Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) backed Donald Trump when asked about the former president’s claim that he’d “go after” Joe Biden and his family should he defeat the president in the election.
Vance ― in an appearance on Sunday’s edition of “Meet the Press” ― told host Kristen Welker that media outlets and Democrats have “lost their minds” over the quote from Trump, who vowed in June to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Biden “crime family.”
“Donald Trump is talking about appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Biden for wrongdoing,” said Vance, who is reportedly a potential running mate for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
He continued by claiming that Biden has “done exactly that for the last few years,” accusing him of engaging in a “campaign of lawfare against his political opposition.”
“So I think Donald Trump’s saying, ‘look, let’s do the basic work of investigating wrongdoing,’ is a totally reasonable thing for him to do. And frankly, the Biden administration has done far worse,” said Vance, who didn’t provide evidence of Biden conducting moves in the Justice Department.
“So if you think that what Donald Trump is proposing is a threat to democracy, isn’t what Biden has already done a massive threat to our system of law and government?”
Welker checked Vance by noting that Attorney General Merrick Garland — not Biden — appointed special counsel Jack Smith to investigate Trump.
She added that the former president has been indicted by grand juries, pointing to the guilty verdict in his hush money trial as deriving from a jury of his peers.
“Would you support him taking such an action? It sounds like you’re saying, yes, you would,” Welker said.
“I would absolutely support investigating prior wrongdoing by our government, absolutely,” Vance replied.
The two later sparred after the Ohio senator appeared to start entertaining a conspiracy theory involving Matthew Colangelo, a prosecutor in the hush money case and a former Justice Department official in the Biden administration.
“If that doesn’t make you question the legitimacy of the prosecution, that’s a problem,” Vance said.
“Well, Senator, that happens all the time. People are appointed from Washington,” Welker noted.