NBC's Gregory: ElBaradei Says He'll Be Next Egyptian PM

On Sunday, David Gregory of Meet the Press (NBC) said that he had spoken by phone to Mohammed ElBaradei, leader of the opposition in Egypt, and that ElBaradei had told him that he would be made new interim prime minister by the military. Other reports state that ElBaradei’s selection has been derailed by opposition from the Salafist Nour Party. He cancelled his interview with the show on Sunday, saying he was sick. On Thursday, ElBaradei said that the military coup was necessary: “It is a painful measure, nobody wanted that. But Mr. Morsi unfortunately undermined his own legitimacy by declaring himself a few months ago as a pharaoh and then we got into a fist fight, and not a democratic process.”

ElBaradei remains a controversial international figure. He made international headlines as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, under whose auspices he was quite soft on the nuclear program of Iran. In July 2010, he told Der Speigel, “I do not believe that the Iranians are actually producing nuclear weapons … in general, the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran is overestimated; some even play it up intentionally.”

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).