Fellow Democrats urge Biden to withhold $320 million in military aid to Egypt over rights abuses

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine senior Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are urging the Biden administration to withhold about a quarter of the United States’ more than $1 billion in annual military aid to Egypt for a third year. Friday’s joint letter from lawmakers calls the step important to keeping up the pressure on Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi over human rights abuses. More than 20 leading U.S. and international rights groups and think tanks separately made the same appeal. It may be an especially tough ask for President Joe Biden, who is focusing on keeping countries around the world, including Egypt, aligned behind Ukraine as it battles Russia’s invasion. Neither the State Department nor the Egyptian embassy in Washington immediately responded to requests for comment.