GOP Iowa senator suggests Trump impeachment defense could hurt Biden at caucuses

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R) suggested Monday that President Trump's legal team's focus on Joe Biden and his son during their ongoing impeachment arguments could hurt the former vice president during next week's caucuses.

"Iowa caucuses are this next Monday evening, and I’m really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters," Ernst said of the first-in-the-nation 2020 vote. "Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point? Not sure about that."

Ernst made the remarks to reporters shortly after Trump's defense team zeroed in on allegations of a conflict of interest involving Biden, a leading presidential candidate, and his son, Hunter Biden, during the Senate impeachment trial.

For about 30 minutes, Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who recently joined the White House communications team to help with impeachment messaging, laid out the argument that it was appropriate for Trump to raise the Bidens during his now-infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The call, in which Trump urged Zelensky to investigate the Bidens — as well as an unfounded theory on the 2016 election — helped lead to the House impeachment inquiry.





https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/480204-gop-senator-suggests-trumps-legal-teams-focus-on-biden-will-impact-him-at