Trump Jr. floats Matthew Whitaker as possible primary challenger to Ernst

Donald Trump Jr. floated former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker as a potential primary challenger to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Wednesday, one day after she joined 21 Senate Republicans in voting for a $95 billion emergency security spending bill that included assistance to Ukraine.

“Senator @joniernst is another member of Senate GOP Leadership who voted to send billions to Ukraine. She pretended to be a conservative to get elected, but she’s just another RINO putting Ukraine First and America Last,” Trump Jr. wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Maybe MAGA @MattWhitaker46 will run against her in 2026?”  

The security spending bill includes $60 billion geared toward assisting Ukraine it its war against Russia and $14 billion for Israel as it battles Hamas.

Ernst defended her vote in a statement Tuesday, saying Congress was filling a void left by President Biden.

“By strengthening and equipping America to push back against our adversaries’ aggression, Congress has stepped up to do the job this president will not. This step is critical to reversing President Biden’s weakness on the world stage that has abandoned our partners, emboldened authoritarians, and put American lives at risk,” she said. 

“In the midst of a world on fire, this country can unite around one fact: we need new direction to fully counter this president’s crises at home and abroad,” she added. 

The issue of aiding Ukraine has increasingly become a divisive issue among Republicans, and Trump Jr.’s post suggests it could become a primary issue, with his father — former President Trump — choosing sides.

Whitaker is an Iowa native who played football at the University of Iowa. He served as acting attorney general from November 2018 to February 2019 and supervised special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, a probe he had previously criticized.

Ernst’s Iowa colleague, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R), also voted in favor of the emergency security spending bill, explaining in his own statement: “Some people on my side of the aisle have suggested that we should deny Ukraine the arms and ammunition they need to defend themselves and push the Ukrainians to negotiate an end to the war. But we already tried that. This was the Obama policy and it failed miserably.” 

“I am very surprised to see some Republicans now urging a return to the dangerously weak and failed Obama policy,” he added. “That would be a huge mistake. I also want to be clear that I do not wholeheartedly support President Biden’s handling of Russia’s invasion. If the Biden administration had made the decision to send key weapons sooner, the Ukrainians might have been able to take back even more territory.” 

At the same time, allies of former President Trump, including Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have expressed opposition to the bill. Vance argued in a post on X that “Buried in the bill’s text is an impeachment time bomb for the next Trump presidency if he tries to stop funding the war in Ukraine.” 

The status of the foreign spending legislation remains in limbo, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) writing before the Senate passed the foreign spending bill that “in the absence of having received ay single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters.”