Senator Chuck Grassley speaks at Washington Rotary’s noon meeting Thursday. Photo by Sally Y. Hart

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) visited southeast Iowa Thursday.

He attended the Washington Rotary Club’s meeting and held a question and answer session with members of the club. A variety of topics were discussed including NAFTA, the Me Too movement, President Donald Trump’s taxes, and Russian sanctions. When asked about those sanctions, Grassley said, “I wouldn’t give up on the fact this thing, it’s just the timing of what the President is going to do with it. I can’t see with what was announced with those indictments last week that he wouldn’t be taking advantage of it. And I don’t know whether he really knew for the year he was in office that the Russians weren’t doing what we now know they were doing. He acted like he didn’t know it, but now it’s so obvious he ought to say, you know, it’s no longer the view that they didn’t try to interfere in our elections.”

When asked why he meets with organizations like this across the state he said that it’s a chance to meet with constituents who may not otherwise come to his meetings, including high school students that he visits. He said that often topics covered in such situations are the same that are brought up in the town meetings. The senator also toured MD Orthopedics in Wayland and had a question and answer session with employees.