ABC News’ Jonathan Karl pressed Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on Sunday over former President Donald Trump’s controversial dinner with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who has launched racist comments at his wife Usha Vance.
Karl, in a sit-down interview with Trump’s running mate, noted the “really nasty stuff” that Fuentes said about the candidate’s family when he asked whether a “guy who has an Indian wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity” last month.
“He said that terrible stuff but he said — I mean, he’s a white supremacist,” Karl told Vance.
“Look, I think he’s — President Trump has issued plenty of condemnations on this. The one thing that I like —,” Vance replied.
“But not of Fuentes,” Karl interjected.
“The one — the one thing I like about Donald Trump, Jon, is that he actually will talk to anybody,” Vance said.
He continued, “But just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views. And look, I mean Donald Trump spent a lot of quality time with my wife. Every time he sees her, he gives her a hug, tells her she’s beautiful and jokes around with her a little bit.”
Karl, earlier in the interview, read Fuentes’ comments to Vance’s face and referred to them as “racist garbage.”
“Yes it is,” replied Vance, who previously acknowledged but didn’t condemn the white supremacist attacks in an interview last month.
“But this is also a guy that dined with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago during this campaign,” said Karl, citing Fuentes’ dinner with Trump and Ye — the artist formerly known as Kanye West who has praised Adolf Hitler — in 2022.
Vance suggested that Trump “doesn’t know anything about and frankly doesn’t care” for Fuentes before describing his “attitude” to people attacking his wife.
“She’s beautiful, she’s smart. What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly,” Vance said.
He continued, “And my view is, look, if these guys want to attack me or attack my views, my policy views, my personality, come after me. But don’t attack my wife, she’s out of your league.”
Vance, later in the interview, declared that he wasn’t worried at all about Trump but has worried “sometimes about these ridiculous attacks.”
“But again, this is what you sign up for when you come into politics,” he said.
“I wish people would keep it focused on me. But, whatever, they’re gonna say what they’re going to say. My wife’s tough enough to handle it and that’s a good thing.”
