Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, slammed President Joe Biden during an appearance on Newsmax, calling him a "very, very weak president."
Ernst, who is just back from a trip to the Middle East, made her comments Tuesday on "Newsline."
"We have a very, very weak president on the world stage, and he continues to coddle Iran even while their proxies are targeting American service members in the Middle East," she said. "They are also providing the means and the end for Hamas as they battle against Israel and the IDF. This has got to stop, but we need a new president, a strong commander in chief.
Ernst, co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, led a bipartisan, bicameral delegation to the Middle East in October in coordination with the families of American hostages held by Iran-backed Hamas to advocate for their immediate release to the senior leadership and lead negotiators in Egypt, Israel, Qatar, and Bahrain.
"The focus of the delegation was on American hostages," Ernst said. "Hamas is still holding six American hostages, and we cannot forget that they brutally murdered over 30 Americans in their October 7th terrorist attacks.
"So we were able to move through the Middle East. We visited leaders in Egypt and Israel. We traveled through Jordan and on into Qatar and ended our trip in Bahrain, where the leadership is extremely supportive of the United States of America.
"It was a very good trip. A lot of very hard conversations with a number of those leaders as we attempt to get our American hostages back."
Ernst also ripped Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for secretly entering a hospital for an undisclosed problem.
"Oh, this is so horrible," she said. "It is absolutely unacceptable that our secretary of defense was laid up in a hospital incapacitated and nobody knew where he was or what was going on. Not his chain of command and certainly not President Joe Biden. This really calls for congressional oversight again.
"This is just so horrible. I can hardly express how furious I am that this has happened."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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