It was a "good step in the right direction" for U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, to stop Hunter Biden's plea agreement deal from being finalized, Sen. Joni Ernst said on Newsmax Thursday.
"I certainly think that there is a lot more information that needs to be uncovered, but what we saw with the Hunter Biden plea deal, I think was a good step in the right direction," the Iowa Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
She added that "for too long, Americans have seen two different systems of justice," one for former President Donald Trump and a "totally separate one" for President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
She added that her fellow Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., have "uncovered a lot of funny business between the Bidens and foreign governments."
"We'll see where this goes, but certainly I think there is a foundation out there," she added. "We'll see how far the House gets with us."
Meanwhile, Ernst spoke about a letter she's sent to the Small Business Administration demanding that it examines all the debt collections related to COVID business loans, which totaled approximately $72 billion.
"This is a huge problem," Ernst said. "What we have seen is that through COVID the SBA released dollars through different programs, the Paycheck Protection Program, the Restaurant Revitalization Program, and the Economic Injury Disaster loan area, and we have seen nearly $200 billion in fraud."
In one case, she added, "We saw one fraudster that collected $3 million, claiming that he had three separate businesses, and this guy was a convicted fraudster already. We saw $50,000 go to a gentleman who was behind bars and didn't even have a business. So there's a lot of that that we should be pulling back in."
Ernst has also recently added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that will put an end to Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland, and she expects to see that move forward to the president's desk.
"We have seen a lot of interest in this particular area," said Ernst, adding that she's got provisions in the Farm Bill as well to review purchases of over 320 acres or $5 million in buys of farmland by foreign investors.
"It is incredibly important that we focus on this as a national security issue," said Ernst. "So, it has gone into our version, the Senate version of the Defense Authorization Act, and we expect to have it in the Farm Bill later this year."
She added that the measures are something that should be bipartisan, as it is "an issue that both sides of the aisle can get behind."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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