Donald Trump in a Wednesday interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention dismissed the need for his running mate, JD Vance, to be ready for the presidency.
“When you look at JD Vance, is he ready on Day One?” Fox News' Harris Faulkner asked the former president during his interview with her, ABC News’ Rachel Scott, and Semafor’s Kadia Goba.
“Historically, the vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact. I mean, virtually no impact,” Trump said. “You have two or three days where there's a lot of commotion as to who, like you're having it on the Democrat side, who it's going to be. And then that dies down and it's all about the presidential pick.”
“Historically, the choice of a vice president makes no difference. You're voting for the president, and you can have a vice president who's outstanding in every way. And I think JD is. I think that all of [my VP contenders] would have been,” Trump added. “But you're not voting that way. You're voting for the president. You're voting for me.”
Trump in the interview also gave a tepid defense of Vance for his resurfaced comments from 2021, when he attacked Vice President Kamala Harris as a “childless cat lady” and criticized those who do not have kids. Trump said he did not know about Vance’s remarks when he picked him as his vice president nominee and does not agree with him. Trump also said he disagrees with Vance’s suggestion that childless Americans should have less voting power.