In the wake of fighting between pro-Trump and more moderate members of the Republican Party over whether Trump’s Secretary of Defense nominee, Pete Hegseth, can be approved by the Senate, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird sounded off on Senator Joni Ernst, one of the loci of allegations about and resistance to Hegseth, doing so in an op-ed for Breitbart.
As background, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) is one of the key Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Reportedly harboring aspirations of being Secretary of Defense herself, Sen. Erns has remained skeptical of President-elect Trump’s appointment of Hegseth, which is an issue given that her committee is the one that initially votes on Hegseth’s nomination, with its approval needed.
She, speaking to Fox News about Hegseth’s appointment, said that she respects Hegseth’s military service, saying, “Well, I did have a very long, lengthy discussion with Pete yesterday, and I do appreciate his service to the nation. I also am a combat veteran, so we talked about a number of those issues, and we will continue with the vetting process.”
Continuing, she indicated that she is still skeptical of Hegseth’s nomination and needs to have further conversations as the date to vote on Hegseth nears. She said, “I think that that is incredibly important. So again, all I’m saying is we had a very frank and productive discussion and I know that we will continue to have conversation in the upcoming months.”
That’s not all. Sen. Ernst then said, after refusing to give a clear answer on whether or not she will support Hegseth, that all of the allegations about Hegseth must be “cleared” via a “very thorough vetting process” before he can be approved by the Senate. She said, “I think for a number of our senators, they want to make sure that any allegations have been cleared, and that’s why we have to have a very thorough vetting process.”
It was that perspective that AG Bird of Iowa slammed in her op-ed for Breitbart. Commenting on the perspective voters from her state largely had, she noted that President-elect Trump won handily and thus that voters support his agenda and picks. Doing so, AG Bird said, “Iowans have made their voice clear.”
Continuing, she slammed Ernst for trying to ignore those important voices from Iowa and just vetoing President-elect Trump’s picks while entertaining media lies. She said, “In recent days, it’s become clear that D.C. politicians think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.”
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Butilding on that, AG Birds also argued that the voters who elected Trump were tacitly supporting his Cabinet picks when they threw their support behind him, saying, “When voters select a president, they are selecting that president’s vision for a cabinet that will enact his agenda. On November 5, America voted for change, and for Washington to work for America – not the other way around.”
Watch Sen. Ernst comment on Hegseth’s nomination here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video