Sen. Joni Ernst was accused Tuesday of having relationships with two military officials—one of them an Air Force general demoted after being busted sexting women on Capitol Hill.
Ernst, a 54-year-old Republican from Iowa, was named as one of the retired Maj. Gen. Christopher Finerty’s conquests in a ProPublica report, which cited two sources familiar with a military probe into his conduct.
Word of Finerty’s promiscuity first emerged in January when a 2023 report by the Air Force’s inspector general became public. The report found Finerty had violated military law by having “sexual, inappropriate, or unprofessional relationships” with multiple women on Capitol Hill. He was demoted and ultimately retired in November.
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The report circulated in the press but the names of Finerty’s alleged lovers were redacted.
This makes it impossible to tell which, if any, of the report’s sordid details pertain to Ernst, ProPublica reported. Still, having any sort of “romantic relationship” with a de facto lobbyist—as Finerty has been described as being—has raised ethical concerns.
One source in the Air Force described the relationship to ProPublica as being “so sleazy” because the branch likely earned favor in Congress as a result.
Ernst, herself a combat veteran, is one of the most influential legislators on military matters. She serves on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon, and has an especially influential role in curating its annual budget.
Three sources alleged to ProPublica that Finerty was not Ernst’s only fling with a military official. The report claimed she also had a “romantic relationship” with a Navy legislative affairs official in 2019—the same year she got a divorce.
A “source with knowledge of the situation” told ProPublic that the “relationship’s end created tension between Ernst’s office and the Navy legislative affairs office.”
A spokesperson for Ernst, who did not respond to questions emailed by the Daily Beast, did not deny the two relationships in a statement to ProPublica.
“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,” it said. “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.”
Finerty’s lawyer was adamant his client had not leveraged his relationships to bring about “undue influence” to the Air Force.
“The [inspector’s general] report found no evidence suggesting anything remotely approaching either conflict of interest or undue influence involving General Finerty and anyone on Capitol Hill,” his lawyer told ProPublica. “Further, the IG report found no law, rule, policy or guidance prohibited any of General Finerty’s relationships. Any suggestion to the contrary would be defamatory.”
Military investigators found “several exchanges” between Maj. Gen. Finerty and women that regarded “legislative matters.” However, the report added there was “no evidence of favors or exchanging of sensitive information by either party.”
One of Finerty’s old colleagues told investigators there was there a “perception” in the office that his relationships with those on the Hill were “unethical,” adding that it affected morale and people were “talking about it all the time.”
Finerty led the Air Force’s legislative office between April 2019 and March 2023. In that same period, ProPublica reported Ernst “publicly pushed for more money and championed projects for the Air Force on multiple occasions, including in at least one instance on a specific matter that Finerty was advocating for on the Hill.”
The Air Force’s report cited texts as an example of how Finerty and one of the Capitol Hill women appeared to intertwine their relationship and work life.
The report said Finerty texted a woman in 2021 that he was “distracted by you being distracted,” followed by a list of “top 5 things to protect if possible.” That list included a particular fighter jet, radar technology, and a system to improve interoperability across the military’s branches.
“What distraction?” the woman allegedly texted back. “If I was [redacted] would it be distracting?” The woman followed up with a series of “pornographic” pictures, the report said.
Finerty allegedly wrote back: “This whole no more sexting didn’t last long huh?”
The report said the Capitol Hill woman responded, “I thought we clarified this last night. Do you want me to stop? ... I thought the sexting was back on.”
Finerty defended his relationships to military investigators by saying “everyone was single” and there was “no adultery going on.”
