Trump meets freed Egypt aid worker in Oval Office

Pressed on how Trump managed to gain her release when President Barack Obama had not, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he would leave it to others "to look at the different strategies to see why the president was successful" and Obama was not.

The Egyptian American charity worker who was sent to prison for three years in Cairo met with President Trump Friday at the White House.

Aya Hijazi was arrested in 2014 on charges of child abuse and human trafficking. "Working closely with the Trump administration was very important for my family at this critical time".

A Cairo court on Sunday acquitted Hijazi of child abuse and human trafficking charges after she had spent almost three years behind bars.

Their release and the freedom of four other humanitarian workers were quietly negotiated by Mr. Trump and White House aides, and the president sent a USA government aircraft to Cairo to bring them home, the Post reported.

According to the Post, Hijaz and her husband landed in Washington on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET and she is scheduled to meet Friday with Trump, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.

USA officials had raised Hijazi's case with the Egyptians soon after Trump took office on January 20, the official said.

Hijazi, who is a dual citizen of the US and Egypt, ran an orphanage for children in Egypt with her husband.

Her release was negotiated during a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, earlier in April, the BBC reported.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) had some sharp words for Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, sending a message to President Sisi saying: "if you continue to abuse your population, there will be government instability and that breeds radicals".

"It's been a roller coaster of emotions the past couple of days", Hijazi's brother, Basel, told the Washington Post.

The Obama administration had also called for Hijazi's release. Former President Barack Obama had distanced the USA from its longtime ally after the ousting of the country's first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Morsi, by military strongman Sissi in 2013.