Exclusive: Former President Trump says Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was “embarrassed” during Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, while Sen. J.D. Vance's steady presentation makes the Ohio senator his running mate. He said he had “reaffirmed” his choice to
Trump spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, hours after Vance, R-Ohio, and Walz faced off at the CBS News vice presidential debate in New York City. The two discussed issues such as foreign policy, border security, abortion, and climate change, while also introducing themselves and their records to the American public.
Vance and Walz battle over abortion and immigration in first and only vice presidential debate
“JD was great last night. It just reaffirmed my choice,” President Trump told Fox News Digital. “There was a brilliance in what he was doing.”
“On the other hand, Tim Walz, who I think is much better than Kamala, has proven to be someone who is not in any way equipped for the position he is seeking,” Trump said. said.
The former president and Republican presidential candidate said Walz “embarrassed himself and the Democratic Party last night, made even worse by J.D.'s outstanding performance.”
“This country needs smart people, not people who can't put two sentences together,” President Trump said. “We have to take our country back.”
Former President Trump and his vice presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance, appeared on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Vice presidential debates have traditionally been considered second-rate, but President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are unlikely to debate again before voters cast their votes on November 5, and vice presidential candidates will not participate in debates. The stakes rose as he tried to tackle it. most important issue confront the state.
CBS News anchors Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated a debate Tuesday night in New York City that featured more substantive policy discussion than personal jabs. Tuesday began with a strike by nearly 50,000 longshoremen from Maine to Texas as Iran launched its largest-ever attack on Israel, firing nearly 250 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state. It ended with that.
Walz and Vance's first question was whether they supported Israel's first strike against Iran.
A visibly shaken Walz had a poor start to the debate, pausing and stumbling as he talked about the need for “stable leadership” in the White House. Instead of answering questions, Walz attacked Trump.
“The fundamental thing here is that stable leadership is important,” Walz said, referring to Trump's debate performance against Harris last month. “That's clear, and the world saw it on the debate stage a few weeks ago. Donald Trump, who's nearly 80 years old, talking about crowd size is not what we need at this point. ”
But Vance defended Trump in his first response, saying Trump “has brought stability to the world and accomplished that by establishing effective deterrence.”
Walz forced to amend records on whether he was in China during Tiananmen incident
“People were afraid to step outside the box,” Vance said. “Donald Trump recognized that peace through force was necessary for people to fear the United States. If they were to go astray, America's global leadership would restore stability and peace to the world. I needed to recognize that I was deaf.”
JD Vance and Tim Walz (CBS)
Regarding a first strike, Vance said, “It's up to Israel to decide what it thinks it needs to do to keep its country safe. And we should support our allies wherever they are fighting the bad guys.” spoke.
Waltz fired back. He criticized the Trump administration for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, saying that Iran is “closer to a nuclear weapon than ever before because of Donald Trump's mercurial leadership,” and that Harris has “stable leadership.” He added that he is demonstrating this.
“You're blaming Donald Trump, but who has been your vice president for the last three and a half years? And the answer is your vice president, not my vice president,” Vance said.
Mr. Vance again defended Mr. Trump, saying that Mr. Trump “consistently made the world safer.”
“Governor Walz can criticize Donald Trump's tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength are the way to restore stability to a very broken world,” Vance said. “Donald Trump has already done it once.”
Vance also urged voters to ask themselves, “When was the last time an American president did not have a major conflict break out?”
“The only answer is the four years that Donald Trump was president,” Vance said.
The discussion turned to the ongoing crisis at the southern border, the top issue for voters.
While touting President Trump's plan to secure the border, Vance said he has already visited the border more than “border czar” Kamala Harris.
But Walz criticized President Trump for allegedly trying to get Republicans to vote against the border bill.
Waltz Spar Vance on immigration at vice presidential debate: Going to the border is 'more than a border czar'
“As soon as we passed it and we were ready to actually work on this, Donald Trump said no.” [lawmakers] “There's no need to vote no because it becomes a campaign issue,” Walz said. “If we actually did these things, what would Donald Trump say?”
On the same topic, the hosts asked Vance whether he would support family separation as part of Trump's proposed “mass deportation” if elected.
“We have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost,” Vance explained. “Some of them have been sex trafficked. Some of them would prefer to stay at home with their families.
J.D. Vance and Tim Walz debated in New York City on Tuesday night, just weeks before the election. (Reuters)
“Some of them are being used as mules for drug trafficking. Unfortunately, the real family separation policy in this country is Kamala Harris' wide open southern border. And She said she wanted her fellow Americans to remember when she became president, which she intended to do. They'll say, “I've failed and I'm going back to Donald Trump's border policies.” I hope she does, it's good for all of us. ”
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On the issue of abortion, another top issue for voters this term, Walz and Harris said they were pro-choice, while Vance said Republicans wanted to “do more to restore the American people's trust on this issue.” We need to make an effort,” he said. Frankly, they don't trust us. ”
“I think that's one of the things that Donald Trump and I are trying to do. As a Republican, I want us to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word. I want us to support infertility treatment. Mothers. We want to make it easier for women to have babies,” Vance said. “I want to make it easier for young families to build homes and have a place to raise their families. And I think there's a lot we can do in terms of public policy to give women more options. I think there are many.”
