either by his announcing that he s stepping aside without resigning and then waiting for some
his rights and actions, but all the egyptian constitution that they are discussing now, the vice president he is commissioned to do everything except three things. this mission dismissing the government, dismissing the constitution, or breaking that constitution okay. what is he commissioning? we can t do anything without hi action in the country. reporter: you re very angry. of course we are. we all are. he is saying that some of the people in egyptian or most of them are supporting them. they are not! today the officials, the doctors, the lawyers, they all were here. there are actors. they all we are here. everywhere in the country, and they are all there. i don t know what he is staying for.
in a restaurant in new york and they are the old guard, those who favor realism and those who worry about embracing this democratic change. that is something that the saudis worry about, something that the israelis worry about, and something that anybody should worry about. but the trick here is to make clear that the united states is on the side of democratic change. that that change has to come in what they re calling an orderly way. and obviously, it does have to be carefully monitored. you have a military who s now stepping outside the constitution, the egyptian constitution, and that has to be very, very carefully monitored. but it is the egyptian military where we have our unique leverage. and i hope and expect that top military officials, i understand that maybe they haven t been in
variety of these organizations, as you mentioned, toss around big numbers, putting his personal fortune between $40 and $75 billion. these could be way, way off. it just doesn t fit in very well with what we know about other rich people in the world. for example, forbes says the richest man in the world right now is this mexican telecom owner, his wealth is estimated at almost $54 billion. so look at that, $54 billion, versus $70 billion. this would make mubarak the richest man in the world right now. that raises some eyebrows and makes people say maybe this isn t quite right. the egyptian constitution says the salary of the presidential be fixed by law. he may not receive any other salary, may not exercise any profession or undertake financial or industrial activity
personal fortune between $40, maybe $70, $75 billion. those numbers involve a lot of guess work. these could be way, way off. this high end estimate, it just doesn t fit in very well with what we know about other rich people in the world. for example, forbes says the richest man in the world right now is this mexican telecom owner, his wealth is estimated at almost $54 billion. so look at that, $54 billion, versus $70 billion. this would make mubarak the richest man in the world right now. that raises some eyebrows and makes people say maybe this isn t quite right. but look at another part of this. the egyptian constitution says the salary of the president shall be fixed by law. he may not receive any other salary, may not exercise any profession or undertake financial or industrial activity and on and on it goes. obviously, there are a lot of questions whether or not he pays attention to the constitution.