ernst: not nearly enough.et me go back to the bill i had with susan collins and let me talk about it and explain what that would do. it creates an invisible high risk pool. the state of maine was doing this before the aca. and it was working. and the aca outlawed it. but what the state of maine was doing was something called an invisible high risk pool. and with that invisible high risk pool, you would have folks like yourself that would be in that invisible high risk pool. you wouldn't even know it. well, you probably would if you had a pre-existing condition. you would just assume. but you are paying the same as everybody else, regardless of condition. and once you hit a certain limit that the insurance company that was covering you, it would be a predetermined amount. once you hit that limit, then you would roll over into that risk pool and will be covered by the state. so you wouldn't miss a beat. you would still be covered by that insurer. and once the insurer got to that preset limit with the state, the

. >> reporter: carlsbad detective sergeant darbie ernst was on-call that night. >> it's all hands onwe're calling up just about every detective that is available to come in. >> sergeant ernst learned the 911 caller was a man named jason kovach, and he was calling about his co-worker: diana lovejoy's husband, greg mulvihill. >> he said that -- his friend greg mulvihill had been shot and they needed assistance immediately. >> reporter: ernst learned that when the first officer got to the scene. he found greg in his car, bleeding from a gunshot wound. >> he was shot -- in the left side of his chest and the bullet went essentially -- in through the front and then out through the back. >> reporter: while greg was rushed to the hospital, a swat team combed the hillside where he had been shot. >> did they find the shooter? >> no. >> just vanished? >> vanished. >> reporter: but sergeant ernst heard a detail that was curious when the 911 call about the shooting came in. the situation immediately rang a bell with the dispatchers. >> greg mulvihill had called our dispatchers earlier in the even

senator grassley, senator ernst and your great governor reynolds.em another round of applause. they are great champions. [applause] >> thank you so much. on behalf of my wife karen and our family, let me just take this opportunity also to say thank you for the privilege of being your vice-president. it is the greatest honor of my li life. [cheers and applause] thank you for the confidence that you've placed in your president and his vice-president. [applaus [applause]. >> pence, 2024! >> finally, let me say it's great to be back on the farm. i'm pretty partial to the farm. i mean, the truth is farmers have contributed so much to the life of this nation, you could never calculate all of it. and i'm not just talking about to the economy. throughout the long history of this country. but farmers and family farmers have contributed so much vitality to our communities, to our states, farmers have served in our armed forces, their patriotism and their values strengthen this nation throughout our history. you know, i'm always struck, that book that i try an

join me in thanking senator joanie ernst for her strong and principled leadership. [ applause ] thank, senator, and finally it's a real privilege to be here with frankly had a hero of mine. i first discovered him on c-span back in the 1990s. [ laughter ] when he was serving in the united states house of representatives, and i said i like that guy. he would go on to the united states senate. in fact, he served in the congress now for more than 40 years, and i can tell you, he has been a champion for his fellow iowa farmers like no one else. he's been a champion for our constitutional liberties. as chairman of the judiciary committee, and he's obviously a terrific grandfather. join me in thanking senator chuck grassley for his great, great leadership for iowa. [ applause ] it really is great to be here with so many friends, and let me mention one more friend of mine who when i told him last night i was headed to iowa i think he was a little bit jealous. he's man who loves the state of iowa and a man the people of iowa put their confidence in three years ago. i bring greetings from the 4

join me in thanking senator joni ernst for strong and principled leadership.plause] thank you, senator. finally, it is a privilege to be here with a hero of mine. i first discovered him on c-span in the 1990's. [laughter] he was serving in the house and i said, i like that guy. he's served in the congress for more than 40 years. he has been a champion for his like no onefarmers else for her he has been a champion for our constitutional liberties. as chairman of the judiciary .ommittee he is a terrific grandfather. join me in thanking senator chuck grassley for his leadership. [applause] it is great to be here with so many friends. let me mention one more friend. i told him last night that i was headed to iowa, i think he looked jealous. he is a man who loves the state of iowa, and a man the people of iowa put their confidence in three years ago. i bring greetings from the 45th president of the united states of america, president donald trump. [applause] it is great to be back on the farm. it is especially great to be here at a great family farm. highway 40.uth

governor reynolds, senator , former, senator ernst congressman david young. the epa's assistant administrator. speaker of the house cap grassley. all the local leaders and guests and neighbors and friends. it is great to be back in the hawkeye state. thank you for that wonderful, warm welcome. i am really honored to see you all turned out today. thank you for taking some time away from work and your obligations to talk about an issue of great importance to iowa and the nation. let me say thanks to a few friends who are with us today. not just do i want to thank her for that overly generous introduction but i have to tell you, there is no more dynamic, in americag governor then governor tim reynolds. he is doing a phenomenal job for iowa. and let me thank another friend of mine who i have come to know well in my duties as vice president. and i find my ways the united states senate on a regular basis. i get a chance to interact with both of your senators, anatoly this one is amazing. inlikes to say that they was mother and a leader. they are born and raised her

it was interesting that you played that joni ernst clip. that was a polite exchange and reminds me of what the day-to-day reptingike in the capitol trying to get republicans to comment oat what ey thinknk the president has said. this is classic, wha they do. he doesn't speak for me. i'm not going toi'm comment. sometimes it's "i didit hear what he said." it's deflect, deflect and that seems to be modis operandi. robert: senator ern p up in 2020 forec re-on. others like susan collins of maine. could0 t t 2 replicans running for re-election plus retiring republicans, are those are the republicans most likely break? tim: i think it depends, bob, again, what we saw wh joni ernst is interesting. that is maybe one tiny drip in the pan d and we'd like to see states.ip, drip, drip in these if your corey gardener and you wanto survive in colorado in 2020, you need ticket splitters because president trump is not going to carry colorado. potion.ent is a donald trump carried iowa by a larger margin thari he c texas by in 2016y so if she stas loyal and

here senator ji ernst of iowa this weekhensked about presidt trump. i can't speak for him. >> you can speak for yourself. robert: she can'tprpeak for ident trump. when you saw speaker peli talking about usmcand drug pricing this week, is that because she knows suburban voters who gave her the hou majority in 2018 among others want to talk about things bond impeachment? >> susan: it was a weekly news nference witriple the number of reporters she usually draws and every reporter wanted to ask about impeachment and she refused t take questions on impeachment until she entertained questions oner o topics because she knows when it comes to votingme nt year,oi voters are to care more about themselves than about what's happened to president trump and voters care about prcription drug prices a other issues like that. karoun: that's the democratic onge, to be focus impeachment for the next few weeks and months and then try to anslate that on the campaign trail and not be compromised. it was interesting that you played thatstoni e clip. that was a polite exchan

words, a claim ernst denies. >> i can't speak for him. i'll just say that. i can't speak for him. >> i know you can't speak for him, but you can speak for yourself. >> and i do. i have said this time and time again. north korea, not our friend, russia, not our friend. i have made that very, very clear, and the president knows where i stand on those issues. >> what about whistle-blowers? >> and i've already said that too. whistle-blowers should be protected. i stand with chuck grassley on this. we have laws in place. again, laws need to be enforced. >>> on the flip side michigan's senator made a call. constituents did not seem so happy. watch what happened. >> a week ago monday, myself and six other members of the freshman class in congress, all former military or former cia wrote a joint op-ed and came out in support of an impeachment inquiry. and i wanted you to know from me -- i wanted you to know from me -- i wanted you to know why i made that decision. i know a lot of you disagree. what i want to do is be open and transparent about wh

ernst: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: mr. president, i rise today to call attention to the dire situation which continues to unfold in northern syria. turkey embarked on a reckless and brutal intervention on october 9, 2019, ostensibly to clear northern syria of terrorist elements. they have ironically dubbed this operation "peace spring." the departure of u.s. forces just days prior to this incursion left nothing between turkish military forces and the predominantly kurdish militia known as the syrian democratic forces, or s.d.f. up until the cease-fire agreement announced today, the s.d.f. bore the brunt of the turkish assault. the kurds are deeply stung by what they see as america abandoning them. this after a long, hard, and successful fight against isis. at the height of its power, isis controlled territory larger than the united kingdom. as many americans know, isis directed and inspired terrorist attacks on our homeland, communities across the united states, and staged numerous attacks against our troops overseas. isis

. >> bret: vice president pence is in iowa to help joni ernst reelection bid and we will have more onthat a little bit later. arkansas republican tom cotton is demanding answers from intelligence community inspector general about the ukraine phone call whistle-blower. cotton says michael atkinson's testimony to the senate intelligence committee "invasive to the point of being insolent and obstructive." he wants to know whether the whistle-blower has a professional relationship with them a credit presidential campaign. a lawyer for the whistle-blower responded saying his client has never worked for or advised a political candidate, campaign or party. ukraine's foreign minister says his country does not want to be dragged into political battles in the u.s. tonight, we began a series of reports on what is happening in that former soviet satellite nation. correspondent david spun in the capital city and reports on the impact they are of now infamous phone call between president trump and ukraine's new leader. 4900 miles away from the white house, it is a busy day on the streets of ukraine

ernst: whistleblowers need to be protected. host: that is senator joni ernst. michael, republican, can congress balance impeachment with legislating? can it do both? should they do both? caller: thank you for letting me speak for a few minutes. i am an autho orthodox priests. a politician, but when i saw someone who was not in the pocket of anyone, i jumped on the bandwagon. ohio is an important state to win the election. he had his very first rally in ohio back in 2015. i said the invocation at the rally. and then in a private room, when i spoke with the president of the president, he said " father michael, let me tell you something. i am going to try a few things, i am even going to try to get prayer back in school," and you know the president, just recently, has gotten the bible back in high schools as literature, and they can have bible schools again. he went in as the president. he is not a politician. people that were his close allies, reince priebus and others, they were lego eventually, because they did not see the same vision, and they were not on the

joni ernst (r-ia) held a town hall meeting in templeton, iowa.he answered questions from constituents on chinese tariffs, gun violence and health care. during the event, a constituent also pressed sen. ernst on president trump's criticism of the ukraine whistle blower and corruption in government. this is one hour.

joni ernst, another senator up for reelection, was at a town hall where she did not necessarily decides trump's comments, but she did criticize him calling the whistleblower a spy. chuck grassley also said that this week. there are cracks. the problem is you need 20 votes. that is a tall order in our polarized times. host: one of the democrats you noted, check -- doug jones out from alabama, what are his challenges? fort: he is running reelection one of the most republican states in the country. he won because he opposed roy moore in the mill of one of the greatest political scandals in the country. he knows that his time is limited. .o he voted against kavanaugh he has taken positions like support for gun control that are not popular at all in alabama. he has supported the impeachment heuiry but i would suspect would put his own principles ahead of the politics because he is in trouble the matter what happens. host: michael, republican line, good morning. hey, biden investigated himself -- , you broke up a little bit. i apologize. chicopee, massachusetts on the independent line. caller

iowa's joni ernst is up for reelection next year in a tough state. she said, when are you going to say this is enough, i'm not backing any of this. i can say yay, nay, whatever. the president is going to say what the president is going to do. it's up to us as members of congress to continue working with our allies, making sure that we remain strong in the face of adversity. i would call that a punt from senator ernst. >> the silence from republicans has been fairly deafening this week. those are the two exceptions you've raised here, and i think they can do that because they're on congressional recess and they're able to skirt the press some. i think the question is whether this is a silence of consent or the silence before a mohorror movie. there is a sense in republican circles that it's hard to come out and defend the president when you don't know what's coming and they're not getting a lot of guidance from the white house. so the real test will come when they come back in ten days or so and they can no longer escape these questions and what repub

. -- ernst was confronted by randi kaye and was careful. >> again, i think we're going to have to gooing to have to wait. all of that information is have to go back to the -- >> is it appropriate. >> again, we don't have all the facts in front of us. what we see pushed out through the media, we don't know what's accurate at this point. >> what we see pushed out through the media. we have the president's own words in the transcript of a call. what -- why are republicans being so careful about how they treat this? >> because despite the shift, he's still the leader of the party, an extremely important voice in the party. he sways the republican party. the republican base regardless of independence and more moderate republicans is totally behind him and thinks this is all a whitewash. so you don't want to -- i think if you're joni ernst -- reject trump out of hand because he is the leader of the party. but i also think it's important. what she was doing there, she wasn't condemning him, but she also wasn't defending him. i think that's important to note. while the country is moving towa

during the event senator ernst asked about president trump's criticism of the ukrainian -- the ukraineblower and corruption in government. this is an hour. >> thanks everyone for coming out today. hall ofmy 33rd town this year. been active and busy and out and about amongst our communities and constituencies. thank you

we sent randy kaye to iowa to say if she could get a good answer from senator ernst.hen are you guys going to stand up and say i'm not having any of this? >> it's up to us as members of congress to continue working with our allies, making sure that we remain strong in the face of adversity. >> that's what known as a nonanswer answer. so, randi, what happened when you caught up with the senator? >> well, we did our best to get some real answers, anderson. we tracked her down to this ground breaking ceremony in cedar rapids, iowa, dating back to the flood that happened in 2008, that's what that was about. we were hoping to ask her of course about the impeachment inquiry and about that new polling you just mentioned showing the majority of americans were in favor of that inquiry. we were hoping to get some real answers to our questions. instead it seems like we got more of those non-answer answers, as you said. here's our exchange. >> reporter: senators, while we have you, i want to ask you, is it appropriate for a president to ask a foreign power to investigate a politi

. >> senator joni ernst held a townhall meeting in her state. she answered questions from her constituents on chinese tariffs, nonviolence, and health care. in the event, a constituent also pressed senator ernst on president trump's criticism of the ukraine whistleblower and corruption in government. >> thanks everyone for coming out today. hall ofmy 33rd town this year. been active and busy and out and about amongst our communities and constituencies. thank you very much for taking the time to be here with us today. we do have a lot of national media. thank you folks for coming out. it must be quiet on the presidential trail here in iowa today. you are absolutely welcome. thank you for being here as well. work, weur town halls do have a number of cards filled up by folks i would like to ask questions. if you would like to fill out a card and you didn't when you came in, raise your hand. staff will come by and will provide you with a card. you can fill that out and get your name thrown in there to be drawn as well. with that, we will go ahead an

it called in the big british accountancy firm, ernst and young, or ey.harge. he discovered kaloti was handing out billions in cash in exchange for gold. my team started conducting these audits and it is really shocking, what they were finding. kaloti has done more than $5.2 billion in cash in one year. so people are coming to them with gold? yes. and they are handing over cash? yes. and they had over $5.2 billion in cash? yes, which is really shocking. myself, my team, they haven't seen such a thing in their lives. $5.2 billion was withdrawn by kaloti from local banks. we have been told there was so much cash, bank staff had to use wheelbarrows. on an average week, kaloti withdrew $100 million. that's 20 loads like this every working day. if i found it was this, that was collecting and handing out, you know, $100 million per week in cash, i would be enormously suspicious. when people are dealing in large amounts of cash, the expectation is, it is more likely to be for criminal purposes than legitimate. we have seen a transcript of a dubai court case. it

you watch that ernst clip. every single question was about the impeachment investigation.very little, in my opinion political upside. >> and it's been going on three and a half weeks impeachment. you got a majority of americans in fox news polls that support the inquiry. so, you know, riddle me that. >> fox isn't what it used to be. [ laughter ] >> it actually isn't. >>> after the break on the third day of turkey's assault on u.s. allies in the middle east, new questions about the uncanny coincidence that russia wins again. that story next. ry next. honey, have you seen my glasses? i've always had a knack for finding things... ...colon cancer,to be exact. and i find it noninvasively... no need for time off or special prep. it all starts here... you collect your sample, and cologuard uses the dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers. you can always count on me to know where to look. oh, i found them! i can do this test now! ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers hi, i'm joan lunden. when my mother began forgetting th

but the mood may be shifting among their constituents, as republican senator joni ernst discovered atown hall back in iowa. >> when are you guys going to say enough? you stand there silent and your silence is supporting him in not standing up. >> the president is going to say what the president is going to do. it's up to us as members of congress to continue working, umm, with our allies, making sure that we remain strong in the face of adversity. >> all of our allies he's pushing aside, making fun of them on twitter. >> and ma'am -- >> we end up with, oh, we love people from north korea or we love russia. >> i can't speak for him. >> joining me now is former congresswoman donna edwards, contributing columnist at "the washington post" and republican strategist rick tyler, political analysis for msnbc. joni ernst said, rick, that it was not appropriate for the president, i'm paraphrasing, to ask something political of a foreign leader. but she resisted a followup question at the same time. so it's beginning to be a sense of discomfort by some republicans. she's on the ballot this year.

these are the republicans staying quiet, when i went up to senator ernst in the hallway, do you want about corn and ethanol policy, and the senator said the issue is the impeachment process, and she didn't want to engage on that. >> let's take mitt romney aside because i think he's a special case. utah is a state where trump got 13% i think it was back in the republican primaries. a lot of issues there in terms of republican voters. very cool towards trump. romney may be immune from a lot of the sort of political, when you look at the other republicans in the u.s. senate do you see any potential as this plays out, a critical number of them, any number of them will end up turning on the president and if so, where would you be looking? >> well, you're absolutely right, it's all about the primary pliolitics, you know, t new logo is not just an elephant, it's an elephant running for the tall grass. they know trump is unfit, privately they talk about it, but they're afraid of primary voters. mitt is his own man, he has a strong compass. i think there are others. jeff flake said if it was

senator ernst joins us now from capitol hill.know you brought a couple of examples with you. one from nasa, one from the cdc. tell us all about it. start with nasa, would you? >> oh, my goodness. we do have martian mascots out there and the act you were referring to, stuart, is the swag act, stop wasteful advertising by the government act. i have many examples out there, some very egregious. the federal government has spent over $1.4 billion to develop advertising techniques, public relations, a quarter of a million of that has gone to these mascots in different agencies. we would like to stop that. we really want our federal tax dollars going to things that really matter for our constituents. stuart: you also have an example of wasteful spending in the cdc. what's that one? >> well, we have many examples out there. i would like to actually go from the cdc to the department of energy and talk about the green reaper, because we are close to halloween. they spent $5,000 developing a mascot called the green reaper and we have spent,

but, you know, people like cory gardner and susan collins and joni ernst are going to continue to come under pressure from their constituents and from reporters who are going to keep asking the question over and over again for four minutes, if necessary, continue pressing. and they're going to have to come up with better answers than -- than gardner did. look, the political reality is they're still all petrified of donald trump tweet storm. and romney is more immune to that than most of them because the people of utah are really not trumpists republican, they're conservative republicans, but he's probably one who has the least to worry about from his republican constituents, i think. >> all right. >> you know, willie -- >> go ahead. >> just really quickly to willie, there was an event last night, willie, where the president got out and said a few things, was little unbalanced. george conway said, the husband of one of president's top aides said he appeared to have severe personality disorders that were on full display. out of respect to the family and his loved once, we're not going to

. >> reporter: in iowa, a constituent practically begged senator joni ernst to say something about the president's actions. >> where is the line? when are you guys going to say enough, and stand up and say, you know what, i'm not backing any of this? >> okay, so, president trump. i can say yea, nay, whatever. the president is going to say what the president is going to do. >> i understand. it's a non-answer answer. and understand that, i get it. i know what you're saying. >> i can't speak for him. i'll just say that i can't speak for him. >> i know you can't speak for him, but you can speak for yourself. >> some tense moments there for republicans. jon, you've learned president trump reached out to republicans today trying to rally support? >> reporter: i'm told the president made a surprise appearance on a conference call with republican members of the house. saying he has done nothing wrong, and portraying the impeachment effort as trying to repeal the 2016 election. it may well have been the beginning of an effort to come up with a response to this. >> jon, thank you. >>> now to the

on thursday joni ernst held a town hall meeting in templeton i would. she acted questions from constituents on president trump and policy issues on the waiting actions on capitol hill. -- templeton, iowa. >> thanks everyone for coming out today, and this is my 33rd town hall of this year. so been active and busy and out and about amongst our communities and our constituencies. so thank you very much for taking the time to be here with us today. we do have a lot of national media. thank you, folks are coming out. it must be quite on the presidential trail here in iowa today. but you are absolutely welcomed so thank you for being here as well. the way our town hall's work for those that haven't been to one, we do have a number of cards that been filled up out by fols that would like to ask questions. if you'd like to fill out a card and you did when you came in, if you would racial hand the staff of come by and will provide you with a card. you can solve it out and get your name thrown in there to be drawn as well. with that what we will do, go ahead and

during a town hall in iowa, a enter grilled senator joni ernst for refusing to call out the president. >> where is the line? when are you guys going to say, "enough." and stand up and say, "you know what? i'm not backing any of this." >> i can say yea, nay, whatever. the president is going to say what the president is going to do. >> o'donnell: weijia joins us now from the white house. so i understand that the white house is facing a deadline tomorrow to turn over documents. what do you know will happen there? >> reporter: well, norah, that is highly unlikely to happen. in fact, three house committees have already drafted a subpoena to demand those documents linked to ukraine, anticipating the white house will miss tomorrow's deadline. president trump himself said he will comply with the subpoenas, imd he always does, but, norah, we have seen time and time again his legal team block information from congress. >> o'donnell: all right, weijia, thank you. and there is breaking news. the impeachment inquiry interviewed its first witness and it happened all day today. the questions involve

but ron johnson, i saw jody ernst and i thought, my god, you entered public service for this? to cower in front your own people and to lie in front of your own people and just not tell them the truth? it's astounding and it gets worse by the day. and, of course, we know this will end badly for donald trump and everybody else that apologizes for him. but it is so painful to watch right now. >> joe, a few moments ago you made the observation as we opened the show with the clip of marco rubio and roy blunt speaking and you made the observation that they know. they go out and say these things, but they know. behind the scenes they know. well, joe, they all know. and they have all chosen, they've had a choice, to protect the country or protect their status in office. they've chose their own re-election hopes and dreams over the united states of america. last night the president of the united states betrayed an ally in the field, the kurds in turkey. that's just the latest thing he's done. you mentioned mitt romney. nearly 70 years ago there was one individual, margaret chase smith

senator joanie ernst said the so-called whistleblower needs to be protected. she didn't say from whom or what. mitt romney called the request to investigate joe biden wrong and appalling. isn't it always good to hear from romney? "the washington post" giving four pinocchios to adam schiff for lying about his contacts with the whistleblower. president trump had this reaction with reporters on the white house lawn on this very subject. president trump: i heard adam schiff got four pinocchios. he should have gone the them 2 1/2 years ago. that's a very nice question, let me shake your hand. lou: he doesn't get many of those. you can see he's appreciative. joining us, congressman louie gohmert. congressman, great to have you with us. this is really quite a travesty to see the house intelligence committee led by a man who has lied several times just in the last few weeks about the very issue that he purports to be leading for the democratic conference in the house. >> as you said earlier to my dear friend tom fitton, you are surprised he's still chairman. when pelo

that's when you see >> ernst of alveso was intoxicated when he ran the red lit when you see shannon tbar him and save the family. >> i think it was meant to happen. >> her mother and 3-year-old son were in the car. happen. remarkably, no one injured. >> me being able to be there, i guess like the right time, it makes me feel good, even thoughf makes me feel good, even though like i'm in a situation i am like i'm in a situation that i am right now. >> i'm so sorry that that happened to you. like but thank you >> state your name and. >> police say the drunk driver made a run for it but soon arrested and now facing several feloniess. tonight one family grateful for this crash aft tonight one family grateful for this crash after nearly becoming the victim of another. miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> we know they are okay but hard to look at. >>> and hard to believe about believe about th >>> and hard to believe about believe about th e val, vern... i'm off to college and i'm not gonna be around... i'm worried about my parents' retirement. the holiday shopping season about to begin we'll tell

ernst: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. ms. ernst: mr. president, i ask that we vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ernst: mr. president, just over a year ago president trump signed into law the most comprehensive and sweeping opioid response package in the nation's history. a piece of legislation which passed this body with overwhelming bipartisan support support, a rarity in gridlocked washington. the reason we came together was simple. opioid abuse is tearing apart families, straining our law enforcement and emergency services, and engulfing our communities. young mothers with precious babies, young people at the prime of their lives focused on fentanyl rather than finding their path towards success. this crippling epidemic has touched the lives of iowans from all walks of life and from all areas of our state. we've seen the harrowing statistics and the ongoing struggles that many of our loved ones face. in iowa, we also

. >> coming up tonight on c-span, next, joni ernst meets with constituents at a town hall event in templeton. sirota discusses the future of health care. greenwood, james talks about drug pricing on this week's newsmakers. ernstublican senator joni held a town hall meeting in templeton, iowa. she answered questions from constituents on chinese tariffs, gun violence, and health care. was asked about president trump's criticism of the ukraine whistleblower and corruption in government. this is about an hour. >> thanks everyone for coming out today. hall ofmy 33rd town this year. be

ernst: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: mr. president, i rise today to call attention to the dire situation which continues to unfold in northern syria. turkey embarked on a reckless and brutal intervention on october 9, 2019, ostensibly to clear northern syria of terrorist elements. they have ironically dubbed this operation "peace spring." the departure of u.s. forces just days prior to this incursion left nothing between turkish military forces and the predominantly kurdish militia known as the syrian democratic forces, or s.d.f. up until the cease-fire agreement announced today, the s.d.f. bore the brunt of the turkish assault. the kurds are deeply stung by what they see as america abandoning them. this after a long, hard, and successful fight against isis. at the height of its power, isis controlled territory larger than the united kingdom. as many americans know, isis directed and inspired terrorist attacks on our homeland, communities across the united states, and staged numerous attacks against our troops overseas. isis

here is iowa republican senator joni ernst getting confronted on this very issue. >> all of our alliesing fun of them on twitter -- >> ma'am -- >> and then we end up with, oh, we love people from north korea or we love russia. but where -- i understand it's a nonanswer, answer, i get it, i know what -- >> i can't speak for him. i'll just say that. >> but you can speak for yourself. >> and i do. i have said this time and time again. north korea not our friend. russia not our friend. i have made that very, very clear and the president knows where i stand on those issues. >> what about whistle-blowers? >> and i've said that too. whistle-blowers should be protected. i stand with chuck grassley on this. we have laws in place. laws need to be enforced. >> right. so this is what's happening as these members of congress on recess. in a letter to his fellow republicans in congress, joe walsh is imploring republicans to put country over party and joe walsh is with me now. welcome. good to have you on. >> good to be with you, brooke. >> your fellow republicans, why so silent? >> i'll start here,

so you look at people like joni ernst attempting linguist tick eequivalent indications saying that's trump being trump, never confronting the central prop problem of their party, which is that they have a president who is ethically and potentially legally corrupt, who doesn't abide by any conservative principle, is a pure narcissist, to whom they have nonetheless tied themselves to his mask. >> dean, without getting too much in the weeds with our viewers, we're talking plainly about holding up money, u.s. money approved, do me a favor on my opponent, and we're going to give a foothold ho russia to do what they want to the kurds, which includes et nick cleansing. this is as serious as it gets and costs human lives. >> it's about lives. trump doesn't care about anyone but his own, frankly. as a lawyer, when you look at the elements of extortion or bribery here with trump, i think you have got crimes there. you've got campaign finance violations. i don't know what it takes for republicans to wake up, except for the fact close to election day and polls showing -- lindsey graham could bea

romney campaigned very hard and raised money for people like martha mcsally, joni ernst, and you could potentially fast forward a couple of weeks and see a romney coalition emerge within that republican senate conference. >> did the doral reversal surprise you? >> it did because we almost never see the president fold in the face of public criticism. his instinct is to dig in, and i just assumed that this decision was final when it was announced by the acting white house chief of staff last thursday. but the pushback from republicans was so fierce, it wasn't all that public although some spoke out publicly. but it was very intense in private calls to the white house staff, messages that were relayed to the president that this was a big mistake. he'd crossed a line here. they're not able to defend him because in their view, choosing your own property to hold an international summit is frankly indefensible. so the president had to fold his cards. >> hey, kim, can you handicap the chances that mr. mulvaney will hold his current job by the end of this week in four business days? >> i think

cnn has done a great job in following some of these senators at town halls, joni ernst being an examplepeople asking her, are you okay with the president soliciting foreign help? and, you know, they just can't answer it deal down inside, they know this is wrong, all of them do. >> and i have republican friends here, their bosses are reeling at what's going on. they know what donald trump is doing is a violation, and they just don't want to face the backlash. they don't know how to handle it other than doing the right thing. at some point they need to be loyal to their oath of i've and the country over this charlotte t -- charlatan in the white house. >> and we're entering an election year. thank you both, as always, thanks for your expertise. >>> a key u.s. ally is now saying that the united states is leaving them behind to be slaughter. we'll be discuss that, and how this move could impact american influence in the region for years to come. that's next. when i called usaa, it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. we're the rivera family and we pla

. >> thank you, chief ernst. i'd like to introduce from the sheriff's department, sheriff esick. would like to talk about a couple small incidents that have happened. we know this is a very difficult time to be evacuated from your home, but we've had aggressive people approaching some of our check points with the california highway patrol along with our sheriff's deputies. we want to reiterate that you need you to be kind to our first responders. be patient with us. we're there to try to help you and keep you safe, keep you out of the evacuated areas. we currently have about 50 deputies patrolling the area of geyserville and east of geyserville. those deputies are there to prevent looting, and we've had no reports of looting at this point. they're also there to help with evacuations, provide direction and support. we have no missing persons reports at this point, and we have no fatalities reported as well. finally, i want to talk about what you can do to help us over the weekend as we see this historic wind event coming at us. we would like you to stay hope. please stay home unle

you heard joni ernst there as i mentioned earlier, you worked for mitt romney as well.here. >> the only person. >> will they act? >> i mean, look, i appreciate senator romney for at least opening the door and giving an opportunity if you will, for other senators to come out and say something about this. in that interview you saw voters becoming concerned about this. you have at least four or five republican senators that are going to be in very, very tight races. susan collins is another one, for example who may not win, kendis. i don't understand how in the world you can continue to justify not saying anything at least not saying well, hey, let's look into this and see where it grows. let the chips fall where they may, but do defend the indefensible is ridiculous. i think voters will demand more and more from some of the vulnerable republicans to, again, draw a line in the sand. they'll have to decide where do you stand on this? and if you don't stand on the right side, we're going to vote you out. >> you can -- what should we look for? to give us a sense of where that

as joni ernst of iowa had someone shout at her the other day, she had a lot of applause as well.divided country. they're supposed to be doing the right thing here, we'll see how that falls down on the line. we should give her credit for having a town meeting, so many members of congress have stopped that tradition. >> thank you. >> sure. >>> is the nba putting profits over human rights? the general manager of the houston rockets tweets support for hong kong's pro-democracy movement and the league sides with china. ♪ limu emu & doug hour 36 in the stakeout. as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. pain happens. saturdays happen.

joni ernst up on the ballot has been concerned about the impact of the tariffs.e progress. we have the movement towards a deal going to give a lot of reassurance to the swing voters that have been with trump on how their own economies are going. >> asked about both aspects. here's what the president said. >> china can do whatever it wants. china can do whatever they want with respect with one and a half billion dollars going to somebody. that's up to china. we do have to look into corruption but no, it hasn't been brought up. >> bret: didn't bring it up today per the president says meantime the former ambassador to ukraine yovanovitch, marie yovanovitch on capitol hill testifying on closed doors. her opening statement said among other things that come >> first of all, marie yovanovitch is one of the most highly respected ambassador as we have in the career foreign service. >> she is a democrat. she is a partisan. well documented. not somebody he was just reporting the clintons when clinton was running telling the ukrainians that clinton was going to win, but also

so republican senator joni ernst of iowa, who is up for reelection next year in a very interesting race, she went and held a town hall in her home state earlier today. here is some of what we heard and saw. >> where is the line? when are you guys going to say enough? you still stand there silent, and your silence is supporting him and not standing up. >> okay. so president trump. i can say yea, nay, whatever. the president is going to say whatever the president is going to do. >> what about whistle-blower? >> i've already said that too. whistle-blowers should be protected. i stand with chuck grassley on this. we have laws in place. again, laws need to be enforced. i don't care where it is, i don't care who it is, when it is, corruption is corruption, and it should be combatted. >> but it's okay for our president to extort other countries? >> i -- okay, we're going to move on to another question, but what i would say is we can't determine that yet. >> so you just saw what happened right there. and yet we also point out millions of americans feel it's the political and media types who are

. >> reporter: but the impeachment inquiry has found its way to town halls, iowa's joni ernst got anarful. >> where is the line? when are you guys going to say enough? >> good question, so -- >> reporter: the president is also not answering whether he had violated the law. the chair of the federal election commission says the law is clear, it's illegal for any person to sift, accept or %-pn with an election. >> i got a call the other night from pastors, the biggest pa eg pastors. evangelical. they said we have never seen our religion or any religion electrified. >> reporter: the president is describing it in almost biblical terms. >> asia is doing poorly to put it mildly. >> and the president is firing off a letter saying the white house won't cooperate until the house democrats hold a vote on the impeachment inquiry. a source tells us that letter may come out on monday. jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >> jim, thank you. >>> a handful of the president's strongest supporters in congress have offered vague or little defense. >> overall, their silence is astounding. cnn reached out to