interior. at the moment the protest here is still peaceful. in the main area, thousands have come out today to protest against president hosni mubarak, and they are chanting for his downfall. there have been two developments. a new vice president has been pointed by the president. that is intelligence chief omar suleiman. now, they re already chanting here, the protesters, that they will not accept that decision. they re saying omar suleiman is just as much old guard and is not going to bring on the change that we re looking for. we are also getting reports that there have been shots fired near the ministry of interior. there have been clashes. they ve tried to move closer to the scene. just about a mile away from this main square. police forces are firing rubber bullets to keep the protesters at bay. we don t have a clear idea at this point of the casualties. a broader view, there have been reports of looting yet today and
rights of the egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful. let s go ahead and bring in nbc s white house correspondent, mike viqueira. what s the reaction out of washington today especially with this announcement that hosni mubarak has announced the swearing-in of his vice president? reporter: richard reporting the protesters on the streets in cairo are unimpressed. so, too, is the united states government. by virtue of a tweet from the state department spokesman p.j. crowley, remember, this after the cabinet resignation was announced by president mubarak last night, a subsequent 30-minute telephone conversation between president obama and hosni mubarak. and that, in turn, led to the president, our president s, appearance in the state dining room just behind me before cameras where he delivered the remarks you just saw. now a new vice president being appointed today. and here coinciding with that move, p.j. cro
hi, everybody and welcome back to msnbc. we have more on that breaking news, state television is reporting that the egyptian president has named a vice president for the first time since coming into power some 30 years ago. he has chosen his chief confidant. joining me now live to talk about this is american national security expert raymond tantor, i also want to point out to our viewers that you are a member of the national security council under president reagan. as you re watching all of thun fold, reagan, do you think there s any reason for the u.s. to reach out more than it s already done to prospective successors and start laying the ground work for the good relations to come? it s extremely important that the united states maintain good
in fact, there s a caretaker government with a sufficient period of time to really start to work on those institutions, even if that s only, say, three to six months, that that really might be what the obama administration is targeting. now, of course, this isn t in the u.s. hands right now, and the protesters on the streets may have completely different ideas. by all accounts, the military, until the last couple of reports, has not done too much to intervene in today s protests. we know that the new vice president hails from the military. the associated press said egyptians regard the army as the least corrupt and most efficient public institution. there is some concern that a report that three people have been killed while trying to storm, loot, damage the interior ministry just off the square. talk about if you sense that might be a turning and what problem that might pose. well, it s not at all clear that that s a turning point. it s important to remember that there are differe
official within the egyptian armed forces. so some analysts here are saying that this is an attempt by mubarak to prevent a coup by giving these two positions, these two vice presidential posts, first vice president to the intelligence chief and then the second vice president to the senior army officer as an attempt to buy off his opponents. the protesters on the streets so far are not accepting this. they say it is just an attempt by mubarak to change the reshuffle the deck, and they want him to leave the country. okay. richard engel, thank you for your continuing coverage. excellent reporting. we appreciate it so much. right now we re going to talk about the white house angle of things. my colleague thomas roberts is in the studio with that. it s really a blunt message coming from president obama. he says that egypt s leader must take concrete steps for reform. take a listen. surely there will be difficult days to come. but the united states will continue to stand up for th