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Jordan needs 217 votes – near unanimity – from Republicans to become House speakerHouse to vote on speaker as Jim Jordan hopes he has Republican support to winWho is Jim Jordan? The hard-right House speaker contender dogged by scandal“That fucking guy Jim Jordan”. Those five words may as well as any sum up the career of Jim Jordan, who, since arriving in the House in 2007 to represent his Ohio district, has been at the vanguard of the chamber’s right wing.And like many of his persuasion in Congress, Donald Trump has been a boon for Jordan’s standing. He boosted his national profile as a defender of Trump during his presidency, and continued doing so after his violent departure from office, prompting Liz Cheney, a Republican antagonist who would lose her seat in Congress at Trump’s urging, to describe Jordan with the aforementioned words.Jim Jordan, the Ohio congressman who is seeking to become House speaker, is a prominent celebrity on the far right of US politics – and a magnet for controversy who a former speaker from his own party once called a “political terrorist”.Jordan, 59, was elected to Congress in 2006 from a conservative, rural district of Ohio. A high school and college wrestling champion, he made his mark on the House as a founder of the hard-right Freedom caucus, helping oust two speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, who were not deemed sufficiently extreme.Joe Biden is heading to Israel to “consult on next steps”, the White House said, as the country prepares for an invasion of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas’s terrorist attacks less than two weeks ago. For the latest on the conflict, follow our blog.Tim Scott, a Republican senator and president candidate, expressed his support for Israel at a Georgetown University event this morning. We’ll tell you more about that later.Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean Pierre will take questions from reporters on Air Force One as he flies to the Middle East. Continue reading...