Robert Gates: Obama ignored our advice on Egypt coup

Former defense secretary Robert Gates had harsh words for President Obama regarding the ousting of Hosni Mubarak.

By Bronte Price, PoliticKING


In a preview clip of “Fox News Reporting,” former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates revealed that President Obama disregarded advice of the national security team and decided to oust then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak because he wanted to be on the “the right side of history.” The president "took the advice of three junior back-benchers in terms of how to treat [former Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak," Gates said. "Literally the entire national security team recommended unanimously handling Mubarak differently than we did," he added.

Gates made these comments to Bret Baier, of Fox News, during an interview for the network’s upcoming special, “Rising Threats – Shrinking Military.” The preview clip can be seen on The Blaze’s website.

Gates, headed the Pentagon during the Egyptian coup. He explained that, even though he and the rest of the president’s national security experts advised Obama to handle the situation in Egypt cautiously, Obama chose instead to listen to junior officials and called for the immediate ousting of Mubarak.

“The entire national security team recommended unanimously handling Mubarak differently than we did,” Gates said in a Fox News interview. “And the president took the advice of three junior backbenchers in terms of how to treat Mubarak — one of them saying, ‘Mr. President, you have to be on the right side of history.'”

“And I would be sitting there at the table, saying, ‘Yeah, if we could just figure that out we’d be a long way ahead,'” Gates added.

This is not the first time Gates has spoken out about his differences with President Obama. Earlier this year, Gates  said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Obama always believes he is the smartest guy in the room and has trouble developing and implementing strategy.

“You know, the president is quoted as having said at one point to his staff, ‘I can do every one of your jobs better than you can,’” Gates said. He added, “One of the greatest weaknesses of the [Obama] White House is implementation of strategy... is difficulty in developing strategy and then implementing that strategy.”

Gates has served 8 U.S. presidents in different senior national security roles. He was the Secretary of Defense for both Obama and George W. Bush, as well as the Director of Central Intelligence in the 1990s.

Here’s what Bill Press has to say about Obama’s record as president:

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC, its affiliates, or its employees.

Continue the Discussion