Steve King denied seat on Air Force One for Trump trip to Iowa: report

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was reportedly denied a seat on Air Force One on Tuesday as President Trump traveled to Iowa for a speaking event.

CNN, citing two GOP sources, reported that King asked the White House if he could join Trump on the visit and that officials within the Trump administration denied his request.

Trump, who was traveling to Council Bluffs, was joined on his flight by Iowa Republican Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley as well as Nebraska Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

{mosads}The Hill has reached out to King’s office and the White House for comment.

King, a nine-term congressman who represents Iowa’s 4th District, has drawn national attention for his rhetoric on immigration and was stripped of his committee assignments earlier this year for comments he made on white nationalism.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” he told The New York Times in an interview in January. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

King argued at the time that his remarks were taken out of context, though he was formally rebuked by Congress. The Iowa Republican announced the following month that he planned to run for reelection in 2020.