Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's recent claim that noise from wind turbines causes cancer was "idiotic," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday.

Speaking at a fundraiser for Republicans in Washington Tuesday, Trump took aim at wind turbines -- which he called windmills -- and what he labeled the inadequacy of wind energy, saying at one point that "they say the noise (from wind turbines) causes cancer." Scientific studies have not identified any human health risk from wind turbines.

On a weekly conference call with reporters Wednesday, Grassley expressed frustration with Trump's comments, saying they "were first of all idiotic" and that they don't "show much respect for Chuck Grassley as the grandfather of the wind energy tax credit," according to the senator's spokesman, Michael Zona.

Grassley authored the Wind Energy Incentives Act of 1993, which provided wind energy tax credits.

According to the Iowa Wind Energy Association , the state is home to more than 4,000 wind turbines that provide 37% of the state's electricity. The industry also provides the state with some 9,000 jobs, according to the group.

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