All posts tagged "Jordan"

Maryland lawmaker Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said Wednesday that he regrets voting to confirm former Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as secretary of state, especially now that Rubio is enthusiastically supporting Trump's proposal to take over Gaza and turn it into a resort.

Van Hollen told CNN's Phil Mattingly he was appalled that Trump pressed the Gaza issue in front of King Abdullah of Jordan on Tuesday.

"What the president has done is, he has lit a fire and thrown it on a keg of gasoline," Van Hollen said. "Because what's happening in Gaza, what's happening in the Middle East, is already a tinderbox. It's already on fire, and what he is doing is going to spread that fire. He has essentially called for what amounts to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the forced removal of two million Palestinians to other areas." ...

Multiple congressional reporters warned on Thursday that the ongoing chaos in the House Republican conference could soon drive a wave of resignations among congressional staff.

This comes as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who previously was on the verge of at least temporarily bowing out of the speaker race after losing two ballots, said that he's going to try for a new vote over the weekend.

"From a GOP staffer in response to the news of weekend votes… 'I see a mass staff exodus from the House if this doesn’t resolve soon. Staff have lives and families too,'" Punchbowl News' Mica Soellner posted on X. Another GOP aide reportedly reacted in fury to this, telling her, “Nobody would even notice if you exited politics... Stop whining about having to do your job. Imagine having a front row seat to history and complaining you didn’t get to go apple picking this weekend.”...

There's no smoke without ire: a ban on water pipes in restaurants and cafes has caused uproar in Jordan where $1 billion worth of tobacco goes up in smoke every year.

The United States will keep F-16 fighter jets and Patriot anti-missile weapons in Jordan after a joint military exercise ends this month, a US defense official said Thursday.