GOP Members Of Congress Hold Surreal Press Conference In Egypt Thanking Military For Overthrowing Morsi

Republican representatives Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and Steve King (R-Iowa) held a press conference last week in Egypt, praising and thanking the Egyptian military for a July 3 ouster of what Bachmann called the "common enemy" Muslim Brotherhood.

Via the Washington Post's Max Fisher comes video of the press conference, which is bizarre, to say the least.

Bachmann thanked the Egyptian military for the coup and the military-led government's crackdowns on protests, implying that the Muslim Brotherhood - of which former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was a member - was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"We were cheering in front of our televisions back home in the United States," Bachmann said, referring to when the Egyptian military overthrew Morsi. "We were cheering for you."

Bachmann, who took the lead in the press conference, said that the three members of Congress agreed that Morsi's ouster was not a "coup," but rather the "people of Egypt [giving] their voice loud and clear."

"Many of you have asked, Do we understand who the enemy is? We can speak for ourselves: We do. We have seen the threat that the Muslim Brotherhood has posed, here, for the people of Egypt," Bachmann said. "We've seen the threat that the Muslim Brotherhood posed around the world. We stand against this great evil. We remember who caused nine-one-one in America."

Their unconditional support is eyebrow-raising, to say the least. There is no reliable estimate of how many have been killed in the army-led crackdowns since Morsi's ouster, but estimates as of last week put the number somewhere between 1,000 and 8,000.

In response to the bloodshed, President Barack Obama has suspended a biannual joint military exercise, and has threatened pulling more military aid.

The full video is below: