were concerned about some islamic fundamentalists resurgence in egypt, that they did not have the support of the majority of the american people. behind-the-scenes talks going on. we don t need to remind everyone of the fact that the former ambassador to egypt was tapped by the president as his personal emissary. went there near the beginning of the crisis asking mubarak not to stand for re-election in september and then wisner coming back and saying mubarak should actually stay until september. so that s the situation here, richard. the president on his way to michigan. we don t have any official reaction at this point. all right, mike watching what the president is doing, how he s reacted within the last couple of weeks to the situation there in egypt. we ll be stopping back with you throughout the day here to find out what the president is saying regarding this. now back to richard engel who s live in eemg riggypt righ. we re watching live pictures here. some of the demonstrator
upper peninsula, an event surrounding efforts to have a wireless network around the country. he s going to marquette, michigan. we do expect to hear what we call a press gaggle from the press secretary traveling aboard air force one. obviously it could be delayed as the white house struggles to make sense of what we re hearing coming out of cairo. obviously over the last two weeks the white house trying to stay ahead of the curve as event rapidly unfolded on the streets of cairo. when we first saw those demonstrators there in the wake of tunisia, we saw the vice president say that mubarak was not a dictator, it was not time for him to go. the white house since then recalibrating their message with an increasing amount of pressure on mubarak to do just that. first they said they wanted to see an orderly transition. then the president after his second conversation with president mubarak more than a week ago said the time for him to go was now.
mike viqueira has been watching the president. you have new news for us. reporter: well, the president has just landed at a previously scheduled trip. he s in the city of marquette on michigan s upper peninsula. he s there as a follow-on to some of the initiatives that he put forth in the state of the union two or three weeks ago now. he s talking about wireless connections throughout the country. but he obviously has been keeping abreast of the situation here and we have some information, robert gibbs, his outgoing press secretary, spoke to reporters. we listened from her perch here in the white house pressroom. gibbs calls the situation very fluid. he says he s monitoring it. the president is in the conference room of air force one with aides watching the situation. as gibbs described it, much like we are doing on television. but you have to assume that the president is also in contact with the situation room here in the basement of the west wing as well. but you know that american
that gave rise to this. but secondly, i think the administration increasingly found its footing. it was pushing in the last few days for tangible changes that would open up egypt from emergency rule and greater freedom of the press to give the protesters what all egyptians want, which is more freedoms. i think the administration in the last few days also opened up an important channel of communication between vice president biden and the vice president of egypt, omar suleiman. i was pretty pleased hang on one second there, ambassador. this as we watch live pictures of president obama not walking down the stairs, but running towards the crowd, as he has just arrived in michigan. of course just receiving this information within the last hour, hour and a half, of the announcement that president mubarak of egypt will be coming to the microphones tonight to make that announcement. egyptian tv saying they will be covering that. the reaction from president
a great overview of what makes the countries similar but very different. we re going to the white house right now. mike viqueira is there and he s news for us. reporter: well, the president is at this moment on his way obviously a prescheduled trip to marquette. that is a city on michigan s upper peninsula. he s there, sort of a follow-on to some of the initiatives he put forward two or three weeks ago in the state of the union. he wants to promote wireless internet network throughout the country. i say all this to let you know that we have not had any official reaction or comment from the white house at this point. we do expect to hear aboard air force one on their way or at least we did expect to hear from the press secretary what is called a gaggle. he talks to the reporters gathered there, the press pool. we have not heard that. obviously they re probably trying to get their minds around, their hands around what exactly is happening in egypt. i think the number one concern that