On the eve of Mohamed Morsi’s trial, Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo for talks with his counterpart Nabil Fahmy. Kerry addressed the recent U.S. decision to scale back military aid to Egypt’s government.

Secretary of State John Kerry: “Of course we understood that the decision with respect to some aid, which has been held back for a period of time — we knew that in some places, obviously, that wouldn’t be well received. But it’s not a punishment. It’s a reflection of a policy in the United States under our law. We have a law passed by the United States Congress regarding how certain, you know, events unfold with respect to the change of a government in a country, and we’re bound by that.”

After Egypt, Kerry flew to Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi King Abdullah.