Ernst: Trump ‘needs to stop’ attacking McCain

ADEL, Iowa — Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to stop disparaging the late Sen. John McCain, calling the Vietnam war hero “a dear friend” and defending him against the president’s criticisms.

Trump has spent almost six days attacking the late Arizona senator, prompting a backlash from some Republican Senators. The president has repeatedly criticized McCain for voting against the skinny repeal of Obamacare. But on Wednesday he took the broadsides a step further by complaining that he wasn’t thanked for giving McCain the “kind of funeral that he wanted.”

Story Continued Below

Ernst’s remarks came during a town hall meeting at a high school in Adel, Iowa, where several attendees voiced anger about Trump’s attacks about McCain. One attendee described McCain as a “genuine war hero” and called Trump’s comments about McCain “cowardly.”

“I do not appreciate his tweets,” Ernst said, when pressed by the attendee why she didn’t previously speak out more forcefully. “John McCain is a dear friend of mine. So, no I don’t agree with President Trump and he does need to stop.”

Ernst added that while she supports Trump “when he’s right about policy,” she said that she “[breaks] ranks with President Trump quite a bit.”

Over the weekend, Trump sent a series of tweets ripping McCain, falsely claiming that the Arizona senator was “last in his class” at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and condemning McCain for flagging to law enforcement an explosive and unverified dossier from ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele alleging tied between the president and Russia. Trump attacked McCain again Wednesday in a speech, saying “I never liked him much.”

“This really gets under people’s skin,” Ernst said in an interview after the town hall. Ernst said she still keeps a photo of her and McCain in her office from the 2014 election.

“He’s dear to me,” she said. “I can’t stop the president, what I can do is say Mr. President — I don’t appreciate it.”

Ernst is the latest Republican Senator to break with the president over his recent comments on McCain. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said this week that “the country deserves better” and described his comments as “deplorable.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was close friends with McCain as well as a Trump ally, said Wednesday that “the president’s comments about Senator McCain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of Senator McCain.” But many Republicans have been muted in their response.