Free Republic

The Iowa senator Joni Ernst has stated she turned down the opportunity to be Donald Trump’s vice-president because she believed her husband, Gail, “hated any successes I have." In an affidavit filed as part of divorce proceedings with her husband of 26 years, Ernst states: “in the summer of 2016, I was interviewed by Candidate Trump to be vice president of the United States. I turned Candidate Trump down, knowing it wasn’t the right thing for me or my family. “I continued to make sacrifices and not soar higher out of concern for Gail and our family,” she added. The...

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Sunday she would rather not see the U.S.-Mexico border close despite threats by President Trump to prevent certain groups of migrants from crossing into the U.S. "We would prefer that we keep it open, so let's work really hard to make sure that we're addressing the asylum seekers before they actually come over the border," Ernst said on CNN's "State of the Union."The Iowa Republican was responding to Trump's suggestion that he may close the southern border if Mexico does not agree to hold migrants while the U.S. processes their asylum claims. "I think the...

Multiple Republican senators broke with President Trump on Wednesday after he announced on Twitter than transgender troops would be banned from serving in the military. In separate statements, GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Richard Shelby (Ala.), and Orrin Hatch (Utah) all criticized Trump for his decision that Obama-era rules allowing transgender troops to serve would be reversed. McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, ripped the call and said that Trump shouldn't be making policy announcements via tweet. “The President’s tweet this morning regarding transgender Americans in the military is yet another example of why major...

en. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said President Donald Trump has "a number of flaws" but she supports many of his policies. When asked about Trump's comments about women and the disabled, she said, "Would you say they're character flaws? I think it's more than character flaws. Well, and I think that we have a president that has a number of flaws," she said at a Tuesday town hall meeting in Iowa, according to KTIV in Wall Lake, Iowa. She then said she and the president share the same opinions on a number of policy issues. "I think I support a majority...

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said on Tuesday that President Trump's frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida bother not only her, but other members of the Republican caucus. "I do wish he would spend more time in Washington, D.C.," Ernst said during a town hall meeting. "That's what we have the White House for." Since he took office, Trump has spent seven out of the last 13 weekends at his self-described "Southern White House" in Palm Beach. The visits have stirred controversy, in part because of the enormous costs associated with such frequent travel. One estimate of the weekend...

MAQUOKETA, Iowa -- The national trend of Republican lawmakers facing angry crowds of constituents arrived in Iowa today. Tuesday afternoon Sen. Joni Ernst sat through a 45 minute town hall meeting in Maquoketa. After taking her final question the crowd showered her with boos and chants of "Do your job."

Other GOP elected officials may be avoiding the Republican National Convention later this month, but Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst sees an opening night speech as an opportunity “to give Iowans a voice on the national stage.” “Right now, Iowans are pretty darned frustrated — just like when I ran for election,” said Ernst, whose 2014 campaign caught fire with a “Make ’em Squeal” promise to cut federal spending. National security is to be her focus when she addresses the Cleveland convention on Monday, July 18. “There’s a real pushback against the failed policies we have right now,” Ernst said Tuesday....

Joni Ernst all but removed herself from Donald Trump’s vice presidential search, telling POLITICO in an interview that she wants to help Trump become president but that she’s focused on Iowa and the Senate, where the freshman senator said she's “just getting started.” The GOP senator met with Trump on Monday and received effusive praise afterward, with Trump predicting he will “see her again.” But it likely won’t be as his running mate. “I made that very clear to him that I’m focused on Iowa. I feel that I have a lot more to do in the United States Senate....

Scott Brown may get a nice job in a Donald Trump administration — but not vice president. That’s my takeaway from spending some time with Trump last week. I believe the top two contenders for veep are U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, because those are the two names Trump mentioned to me on the flight from Boston to Bangor, Maine... So I mentioned Sessions. “He’s a great guy,” Trump said. “But I’m going to win Alabama by 20 anyway.” So then I said Scott Brown, who had been at the fundraiser at the Langham...

Joni talks to Mark Levin about the Democrats' "war on women" attacks, Obamacare's expensive and detrimental effects in Iowa, and how important it is to control our spending and balance our budget.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich is the top contender in a new poll to be presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's running mate. On Tuesday morning, Gingrich had 39.3 percent support in a Drudge Report poll that asks users who Trump should pick to run on his ticket. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) was in second place with 31.3 percent of the vote. Other contenders include Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) with 15.2 percent and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence with 7.4 percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie takes 5.4 percent and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) garners 1.5 percent of the vote. The Drudge...

ONE day! It took only one day after Trump wins...IN SPITE OF THEM...for the Republicans in the House (NRCC) and the Senate (NRSC) to scam Trump supporters into supporting their RINO candidates...NONE of which helped Trump! TTC has written about this extensively...BOTH have been doing this since Trump announced and have STOLEN likely millions of $$$ from the Trump campaign and they have NO intention of stopping...unless YOU make them! These elected traitors give NOT one rip about you or the United States of America. They care about their own little club and ripping you off to enrich themselves. This...

On his first trip to Iowa as the fresh face of the Republican presidential field, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been putting the pedal to the metal, crisscrossing the Hawkeye State’s corn field-lined interstates in a souped-up Winnebago RV with a goal of hitting all 99 counties before voters here cast the nation’s first votes in the presidential nominating process. Since arriving in Iowa Friday -- the final stop of his whirlwind five-state, 16-city campaign kickoff tour -- it has been abundantly clear that Iowa is the key to Walker’s White House hopes. ~snip~ While campaigning this week, he has...

R.D. Lampe with the Boone, Iowa police department confirms exclusively to Breitbart News that a bomb threat was called in to the Iowa Roast and Ride with a voice recorder. He later added that as that event was ending, a second bomb threat was called to authorities in Polk county. Lampe says that when bomb threats are made, it’s usually difficult to track down the caller. He says a number can be traced, but it’s usually a throw-away phone. The potential security breach prevented candidates getting to their tents and greeting voters for a time on Saturday. At least seven...

Scott Walker hasn’t yet said that he’s running for president. But the Wisconsin governor is working to brand himself as the plain-speaking, Miller-drinking, cheap-clothes-wearing candidate who understands the struggles of the middle class. And he rides a Harley. This weekend is an opportunity to showcase it: He’s taking part in a “Roast and Ride” fundraiser for Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R), who drew national attention last year when she ran campaign ads saying that she castrated hogs growing up on a farm and that she isn’t afraid to “make ’em squeal” in Washington. (Walker’s political organization recently hired Ernst’s former...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Senator Joni Ernst’s Jobs, Opportunity, and New Ideas PAC announced that elected leaders from across the state will join declared and potential presidential candidates at the Roast and Ride event to be held at the Central Iowa Expo in Boone on June 6th. Newly confirmed speakers include Governor Terry Branstad, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds, Senator Chuck Grassley, Congressmen Steve King and Congressman David Young. Previously, Ernst announced that Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker would be speaking at the event as well. Prior to the roast, Ernst...

The political action committee of freshman Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, announced Monday that a handful of 2016 Republican presidential contenders are slated to attend the senator’s inaugural “Roast and Ride” event on June 6. Confirmed speakers include the following announced presidential candidates: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Other Republicans weighing presidential bids who are also scheduled to speak include Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker... Before the roast, Ms. Ernst is going to lead...

I side with the people who think that Tom Cotton and the 46 senators who joined with him in an open letter to apprise the Iranians about the way our Constitutional system works did the world a great service. As I’ll discuss at greater length below, the letter is a simple, beautifully written exposition about the American Constitution and its effects. In addition, it’s a wonderful honey pot for calling stupid Progressives out of their dark caves and exposing their ignorance to bright sunlight.The Cotton letter is really nothing more than an elegant primer about the balance of powers and...

Voters in three critical swing states, Colorado, Iowa and Virginia, give their governors good job approval ratings and are strongly optimistic about the next three or four years in their states under their current governors, according to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released today. Job approval ratings for U.S. Senators in the three states range from a better than 3-1 score for Iowa's Chuck Grassley to a lackluster grade for Colorado's Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll finds. The Swing State Poll focuses on key states in the presidential election. (SNIP) Do you approve...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Choice of Ernst about personality, not policy. Congressional correspondent Luke Russert said on MSNBC Tuesday that freshman Sen. Joni Ernst was a pig farmer this time last year and marveled that she is now she is giving the rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union address. “That is an extraordinary rise in politics right there,” Russert told Joy Ann Reid. Russert said that Ernst is emblematic of what the GOP wants to be. “That is what you’ll see her do tonight, sell her personality as a war veteran and somebody who was a pig farmer around this time last...