his resignation. james rosen is joining us on the phone to lend us more context. reporter: yes, of course this incident is central to why pj crowley resigned but it s not the own one. during the egyptian revolution, the early days, you may recall then press my bark announced he was appoint omar suleman as vice president and appoint a prime minister. president obama spoke on television that night and welcomed this only cooley. p.j. crowley tweeted early the next morning it couldn t be enough for hosni mubarak to shuffle the deck. it was sharp criticism and i m told it was not approved by the white house communications team
you see the tents set up around there. taken on the look of a fairground at some times but not festive right now. they are as angry as they have been in all of these protests after president mubarak teased them a bit yesterday. many anticipated him stepping down in a speech he made yesterday. rather he said he was stepping to the side a bit more and giving more power to the vice president and the egyptian military ensuring free elections but refusing to end the emergency rule during this crisis but that s a key development this morning that the military coming out and making a statement saying they are supporting mubarak s staying in power but still they will ensure some of the reforms that have been suggested. so what does it mean exactly? what does he keep hold of and what does he pass on? basically omar suleman is de facto president oversight of police, military, interior ministry, key agencies and runs control of economic policy and any negotiations that will be taking place down
step down. and so going so going forward, we want the young people and all egyptians to know that america will continue to do everything that we can to support an orderly and genuine transition to democracy in egypt. reporter: there was a lot of confusion that swirled throughout the day. earlier, there were reports of mubarak s resignation that started or as a military coup. the army had announced it had taken steps to safeguard the country, and those reports intensified when cia director leon pineta told a congressional hearing this morning that there was a strong likelihood that mubarak was going step down today. and there seems, obviously, to be a disconnect between the white house and cia on what was going to happen in egypt today. are we going to hear more from president obama about this? reporter: president obama himself said in his address in michigan today that he would have more to say, but that was before we heard what hosni mubarak was talking about and w
tahrir square, but could the egyptian vice president omar suleman really play a valuable role in his country? and with the united states? we re digging deeper this hour. plus, they now know the chants by heart and are following in their parent s footsteps ahead. the rise of egypt s youngest protesters. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. in egypt right now, lots of anticipation about what may happen in the coming days as protesters hold firmly in the center square of cairo and spread into new areas of the city at the same time. we could be seeing another huge turnout after prayers on friday, and some fear we might see a new government crackdown at the same time. joining us now via skype, the egyptian actor and protester khalid abdullah. best known for his role in the film the kite runner. thanks very much for joining us.
they trust president mubarak, and what if terrorists attack the united states with with a makeshift nuclear bomb? we re going to share survival tips and an ominous new warning today about the al qaeda threat to the united states right now. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. the longing for more freedom unleashed in egypt, spilling over in cairo and beyond. massive crowds showing up once again in tahrir square and spreading no a nearby compound housing government buildings. many of those protesters have been inspired by the words on the strength of the google executive who was held by egyptian authorities for a week and a half. wael ghonim tells cnn that he s ready to die, ready to die to bring change to egypt. he spoke with cnn s ivan watson about the revolution and the internet s role in it. if you want to free a society, just give them internet access, because people are going to, you know, they the young crowds are going to all go out and see and hear th