- Sen. JD Vance defended Donald Trump and expressed concern about the 2020 election results and Supreme Court rulings during an interview on ABC News “This Week.”
- Vance suggested that the election results shouldn’t have been immediately certified and that Trump should ignore “illegitimate” Supreme Court rulings.
- He also dismissed the civil and criminal cases against Trump as biased and politically motivated, and called for more accountability in government and a focus on issues in future elections.
Additional Coverage:
- Vance: Congress ‘should have fought over’ competing electors before certifying 2020 (abcnews.go.com)
Sen. JD Vance defended former President Donald Trump during an interview on ABC News “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos. Vance, who was once critical of Trump, also reiterated his views on the 2020 election, suggesting that the results shouldn’t have been immediately certified and that Trump should ignore “illegitimate” Supreme Court rulings. Stephanopoulos asked Vance if he would have certified the election results as vice president, to which Vance called it a “ridiculous question” and expressed his belief that the certification process should have been handled differently. Vance cited various issues, including social media restrictions and changes in state election laws, as reasons for his concerns about the 2020 election. However, there is no confirmed evidence of widespread fraud, and local officials, including Republicans, affirmed the election results.
Stephanopoulos also questioned Vance about his remarks in a September 2021 podcast interview, where Vance suggested that if Trump were to be reelected in 2024, he should “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state” and defy the Supreme Court if they tried to stop him. Stephanopoulos challenged Vance on his stance, asking if it’s acceptable for the president to defy the Supreme Court. Vance argued that there is a problem with administrators and bureaucrats in the government who don’t respond to the elected branches, and if they’re not following the rules, they should be fired. He also claimed that the president should be able to run the government as they see fit, according to the Constitution.
Vance dismissed the civil and criminal cases against Trump as biased, including the sexual assault allegations and defamation damages. He believed it was unfair to suggest that supporting Trump meant supporting abusers and claimed that the cases against Trump were politically motivated attempts to keep him off the ballot. Vance argued that Americans should focus on fighting the 2024 election over issues rather than court cases. He also questioned the legitimacy of the New York juries’ findings, saying they were in “extremely left-wing jurisdictions” and suggesting that left-wing bias played a role in the accusations brought against Trump.
Overall, Vance defended Trump and expressed his concerns about the 2020 election results and the handling of court cases against the former president. He argued for more accountability in government and emphasized the importance of focusing on issues in future elections.