Is This What They Held Over Joni Ernst’s Head To Make Her Confirm Pete Hegseth?
Oh, just curious.
There is no honest person or American patriot who believes Pete Hegseth AKA Secretary Shitfaced is qualified or fit to run the Pentagon. He’s an absolute joke, a radicalized religious extremist covered with white supremacist tattoos, a reputed drunk and abuser of women, and an offense to God, the founding fathers, and at one point literally his mommy.
And yet he was confirmed, including by two Republican senators who were at one point rumored to be major holdouts who could tank the whole thing.
Donald Trump reportedly bullied Thom Tillis into flipping with primary challenge threats, even after Tillis assured Hegseth’s former sister-in-law that if she came forward with what she knew about Hegseth’s alcohol abuse and general monster behavior toward Hegseth’s ex-wife, that it would matter, that his nomination would fail. Also there were credible death threats against Tillis, reportedly. He was the deciding vote on the nomination.
And then there was Joni Ernst, a powerful woman on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a military veteran who back in a previous life allegedly cared about fighting against sexual assault in the military. She caved early under severe MAGA threats.
But was there something else she was threatened with? Maybe something somebody threatened to reveal if she didn’t fall in line? Now that Donald Trump has turned this country into Putin’s America, we are curious, because you know how the Russian authoritarians love their kompromat.
A story just broke about Joni Ernst that sure does make us wonder.
ProPublica reports that Ernst — again, one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate when it comes to military stuff — has had some, shall we say, highly questionable relationships with some very influential Pentagon brass, the types of relationships that could suggest serious conflicts of interest and ethical concerns.
(So no, this isn’t just a story about whether Ernst, who is divorced, has been having big old sex with some hot military guys. That would be fine and Wonkette would be Team GO JONI.)
ProPublica:
Earlier this year, the Air Force revealed that the general who oversaw its lobbying before Congress had inappropriate romantic relationships with five women, including three who worked on Capitol Hill.
Maj. Gen. Christopher Finerty’s colleagues told investigators the relationships were “highly inappropriate” as they could give the Air Force undue influence in Congress. “I honestly felt sick to my stomach,” one said, according to a report about the investigation, “because it just felt so sleazy.”
The Air Force inspector general’s report redacted the names of the women who worked on the Hill.
But one of the women whose relationship with Finerty was scrutinized by the inspector general was Sen. Joni Ernst, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.
It ain’t just that. ProPublica has three other sources who say Ernst had an affair in 2019 “with a legislative affairs official” for the Navy. ProPublica has lots of sources for this whole article, sounds like.
Could this be bad? Oh yeah, it sure could:
A former legislative affairs official for the military told ProPublica that people in that role aren’t officially “lobbyists but for all intent and purposes that’s their job. ... From an ethics standpoint, it’s severely problematic.” A former Air Force officer who worked for Finerty said the perception in the office was that his relationship with Ernst “absolutely gave the Air Force undue influence.”
Dang.
She ain’t deny it either, at least not the relationships. From her spox:
“The fake news media is clearly too busy gossiping to report the real news that Senator Ernst is focused on cutting waste at the Pentagon. Her votes and work in the Senate are guided by the voices of Iowans who elected her and her constitutional duty alone. Any insinuation otherwise by tabloid ‘journalism’ is a slanderous lie — full stop.”
LOLOLOLOLOLOL OK. Pardon us, we are laughing so hard because Senator Ernst is on the DOGE committee. You know, where they’re cutting the waste! Joni Ernst can’t talk right now, because she’s cutting waste!
It is funny because fuck off.
Anyway, you can read all the details if you want, but our question is just the one we asked above. It sounds like in certain military circles, this was an open secret. Were there threats that if Ernst didn’t come to MAGA Jesus and vote for Secretary Shitfaced — and in so doing abandon all claim to ever caring about eliminating sexual assault in the military — then maybe some of these secrets might spill out, and not in the pages of ProPublica?
We are just asking.
Did we mention that the IG report with these [redacted] allegations about Finerty arrived in Congress in January, right in the middle of the Hegseth confirmation fight? And that Ernst caved on Hegseth in mid-January?
Because ProPublica happened to mention that.
They also mentioned this:
Virginia Canter, a former government ethics lawyer who served in administrations of both parties, said of the relationships with officials advocating before Ernst’s committee: “It kind of takes your breath away.”
The relationships, Canter said, make Ernst vulnerable to being extorted if people learned of them and could give someone undue influence over her.
Compromising information does tend to compromise people.
We could be wrong. This thing could have absolutely nothing to do with that thing. Joni Ernst might just be a craven shitbag who doesn’t love America or the military, therefore Hegseth.
But in Trump’s Russian satellite state of MAGAstan, one must ask.
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Trump got what he wanted and burned her anyway.
Yep, that checks out.
ANYONE, republican OR democrat who is going to cave to threats needs to never run for office again...Because threats are going to be the reality for the foreseeable future in perpetuity...If you can be influenced by threats, you are WORSE than useless...
I can tell you for a FACT that AOC and Jasmine Crockett receive 10 times the threats that any republican filth does, and those threats are CONSIDERABLY more disturbing than writing mean things on the sidewalk...IOW there ARE people capable of doing their jobs AND best work DESPITE the threats...If this doesn't describe YOU, don't run for office