Senator Joni Ernst.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she has signed on to a resolution from a fellow Republican which condemns Democrats for failing to follow the proper process in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
“Because what we’re seeing in the House is the fact that Democrats have been so heck bent on making sure they impeach this president that they are just randomly acting through this inquiry process. It’s not open, it’s not transparent, we don’t have access to the information,” Ernst says.
Ernst told reporters during her weekly conference call that the Democrats in the House are not following through on anything. “We have got to get our work done. The House needs to focus on getting things done like the USMCA. And impeachment — if they are going to go down that road — they need to make sure that they are following standards that have been set, practices that have been set in the past. And the president is not receiving that same courtesy right now,” Ernst says.
Ernst was asked if she defends the president’s actions. “I can’t go down that path right now — because again — I haven’t seen all of the information. And bottom line, we don’t even know what the articles of impeachment are. (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi has not indicated what they are trying to do other than go after the president,” Ernst says. “So gain, it’s more of a political show over there than actually getting toward an objective.”
Ernst says she doesn’t have any information to make any kind of a decision on whether the president’s dealings with the Ukraine were an impeachable offense. “As I read through the transcript of the call, of course I didn’t see an impeachable offense there. We will need to hear from additional witnesses and I’m sure that the House will bring those witnesses forward. They will have to. I mean they will have to when they bring it over to the Senate for a trial,” Ernst says. “So again, I want to make sure that I am evaluating all the information as presented by the House prosecutors — that is under the assumption that they are going to send articles of impeachment over.”
Ernst says she will sit as a judge in the Senate if the inquiry moves forward and will make a decision based on the information.