Governor Kim Reynolds.

Governor Kim Reynolds says she doesn’t have an issue with the Iowa Republican Party’s decision to take campaign money from former Senate President Bill Dix for use in other campaigns.

“I think that what they did is an appropriate decision — so I’m fine with what the Republican Party did,” according to Reynolds.

Dix resigned abruptly after a video emerged that showed him kissing a lobbyist at a bar, and he gave the party more than half-a-million dollars in campaign funds. Those campaign funds could’ve been sent back to the donors, or to political groups, charities, or put into the state’s general fund. Dix had been under criticism before his resignation after a former Senate GOP staffer won almost two million dollars in a workplace harassment and retaliation lawsuit.

On another topic, Reynolds says she hasn’t let up in asking the Trump administration to work out a deal in the Chinese trade negotiations to avoid tariffs that could hurt Iowa.

“We continue to reach out to the administration, I continue to work with other governors. We were just with governors at the Republican Governors Association to really encourage them to find a compromise so the tariffs don’t actually take effect,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says both sides seem to understand what will happen if there isn’t a solution found.

She says nobody wins in a trade war and she is “cautiously optimistic” the U.S. and China will be able to work out the trade situation.

Reynolds made here comments during her weekly news conference.