Live from New York...It's Iowa's attorney general

Auditions underway?

Is Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird auditioning for a job in Donald Trump’s administration if he returns as president? Bird has upped her profile over the past week and publicly displayed her loyalty to the man she endorsed before the Iowa Caucuses.

(As a reminder: Bird was the only statewide elected official in Iowa to endorse Trump before the caucuses, a decision that got the attention of Governor Kim Reynolds.)

(Screen shot from video of a Donald Trump campaign rally in Adel with Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in October 2023.)

Recent Timeline:

—Last Friday Bird held a news conference to announce a new antisemitism task force. It comes at a time protests are taking place across the country against Israel’s military response that has killed thousands of civilians following Hamas’ attack last October.

—Monday Bird appeared at Trump’s criminal trial in New York (this is the “hush money” trial, where Trump faces 34 criminal charges for falsifying business records about a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels after their sexual encounter in the attempt to hide it from voters before the 2016 election). Bird spoke at a news conference outside the courtroom and called the trial a “scam.”

—Tuesday she announced her latest lawsuit that targeted the administration of Trump’s political opponent, President Joe Biden.

Three news conferences in three days…two in an official capacity and the other a political campaign event.

Bird claimed that the New York trial is about “politics” and that Trump shouldn’t be kept off the campaign trail.

A few things to keep in mind:

—The 2024 version of Trump hasn’t had a heavy presence on the campaign trial, even before this trial. The trial does limit Trump’s available time to campaign across the country now. But his legal team has also played a role in delaying his various trials to this point.

—This is a state trial, not a federal trial. President Biden can’t dictate this trial. A grand jury of citizens — not Biden — indicted Trump. Ultimately, those citizens will determine whether he committed a crime, not the president or other politicians.

Although, I have two questions:

1. If Trump would have paid Daniels with a personal check (and not a repayment routed through a business account), would there be a legal question of impropriety?

2. Why did the feds not pursue this investigation into Trump?

Now, back to AG Bird. At Tuesday’s news conference, reporters asked her who paid for her New York Trip. “No taxpayer money,” Bird said.

But then she didn’t answer the question and walked away from the podium. Why the mystery? Not answering the question completely just triggers more questions. And rightly so. I wonder if Trump has seen the video.

(Her staff later told me that the Republican Attorneys General Association invited Bird to New York and paid for her trip. Not sure why Bird herself chose not to tell us that.)

Watch how she handled the question here.

Grumpy Old Men — Meanwhile, Biden and Trump argue, posture and try to “out tough guy” the other guy as they try to establish the rules for their presidential debates.

Not a Bad Word — One of the best parts about my career is the people I get to meet. Kenny Fahey has lived in various places across the United States. He lives in Seattle now.

(Random tidbit: I’ve only been to Seattle once. A former boss made a compelling case for us to move there. It was too far away from family but I look forward to visiting again sometime.)

Kenny is focused on global sustainability. What does that mean? Why is that word not as divisive as “climate change” or “global warming?” Watch our conversation here.

A New Body for Water — What has formed in central Iowa could provide a model for uniting community water utilities into a regional entity to better guarantee access and ample supplies for the future.

It’s called Central Iowa Water Works. And two people who have been key to its formation shared with me why this could be so valuable. Watch the latest Inside Iowa Politics here.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for your feedback. And thanks for caring about the future of our communities.

I write this column as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, a group of more than four dozen independent writers focused on a variety of topics impacting Iowans.

You can check out their latest work here.