During an interview this week on CNN, host Kaitlan Collins confronted guest Sen. J.D. Vance on the Ohio Republican apparently helping raise money in the past for Jan. 6/ Capitol riot defendants. She was comparing those actions with Vance’s current opposition — more in line with general sentiments — to some of the apparent violence recently seen on college campuses amid pro-Palestine protests.
“So, you agree that people, who break in, and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?” Collins asked the Trump-aligned Senator. It seems like he didn’t see where the questioning was headed, because he answered enthusiastically in the affirmative.
“I’m just checking because you did help raise money for people who did so on January 6th, which was impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building that they weren’t allowed to be in, and vandalizing the Capitol,” Collins replied, per transcripts. Vance reacted, in turn, by complaining about a supposed “obsession” with January 6 in the media but eventually conceding that individuals who assaulted law enforcement… like during that day of violence in D.C…. should be jailed.
That puts Vance perhaps at odds with Trump himself, who’s proposed pardons and other legal assistance for Capitol riot defendants in the event that he regains presidential power but often makes no distinction among such individuals, seeming to imply that he’d be inclined to help defendants accused of violence as much as those facing misdemeanors. A D.C. jail facility where some in Trump’s corner have focused their advocacy in this area has reportedly housed significant numbers of people specifically accused of assaulting, resisting, or impeding police during the day’s events. That’s what we’re facing here!
Collins identified Vance as a leading possibility to be Trump’s pick for vice president in this year’s elections, though that question remains rather open-ended, presently.
