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Vice President JD Vance called himself an Epstein “conspiracy theorist” and batted down accusations the Trump administration is hostile to Americans of color in his Tuesday appearance on “The View.”
Vance’s first time venturing into hostile territory was a cordial if restrained affair as he squared off with the show’s lefty hosts on a range of issues, coming away mildly bruised but far from beaten.
The studio audience reacted with surprisingly enthusiastic cheers and applause as Vance emerged from backstage to take his seat at the center of the table, appearing poised and prepared.
The co-hosts peppered him with questions about President Trump’s relationship with disgraced financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, specifically in reference to a recent New York Times report that the White House held a special strategy session last year to address the Epstein files.
“I’m frankly kind of a conspiracy theorist on the Epstein stuff, and that story says that,” said the 41-year-old veep, who was on the show promoting his new memoir “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”
“That’s one of the things that’s true, is that some people called me a conspiracy theorist on the Epstein stuff,” he said, naming White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles among them.
“I love Susie, but absolutely she thinks I’m a conspiracy theorist on the Epstein stuff because I think that it’s crazy that you have this guy who is clearly a sex predator who is hanging out with a lot of very wealthy and powerful people, like, that really bothered me,” Vance said.
“What I disagree with is the idea that the White House wasn’t committed to full transparency. We need to remember, like, I was inside the room when some of these decisions were made.”
He noted the administration has released some 6 million pages of the files after the bipartisan passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act last November, which the president signed into law.
The vice president also clarified President Trump’s “I love the inflation” remark last week that was widely misinterpreted.
“What he said is that he loves the fact that the inflation is going to come down when the war is over. That’s what he said.”
That fleeting reference was the only mention of the elephant-in-the-room Iran War talks, in which the president declared victory just before heading to Évian-les-Bains, France, for the annual G7 summit.
“That’s not what he said,” Whoopi Goldberg chimed in.
“Are you his interpreter, or are you his vice president,” Behar quipped, to laughter from the audience.
Late in the segment, Goldberg attempted to paint the Trump administration as hostile to Americans of color, throwing out a loose patchwork of disjointed race-themed grievances.
“What did Black people do to this administration that has allowed it to really stigmatize folks of color? And you know how hard it is. You have folks of color in your family. So when you see, you know things, the Emmett Till stuff coming down, or them doing all kinds of removal of information of Black heroes, how does that sit with you?” she asked.
Unable to decipher her vague ballad of discontent, Vance asked, “What exactly are you talking about?” as the audience groaned in disapproval.
“In a lot of the uhh, museums, there’s so many I just, you know, where they’re taking down the actual history that happened in this country. Slavery happened, all kinds of stuff happened, and it seems it has been very easy for the administration to remove that, and also to denigrate black folks who have worked their behinds off to get this American dream,” she stammered.
Co-host Sunny Hostin piled on, asking the vice president “Where do people of color fit into this administration? Because it doesn’t seem like we fit.”
Vance attempted to reframe Goldberg’s argument so he could better understand it, saying, “So you say that we’re anti-minority or anti-black?”
Goldberg cut him off — “No, I didn’t say that! I asked — see? Don’t start any stuff with me, man, don’t get me in trouble” to light tittering from the audience.
Vance told Goldberg, “I think everyone is welcome in our political coalition, even if you didn’t vote for us,” before offering up a counter-example of the plummeting violent crime rate in Washington, DC.
“Look at DC, one of the most Democratic and one of the blackest cities in the US, has seen a radical decrease in violent crimes, sexual assaults and murders,” he said, noting the administration has taken the issue of crime seriously in the nation’s capital, “in part because we believe everybody deserves to live in a safe neighborhood.”
Trump mobilized more than 2,100 National Guard troops to Washington last August as part of an effort to tackle crime and beautify the city, leading to a sharp decline in violent crime.
Hostin interjected about black history being “erased from public spaces,” to which Vance replied, “black history is not being erased from public spaces. We celebrate black history, we celebrate all American history.”
English (US)