Obama asks Republican senators to visit Egypt amid political crisis

President Obama has asked two senior Republican senators to travel to Egypt to meet with its military leaders and the opposition as Cairo's allies struggle with how to address the turmoil convulsing the country.

The invite announced Tuesday came amid a visit to the Arab world's most populous nation by Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, who met with deposed President Mohamed Morsi in his first known contact with the outside world since he was toppled by the army on July 3.

"The president asked ... [John] McCain and myself to go to Egypt next week, so we're trying to find a way to get there," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

He said the pair wanted to "go over and reinforce in a bipartisan fashion the message that we have to move to civilian control, that the military is going to have to, you know, allow the country to have new elections and move toward an inclusive, democratic approach."

Graham added that "killing the opposition is becoming more and more like a coup."

Last week, the Obama administration told lawmakers it won't declare Egypt's government overthrow a coup, which would prompt the automatic suspension of American assistance programs under U.S. law. 

The Senate rejected a proposal 86-13 Wednesday to redirect U.S. aid for Egypt into bridge-building projects in the United States.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky's amendment to next year's transportation bill would have halted the $1.5 billion in mainly military assistance the U.S. provides Egypt each year. He cited the U.S. law prohibiting aid after military coups and the need to reinvest the money in the United States.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with the head of Egypt's military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, on Tuesday to "urge restraint by Egyptian security forces in dealing with ongoing protests," the Defense Department said.

Secretary of State John Kerry also spoke to Ashton by phone and backed her call for an "inclusive political process."

More than 200 people have been killed since Morsi's removal earlier this month.

Held incommunicado

In a news conference on Tuesday, Ashton said Morsi, who is currently being held in an unknown location, "has access to information, in terms of TV, newspapers, so we were able to talk about the situation."

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She refused to comment on the substance of their conversation, saying, "I told him that I was not going to represent his views."

Morsi has been held incommunicado since the military removed him from power.

Early on Wednesday, the state news agency confirmed that a delegation led by former Malian President Alfa Omar Konari also held a one-hour long meeting with the deposed president.

Morsi’s family and supporters, however, have not been able to meet or talk on the phone with him.

“All these Egyptians are not allowed to see him, or even talk to him on the phone,” Amr Darrag, leader in the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said, according to a New York Times report. “They care about their international image, much more than their own people.”

Egypt's authorities say Morsi is being investigated on charges including murder, stemming from a 2011 jailbreak when he escaped detention during the revolution that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Al Jazeera and wire services