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Iowa AG Brenna Bird at RNC: Donald Trump will support law enforcement in second term
Bird spoke on the second night of the event in Milwaukee
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, sporting a "thin blue line" flag pin, threw her support behind former President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, saying he would support law enforcement in a second term.
Bird spoke on the second night of the event, which carried the theme “Make America Safe Again.“ On Monday, as a convention chair, Bird led the nomination of JD Vance as Trump's running mate.
Bird pointed to her election in 2022, in which she unseated Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller, who had served 40 years over two stretches, by a narrow margin while running on a promise to “back the blue.“
"We won because Iowans were ready for an attorney general who would protect them, not the criminals," she said. "An attorney general who would stand up to Joe Biden and the radical Democrats."
Bird also promised in her campaign to sue Democratic President Joe Biden's administration. She has lodged lawsuits against an array of Biden executive policies including environmental mandates, gender equality rules in education and student debt forgiveness.
Bird endorsed Trump ahead of the 2024 caucuses, in which he won a first-place finish on the road to the party's nomination for president.
Several of Trump's onetime primary opponents also took the stage Tuesday night to show their support for the party's nominee. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was a fierce Trump critic on the Iowa caucus campaign trail, urged skeptical Republicans to get unify behind Trump in November. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also spoke to rally support.
Bird suggested Biden and Democrats have mistreated law enforcement and been lax on crime, contrasting them with Trump, who she said will stand with law enforcement and crack down on crime.
"The Democratic Party is the party of defunding the police," she said. "They said it, they mean it, and they can't wiggle out of it."
Bird said Republicans will be tough on crime, prosecuting and imprisoning criminals. She pointed to Trump's attendance at a wake for a New York police officer who was killed during a traffic stop to extol his support for law enforcement.
"Republicans get justice for victims, and we put criminals where they belong — in jail," Bird said.
Trump has been convicted of 34 felony counts in New York for falsifying business records related to hush money payments to an adult film star, and he faces criminal prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Justice Department and prosecutors who have brought charges against him as corrupt and politically motivated.
Bird has called the New York charges a "scam and a sham," and she visited the New York courtroom during the trial to lend her support for the former president.
Last week, she filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court hear a case from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asking the court to overturn Trump's conviction on those charges.
"I urge everyone listening to stand with law enforcement, and vote to make America safe again," Bird said. "I urge you to vote for Donald Trump on Nov. 5."
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