GOP Senator Joni Ernst Ponders Whether Senate Impeachment Trial Will Hurt Joe Biden
WASHINGTON ― Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) says she’ll be watching the upcoming Iowa caucus results to see if Democratic voters sour on former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 presidential contender, after the arguments presented by President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team on Monday.
“I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point?” Ernst, a member of GOP leadership, asked at a press conference Monday.
During the day’s proceedings in the Senate, Trump’s lawyers painted Biden and his son Hunter as corrupt actors worthy of investigation. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, in particular, zeroed in on the younger Biden for his role serving on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, while his father oversaw Ukraine policy as vice president of the United States.
“Every witness who was asked about Hunter Biden’s involvement at Burisma agreed there was a potential appearance of a conflict of interest,” Bondi said Monday, describing House testimony.
There has been no evidence of corruption on the part of the former vice president or his son. Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, testified in the House impeachment inquiry that he saw no validity to Trump’s allegations of corruption on the Bidens’ part.
Democrats slammed the strategy on Monday, describing it as an attempt to use the Senate trial proceedings to smear one of Trump’s top 2020 rivals ― again.
“It’s so clear they want us to become complicit in helping the administration continue to destroy the Bidens,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters on Monday. “I’m not going to be a party to the same scheme that the president’s been impeached for.”
But Ernst, who is also up for re-election this year, said it was “entirely appropriate” for the president’s defense team to attack the Bidens. She said the...
