Trump reportedly removed US amb. to Jordan on King Abdullah's request
News website Foreign Policy reports Thursday that US Pres. Trump decided to replace then-US amb. to Jordan Wells back in March, after King Abdullah II asked that she be removed; Trump's predecessor Obama faced similar pressure from Abdullah, but refused to remove Wells; Abdullah reportedly objected to the US-led Iran deal, and saw Wells as an extension of pres. Obama.
The decision apparently came despite the fact that no evidence was found to suggest that Wells acted in an improper manner. She was slated to finish her time as ambassador to Jordan in June or July, but ended up returning at Trump's order in March.
Trump's predecessor, former president Barack Obama, had refused a similar request by King Abdullah to remove Wells from office.
Additional US sources stated that Abdullah had a strained relationship with Wells ever since she took up her post in 2014, apparently over his objection to the Obama-led nuclear deal with Iran.
Sources estimated that Abdullah saw Wells as a representative of everything he detested in the Obama administration, from the Iran deal to his feelings that the US could have done more to rescue the Jordanian pilot whose plane was shot down by ISIS. The terror group eventually executed the pilot by burning him alive.
According to the report, Abdullah even went as far as to try and prevent Wells from sitting in on his meetings with US generals visiting Jordan.
Wells's colleagues describe her as a sharp and intelligent diplomat. They also mentioned that her being a woman may have been a factor in the aversion that Abdullah seemed to harbor toward her, stating that many leaders in Jordan's region are still unaccustomed to women having a seat at the table.
Several seasoned diplomats stressed how irregular it is for heads of state to express such a level of dissatisfaction from a US diplomat before the White House, as well as how rare it is for the White House to actually remove a diplomat from their post over such criticisms.
The White House, US State Department and Jordanian Embassy in Washington have yet to respond to this report.
