Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who is rumored to be in contention for former President Donald Trump’s running mate, joined Donald Trump Jr. on his Triggered podcast for an interview Thursday.
Vance, who appeared with Trump in court Monday, spoke with Trump Jr. about the “absurd” business records case against the 45th president and the advantage the “election interference” provides to Biden by sidelining Trump from the campaign trail.
At one point, Vance recalled being in a CNN green room after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the indictment against Trump. He said anti-Trumpers in the room felt anger toward Bragg for bringing the “ridiculous” case as they felt it gave credence to witch-hunt claims:
Almost everybody else in that room was anti-Trump, and they were mad at Alvin Bragg, and why were they mad at Alvin Bragg? Because the case was so ridiculous that they thought it actually increased the argument that ‘this is all a witch-hunt; this is all about getting Donald Trump; this is not about justice.’ So they were actively mad at Alvin Bragg for being such an idiot and bringing this case.
Vance pointed out that since the cases against Trump at the federal level and in Georgia “have fallen apart,” media outlets have focused intensely on the New York case.
“I kind of just want to talk to these people and be like, ‘You guys recognized this was bullshit a few months ago.’ And I will say, Don, even CNN, to their credit, some of their people are recognizing that this is absurd,” Vance added.
The senator also pointed out that Biden enjoys an advantage with Trump being bound to the Manhattan courtroom three to four times a week.
“You just realize like what an unbelievable advantage this is for Joe Biden to have the leader of the opposition stuck in this courtroom for three or four days a week,” he said.
“He gets one day to go out there and fundraise, one day to get out there and go engage with voters and actually gin up enthusiasm,” Vance added.
Vance argued the trial “serves two purposes,” one being to inflict “psychological torture” on Trump and the other being “election interference.”
“That’s all that this is really about. It’s all it’s been about from the beginning,” he said, adding it has “backfired.”
Notably, the case is coming to a conclusion, with closing arguments possible as soon as Tuesday.
Another clip of the interview making the rounds features Vance criticizing Biden’s foreign policy approach.
“Take the ten-most wrong people for the last 30 years, put them in positions of power, and that is who the Biden administration takes as their foreign policy advisers. It’s just preposterous,” he said.
Vance, who has been critical of shipping U.S. tax dollars to Ukraine, zoned in on corruption he said is occurring in Ukraine surrounding energy contacts, many of which “are being paid… with American taxpayer dollars.”
“These energy contracts are going to people not who are providing the lowest, high-quality bid, but to friends of the ministers in the government. It’s the definition of corruption,” he said, citing a conversation he had with an energy company.
Trump Jr., who tweeted out the clip of Vance discussing the alleged Ukraine corruption, lauded Vance as an “America First rock star.”