CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins caught Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) flat-footed Wednesday night with a misdirection in her line of questioning on the current pro-Palestine protests roiling college campuses across the country.
In a segment to kick off The Source, Collins quizzed the pro-Trump senator on his views regarding the relative value of free speech versus the safety and well-being of students whose lives have been disrupted by the protests on campus—to which Vance replied that police should only become involved if protesters are breaking the law.
“My view on this is that Israel’s our ally, that we should support them, but you can’t police people for being anti-Israel or pro-Israel,” he said. “You can police people for violating the law, and we have seen some of that with some of these protests.”
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“OK. So you agree that people who break in and vandalize the building should be prosecuted?” Collins countered, to which Vance replied: “Exactly.”
Collins then brought up Vance’s past support for the pro-Trump rioters who did just that on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I’m just checking because you did help raise money for people who did so on January 6, which was impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building that they weren’t allowed to be in and vandalizing the Capitol.”
Vance then derided Collins for even bringing up the subject, blaming the mainstream media for its “obsession” with the events of that day. He also claimed that the same outlets that made a big deal out of the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, are now ignoring pro-Palestine campus protests.
“I would disagree that it’s a media double standard,” Collins said before moving on to the topic of Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in New York City.
