Joni Ernst says China is "intentionally poisoning" Americans amid fentanyl crisis

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst accused China of "intentionally poisoning" Americans by not stopping the supply chain networks that produce fentanyl. 

"The Chinese are selling these precursor chemicals into Mexico. Then the Mexican cartels are working on making the fentanyl and distributing up into the United States," the Iowa senator told CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge in an interview airing on CBS News streaming network Friday evening.

Ernst, who recently traveled to Mexico and the southern border as part of a congressional delegation — also known as a CODEL — said she believes the flow of the precursor chemicals —  the ingredients needed to make fentanyl — into Mexico is happening with the tacit approval of the Chinese Communist Party.