作者： admin

Less than seven weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has scrapped the final scheduled voting day of the current congressional term, triggering fierce backlash from lawmakers across party lines who accuse the Republican leadership of dodging contentious votes on impeachment and the Trump administration’s war policy in Iran.

Johnson’s decision to cut the session short comes on the heels of two high-profile challenges to the White House’s agenda: Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over his handling of the seven-month-long U.S. war in Iran, and seven House Republicans joined all 213 Democrats to approve a War Powers Resolution that would force President Donald Trump to end military hostilities in Iran. The adjournment also follows a separate move by top House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrat Gregory Meeks, who placed a hold on a proposed $2.8 billion sale of 40,000 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, citing concerns over potential violations of U.S. and international law in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Johnson framed the early adjournment as an opportunity for all 435 House members, who face re-election every two years, to return to their home districts and campaign on the legislative record of the Republican-led chamber. “We’re going to modify the House schedule by a day, and let me explain to you why the House has done its work… This House has been the second most productive in terms of legislation in the history of the institution,” Johnson said. “We passed over 900 pieces of legislation. Right now, about 700 of those bills are sitting in the Senate, awaiting action.” He added that he was confident Republican lawmakers would be able to explain their policy work to voters back home.

But critics quickly pushed back on the speaker’s justification, noting that the House has already canceled at least 23 voting days in 2026 alone, a figure that doubles when counting all canceled session days across the full congressional term that began in January 2025. Outgoing South Carolina Republican Congressman Ralph Norman called the move “unacceptable” in a post on X, writing, “The Founders did not envision taking this much time off and still getting paid. If Members of Congress want to go home and campaign instead of doing the job taxpayers sent us here to do, then their campaigns ought to be paying them, NOT the American taxpayer. We still have work to do.”

New Mexico Democratic Representative Melanie Stansbury put forward a more pointed explanation for the early adjournment, arguing Republican leadership is trying to avoid votes that could split the party ahead of the midterms. “They are sending us home even earlier than expected. And there’s really only one explanation for this, and that is that Thomas Massie … filed articles of impeachment against the Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth,” she said in a widely shared online video. “And last night we took a vote on a war powers resolution that passed to end the illegal war in Iran, and we had multiple Republicans join us because they understand the writing is on the wall.”

Massie, who is leaving Congress in January after losing his Republican primary election, confirmed that the impeachment vote against Hegseth had been scheduled for Thursday, the day that was ultimately canceled. He wrote on X, “And there it is. Just as I predicted. They’re canceling Congress tomorrow to avoid the vote on IMPEACHING @SecWar. It will also make it harder for us to reach 218 signatures on the Epstein Discharge Petition before the election. We were at 190+ signatures last night.” That petition seeks to force the Department of Justice to release three million additional pages of documents related to deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who is alleged to have had close ties to members of Trump’s inner circle. No current administration official has been formally accused of any misconduct connected to Epstein.

Massie’s impeachment articles accuse Hegseth, a former Fox News host who has drawn controversy for his hawkish and unorthodox approach to the Defense Department, of “high crimes and misdemeanors” stemming from his leadership of the Iran war. In a nearly hour-long floor speech Wednesday, Massie argued that Hegseth was personally culpable for the bombing of Iranian schoolchildren on the first day of the war, which began in February after a year of planning. “I can understand in the heat of war, in the fog of war, [but] in the first day of a war that you’ve been planning for a year, you bomb a school? I’m not saying they did it on purpose. I’m saying Peter Hegseth himself personally is culpable for that because he doesn’t care about rules of engagement. He has deprecated the rules of engagement. He has degraded the ability to discriminate between civilian targets and valid military targets. He needs to be impeached for that.”

While the impeachment effort was always a long shot in the Republican-controlled House, its backers aimed to force members of Trump’s party to go on the record with their positions on Hegseth’s conduct. When reached for comment, the White House directed inquiries to Attorney General Todd Blanche, who defended Hegseth Tuesday, saying, “Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job. The Secretary of War doesn’t just go off and do things, so he follows the law.”

Along with the impeachment and war powers votes, the early adjournment comes as the Trump administration faces growing bipartisan backlash over its military and foreign policy in the Middle East. The War Powers Resolution approved Tuesday marked the fifth congressional attempt to end the Iran war, but it was the first time a majority of the House backed the measure. The seven Republican defection signals growing unease within the president’s own party over the duration and financial cost of the war, which has pushed domestic gas prices higher – a key issue for voters ahead of the midterms. To date, the conflict has killed more than 3,500 Iranians and 18 Americans. While the White House has claimed hostilities ended with an April 2026 ceasefire, U.S. forces have continued carrying out large-scale bombing raids across southern Iran, including a deadly strike on a wedding late last month.

The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) issued a statement Wednesday calling on lawmakers to go beyond non-binding resolutions and use all congressional authority to end the unauthorized war. “After months of war and mounting costs, Congress cannot continue to rely on resolutions alone,” NIAC Policy Director Ryan Costello said. “The question now is whether Congress will use the full scope of its authority to stop an unauthorized war before more lives are lost and more resources are spent. We urge them to match their words with decisive action, in both Congress and the courts.”

On the Israel weapons sale front, Meeks announced Wednesday he would place a legislative hold on the proposed bomb transfer, which was first revealed by conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson Tuesday. Meeks emphasized his continued commitment to Israel’s security, but said the massive sale of one of the U.S. arsenal’s most destructive munitions raised serious concerns about their use in crowded civilian areas. “I remain firmly committed to Israel’s security and its ability to defend itself against serious regional threats. But the Trump administration’s proposed sale … raises grave, unresolved concerns about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon,” Meeks said in a statement. “I will not clear this sale at this time. This decision does not diminish Congressional support for Israel’s legitimate defense needs; it reflects Congress’s responsibility to ensure that US-funded weapons are used lawfully, responsibly, and with meaningful safeguards for human life.”

While the hold is only a temporary procedural measure, it signals a clear shift from congressional Democrats ahead of the midterms, as progressive candidates who have centered their campaigns on fierce criticism of Israeli tactics have won key primary races. Polling shows the Iran war is becoming increasingly unpopular among voters of all parties, as economic costs trickle down to working American households. Analysts widely expect Democrats to take control of the House from Republicans when the new congressional term begins in January, with the midterm results widely seen as a referendum on Trump’s first-term policy agenda.

A high-stakes diplomatic push by Somaliland to secure formal United States recognition has been derailed by a viral, widely panned interview performance by the breakaway region’s president that has drawn sharp criticism both online and from regional affairs experts. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, president of the self-declared independent state that remains unrecognized by most of the international community except Israel, faced widespread backlash after a recent on-stage discussion at the Hudson Institute, a Washington DC-based think tank long seen as open to Somaliland’s sovereignty bid.

Footage of the conversation, shared to the social platform X on Monday, captured Abdullahi appearing unprepared and flustered through most of the event, with visible moments of nervous giggling, incoherent mumbling, and long awkward pauses. The interview took place at the center of a planned visit to the US that regional and international media have framed as a make-or-break moment: Abdullahi arrived in Washington ready to present a sweeping offer of trade and strategic access to the Trump administration, including opening access to Somaliland’s ports and untapped mineral reserves for American investors, all in exchange for formal US recognition of the territory’s independence. For years, backers of Somaliland’s sovereignty have framed the region as a stable, reliable partner for Western and Gulf powers seeking to shore up security around the strategic Red Sea shipping lane.

Yet when pressed by the moderator to name what specific critical minerals Somaliland could offer the US as part of this proposed deal, a cornerstone of the region’s offer, Abdullahi laughed off the question, admitting he had no expertise in the area. “I don’t know… maybe everything,” he chuckled. He stumbled even more noticeably when the discussion turned to the ongoing devastating civil war in Sudan, a conflict that has increasingly drawn in competing regional powers. The Sudanese regular army receives backing from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, while the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group is supported by the United Arab Emirates – Somaliland’s closest patron in the Gulf.

Rather than offering any comment on the conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, or clarifying his administration’s position amid the regional power dynamics at play, Abdullahi attempted to dismiss the conflict as too distant from his territory. He even compared Sudan’s distance from Somaliland to that of Venezuela – a comment that carried notable awkwardness, given Sudan’s northern border sits less than 750 kilometers from Somaliland. An visibly uncomfortable moderator quickly moved on from the topic after noting the discrepancy.

Cameron Hudson, a former United States intelligence official focused exclusively on African affairs, summarized the broad reaction to the interview in a viral post on X: “This was a frail and ageing leader not fully able to deliver the brief that he came here to deliver to a skeptical Washington audience. It was like watching an African Biden.” Abdullahi’s inconsistent answers extended to the core question driving his entire visit: when asked why the United States should formally recognize Somaliland’s independence, he gave a meandering, contradictory reply. “Practically [Somaliland] is not part of Somalia,” he said with a laugh, before adding, “Somaliland theoretically is part of Somalia.”

To understand the context of this sovereignty push, it is important to trace Somaliland’s modern political history. The territory gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960, just five days before neighboring Somalia secured its own independence from Italian colonial control. The two newly independent states quickly united to form the Somali Republic, but tensions between the two former colonial territories simmered almost from the start. These tensions boiled over into open conflict in the late 1980s, when then-Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre launched a brutal military crackdown on Somaliland. After a decade of armed conflict, Somaliland declared full independence in 1991, a move that allowed it to escape the widespread civil war and persistent instability that has plagued the rest of Somalia in the decades since. It has operated as a de facto independent state ever since, but has failed to secure recognition from most of the international community.

Recently, Somaliland has reemerged as a focal point for great power competition in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, thanks to its long, strategically valuable coastline across from Yemen. In January 2026, Israel became only the second United Nations member state to formally recognize Somaliland’s independence, and Israeli officials have publicly explored establishing a military base at the key port of Berbera, where the UAE already maintains an active military presence. When asked about the diplomatic agreement with Israel during the think tank interview, Abdullahi again offered no substantive strategic context, framing the recognition as nothing more than a routine diplomatic exchange. He added only that Israel was the only country that responded to his requests for recognition sent to nearly every head of state around the world, before breaking into nervous giggles.

In a Monday announcement that has sparked significant controversy, former U.S. President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has named Wesley Hunt, a hardline anti-Islam Republican and close personal ally, as his nominee for the next U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The nomination arrives at an extraordinarily tense juncture for U.S. relations with Gulf nations, coming months after the outbreak of ongoing U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran that have sent shockwaves through the Middle East, disrupting regional stability and sending ripples through global energy and economic markets.

Hunt brings a background deeply tied to the region through his U.S. military service. In 2006, he served as an Apache helicopter pilot in Baghdad, Iraq, completing 55 combat missions, before going on to two diplomatic liaison deployment postings in Saudi Arabia. He has repeatedly drawn on his time in the Middle East to justify his sweeping anti-Islam rhetoric.

Speaking last November, Hunt argued that he had direct experience living under Islamic legal systems, saying, “I’ve lived in Saudi Arabia for two years. I’ve deployed to Iraq. I have seen firsthand what it looks like to live in countries governed under systems like Sharia law.” He doubled down on these incendiary claims in January, pushing back against critics who label his comments fearmongering by saying they “have never lived under it.” During his time stationed in the kingdom, Hunt claimed, “Public beheadings happened there not long ago. Women couldn’t even drive when I was there.”

In a January 2026 appearance on the conservative program *Stakelbeck Tonight*, Hunt escalated his rhetoric further, claiming Americans should be “extremely concerned” about Islamic influence in the U.S., asserting that “the mandate that’s been given to Islam is to basically go to other countries and infiltrate them.” He went on to peddle the conspiracy theory that Muslim communities would grow their populations in Western countries and eventually “take over” governing control.

Media coverage of Hunt’s past electoral campaigns in Texas has repeatedly called out his anti-Muslim framing. A *New Yorker* report on Texas congressional elections noted that Hunt and his fellow Republican opponents centered anti-Muslim rhetoric in their campaigning. Houston Chronicle opinion writer Chris Tomlinson has accused Hunt and other state-level Texas Republicans of deliberately “stoking fears of Islam” to mobilize conservative voters. Edward Ahmed Mitchell, a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Action (CAIR Action), echoed this criticism, noting that Republican candidates in the state have openly competed “who can be more anti-Muslim” to drum up anti-Muslim anxiety among Texas voters ahead of elections. Hunt has also framed immigration to the U.S. as a risk, warning that new arrivals could “import systems that destroy communities.”

Beyond his anti-Islam views, Hunt is a well-documented staunch supporter of Israel, with deep ties to leading pro-Israel lobbying groups in the U.S. Speaking at a 2022 event hosted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Hunt claimed the U.S. only has “really one true ally” in the Middle East, “and it’s Israel,” tying this exclusive loyalty to what he called Israel’s shared “Judeo” cultural background with the U.S.

While Hunt has expressed public support for the Abraham Accords normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states and has called for additional regional normalization deals, he has also warned that Washington should maintain a posture of suspicion even toward partners that have signed the accords. “Just because we have something set up like the Abraham Accords – which I think is good for the entire world, especially for the region – we cannot let our guard down,” he told the AIPAC audience.

Data from TrackAIPAC, a non-profit organization that tracks the political influence of the pro-Israel lobby in U.S. politics, shows Hunt has received a total of $139,862 in campaign contributions from leading pro-Israel lobbying groups, including AIPAC, Americans for Prosperity (AMP), the Republican Jewish Coalition, and the United States Israel Political Action Committee (USI). As recently as May 2024, Hunt reaffirmed his unwavering support for Israel during an interview on Fox News, arguing, “Keep in mind, Israel put the Judeo in the Judeo-Christian.”

As of publication, Saudi Arabian government officials have not issued any public response to the announcement of Hunt’s nomination. The appointment will also require a formal confirmation hearing and vote by the U.S. Senate before it can take effect.