Cash-strapped Cairo is shelling out millions of dollars to preserve a US-Egypt relationship worth $1.5 billion in annual aid and priceless standing on the world stage.
With Congress and the White House increasingly critical of the country’s trajectory, Egypt has signed a $3 million-a-year lobbying contract to convince lawmakers and the media that Egypt is on a path to democracy. At stake is the future of decades-long military ties along with the enhanced authority President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would gain internationally if the US government embraced him wholeheartedly.
