Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance had many opportunities over the past two weeks to admit Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election — but he has not taken any of them.
“I'm just going to assume that if I ask you 50 times whether he lost the election, you would not acknowledge that he did. Is that correct?” ABC News’ Martha Raddatz said during a recent interview with the Ohio senator.
“Martha, you've asked this question. I've been asked this question 10 times in the past couple of weeks,” Vance said. “Of course Donald Trump and I believe there were problems in 2020. You haven't asked about inflation.”
Since Vance's Democratic opponent, Tim Walz, pressed him during their vice presidential debate October 1 on the issue, journalists have asked Vance to directly answer the question about the 2020 election. But Vance has repeatedly evaded, often pivoting to issues like inflation or censorship, or only saying the election had “problems.”
During one recent interview with The New York Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, published Friday, Vance refused five times to answer.
“Senator, yes or no: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” Garcia-Navarro asked Vance.
“Let me ask you a question: Is it okay that big technology companies censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, which independent analysis have said, it cost Donald Trump millions of votes?” the VP nominee said.
Garcia-Navarro: “Sen. Vance, I'm going to ask you again: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?”
Vance: “I've answered your question with another question. You answer my question and I'll answer yours.”
Garcia-Navarro: “I have asked this question repeatedly. It is something that is very important for the American people to know. There is no proof, legal or otherwise, that Donald Trump — did not lose the 2020 election.”
Vance: “You're repeating a slogan rather than engaging with what I'm saying.”
