Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds.
Governor Terry Branstad says he’s completed the paperwork required for his appointment to be U.S. Ambassador to China.
“Now I suspect the FBI will out there interviewing people that I’ve lived next to or worked with and all this other stuff,” Branstad says. “And then, obviously, at some point in time I will be invited to come before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”
That’s the committee that will hold a hearing on Branstad’s nomination. Branstad has to win confirmation from the full senate.
“I’m still focused on my job as governor,” Branstad says. “I have not done any extraordinary preparation. I do have different groups that have concerns and interests in trade in China…I’ve been meeting with those groups.”
Branstad says at some point he will go to Washington, D.C. to meet with a “special group” that will prepare him for the hearing in the senate.
“If you’ve watched the hearings, they ask a lot of tough questions, but I do these press conferences every week, so I’m used to handling tough questions, I guess,” Branstad says.
Branstad made his comments during his weekly news conference.