Christie $30,000 Luxury Hotel Weekend Paid For By King Of Jordan

The Israel Seminar CEO Asher Afriat briefs Governor
Chris Christie regarding South Lebanon and the security
of the Golan Heights in Israel on Thursday, April 5, 2012.
(Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)

TRENTON — A sumptuous family weekend Gov. Chris Christie took at the end of his 2012 trade mission to Israel was paid for in part by King Abdullah of Jordan, according to a report in the New York Times.

At the time, Christie had already flown to Israel on a private plane belonging to billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, bringing with him three of his four children, his wife, his mother-in-law, his father and stepmother, four staff members, his former law partner and a New Jersey state trooper, according to the report.

By the end of the Middle Eastern junket, the tab for the Christie family and their guest rooms at the luxurious Kempinski Hotel in Jordan totaled some $30,000, which would be covered by the King of Jordan, Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein, the report said.

NJ.com had previously reported that Christie's weekend in Jordan was a "personal, family visit by invitation of the king," according to a statement from the governor's office at the time. Garden State taxpayers underwrote the price for seven state troopers and contract security during the weeklong trip to Israel and Jordan, but the total cost of security has never been released by the governor's office.

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