As Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) reportedly finds himself down to the final two in Donald Trump’s veepstakes, his former career as a professional, self-described “never Trump guy” is coming back to bite him.
Vance, who recently said the jurors in E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault lawsuit against Trump were from “extremely left-wing jurisdictions,” once suggested that he may believe Trump’s accusers.
Long before the beard and MAGA hat, Vance told Chris Matthews during a 2016 appearance on his MSNBC show Hardball With Chris Matthews that he believed Jessica Leeds, who accused Trump of groping her.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the old clip, dug up on Wednesday by Mediate, MSNBC played a video of Leeds’ recollection then Matthews asked Vance what he thought of it.
“And it’s sort of—it makes me think that at fundamental, this is sort of he said, she said, right? And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump, who always tells the truth? Just kidding, or do you believe that woman on the tape,” Vance chuckled.
Matthews then questioned Trump’s explanation: “How can he explain, oh, yeah, I did that, I forget,” to which Vance replied, “Exactly.”
Vance previously liked a post on X that accused Trump of “serial sexual assault,” according to Raw Story.
But he has previously changed his tune and shrugged off his old criticisms of Trump.
“Look, my view on Donald Trump—I have been very clear on this—is, look, I was wrong about him. I didn’t think he was going to be a good president, Dana, and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to get him elected,” Vance told Dana Bash, co-host of CNN’s “State of The Union,” during a May appearance on the program.
Meanwhile, some GOP donors told The Daily Beast this week that they are having their doubts about a Trump-Vance ticket.
