Pence Heads Off On Delayed And Scaled-Back Mideast Visit
The vice president's three-nation trip was supposed to happen in December. Pence wants to focus on security matters and the persecution of Christians, but will have also have to soothe allies.
Vice President Pence arrives in Cairo Saturday morning as part of a Mideast trip that has been rescheduled and substantially changed since it was originally announced.
He was supposed to travel in December, but the trip was pushed off to January so that Pence could stay in Washington, D.C., to vote on the GOP tax bill. His itinerary is shorter too, after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the pope of the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt said they wouldn't meet with Pence following President Trump's as Israel's capital. The Jerusalem decision was widely condemned in the Arab world and is expected to be a topic of conversation as Pence meets with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan.
