In a year-end fundraiser letter for her reelection campaign, Sen. Joni Ernst warned Iowans that billionaires “from both coasts” are trying to undermine their “Heartland values,” and reminded potential contributors about her support for Brett Kavanaugh. “I sincerely respect that others hold different views,” the Iowa Republican, who frequently touts her commitment to bipartisanship, wrote, […]
President Donald Trump
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Prosecutors say Trump committed federal crimes, Grassley says he doesn’t believe it
Sen. Chuck Grassley isn’t concerned that federal prosecutors claim President Trump led a criminal conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws, defraud voters and win the 2016 election. The prosecutors’ claim came in the sentencing memo in the case Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty last month to violating federal campaign finance law. […]
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‘Bring it on’: Sen. Ernst announces she’s running for reelection and supporting Trump in 2020
Sen. Joni Ernst made it official on Friday, telling reporters she will run for reelection in 2020. “I am running again. So to anyone who would like to step up and enter into that race, I say: ‘Bring it on,’” Ernst said. The announcement was no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to Iowa […]
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Steve King successfully pushed to erase protection for LGBTQ Americans in NAFTA revision
The revision of NAFTA signed by President Donald Trump, President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in Buenos Aires on Friday contains a ground-breaking provision regarding LGBTQ rights. But thanks in part to pressure from Rep. Steve King and 39 other rightwing members of Congress, that provision won’t apply […]
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Sen. Joni Ernst falsely claims Mueller investigation has accomplished ‘absolutely nothing,’ and won’t commit to protecting it
During a town hall meeting in Ames on Friday, Sen. Joni Ernst refused to say she’d stop the Trump administration from killing or crippling Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump’s possible obstruction of justice, and Russian involvement in the 2016 Trump campaign. “I am not going to say today whether I will protect […]
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Protesters call for protection of Mueller investigation, as Trump appoints a former Hawkeye with potential conflicts of interest as acting attorney general
The street lights switched on just before Sara Miller started addressing the protesters gathered on the UI Pentacrest Thursday evening. The protest was one of hundreds across the country organized by MoveOn.org to express support for Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating issues related to collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian agents, […]
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As Republicans work to remove trans and nonbinary gender protections, Iowa City will host a ‘Don’t Erase’ rally
On Wednesday, the Justice Department filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that said business owners should be allowed to discriminate against transgender workers. Representing the Trump administration, Solicitor General Noel Francisco discarded the position the Justice Department has previously held, and argued in the brief there is nothing in federal law preventing such discrimination.
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Gov. Kim Reynolds to visit Hamburg Inn on Thursday
Gov. Kim Reynolds is coming to Iowa City on Thursday for a public event at Hamburg Inn No. 2 on Linn Street. The governor will holding her KIM (Keep Iowa Moving) rally at noon, as part of a swing through eastern Iowa, starting that morning in Cedar Falls and ending in Keokuk. Although this is […]
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Trump administration may change the definition of gender to eliminate protection for transgender people
On Sunday, the New York Times reported the Trump administration is considering erasing the rights of transgender gender under federal law by “narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.”
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Trump administration proposes new restriction on student visas
The Trump administration plans to make a major change to student visas, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. Instead of student visas being valid for “duration of status”—that is, for as long as the holders are full-time students and meet other requirements—there would be a fixed “maximum period.
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Sen. Cory Booker will meet with voters in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday
Sen. Cory Booker will be in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday morning, for a “meet and greet” with local Democrats. According to the Linn County Democratic Party, the event is supposed to draw attention local Democratic candidates, but it’s likely that many of the people Booker meets and greets will want to talk about Brett Kavanaugh.
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Grassley endorses conspiracy theory that women objecting to Kavanaugh are paid protesters
Chuck Grassley said on Friday morning, he “tends to believe” the women who have been confronting senators in the U.S. Capitol over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh are just paid protesters, not survivors of sexual assault speaking out. Iowa’s senior senator also “tends to believe” a conspiracy theory about the protests — a […]
