The Slatest

Mohamed Elbaradei Cancels on Meet the Press, Calls in Sick

Egyptian pro-reform opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei (pictured above) canceled his scheduled interview on NBC’s Meet the Press today, citing illness.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images

If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press. Not so for Egyptian pro-reform opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who canceled his scheduled interview on NBC’s Sunday morning news show today.

The show’s senior producer tweeted: “Elbaradei tells @davidgregory that he expects to be named PM as early as today but canceled his scheduled appearance on #MTP citing illness.”

Elbaradei had reportedly been selected to become Egypt’s interim prime minister on Saturday, but that appointment was rolled back just before midnight. Here’s Aljazeera with the details:

ElBaradei’s nomination had been confirmed by several sources and state media on Saturday, but just before midnight a presidential spokesman told reporters that no prime minister had yet been chosen.
“After some satellite channels declared that the new government will be announced tonight and mentioned the new prime minister’s name (referring to Elbaradei), I’m here to confirm that this is still a prediction and that it is still under consultation and negotiations,” Ahmed el-Musilamani, spokesman for the interim president Adly Mansour said in a public statement.

The abrupt U-turn came amid opposition to ElBaradei’s appointment by the Nour Party, Egypt’s second-largest religious force that backed the military coup that toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood… The Al-Nour Party’s deputy leader told the state news website that the party would withdraw from the political transition process if ElBaradei was confirmed in his post.