Speaker 1 (01:30):
The thing to remember is just a few hours before this deadly shooting happened in Minneapolis, JD Vance was giving an interview with Jesse Waters where he said that he thinks Tim Waltz should resign because of a separate issue because of all of these allegations of fraud in Minnesota. So Wallace is out there now saying that he thinks he might have to mobilize the National Guard in Minnesota to protect Minnesotans from federal officers and ICE officers who are endangering the community. We would expect to hear from the Vice President any minute about that.
(02:23)
And also about this litmus test that JD Vance sees. Now, he posted on social media that he wants all Democrats, including those who are running for President and seeking office in the midterms, to answer a question, do you think this officer was wrong in defending his life against a deranged leftist who tried to run him over? So there are questions about what exactly happened. There are questions about rhetoric on both sides that we would expect him to address [inaudible 00:02:52].
Speaker 2 (16:11):
What time was it? Yeah, what time were you [inaudible 00:16:15].
Speaker 3 (16:11):
He's always harassing. He's harassing you.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
No, he's always harassing you.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Always harassing me. [inaudible 00:18:21].
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Two minutes until the briefing. Two minutes until the briefing.
Karoline Leavitt (23:12):
Good afternoon, everybody. Let me be clear. President Trump and his entire administration stand fully behind the heroic men and women of ICE and will always uphold law and order in the United States of America. The deadly incident that took place in Minnesota yesterday occurred as a result of a larger sinister left-wing movement that has spread across our country where our brave men and women of federal law enforcement are under organized attack. Right now, immigration and customs enforcement officers are facing a 1,200% increase in assaults, a 3,200% increase in vehicle rammings, and an 8,000% increase in death threats. ICE agents are faithfully enforcing federal law to protect the safety of the American people by removing criminal, illegal aliens from our country, which is exactly what nearly 80 million Americans elected President Trump and Vice President JD Vance to do.
(24:14)
Radicals and the Democrat Party are furious over this. They don't want our border secured or criminal illegal aliens being removed. As a result, Democrats are impeding immigration enforcement operations daily, creating extremely heightened and dangerous circumstances that make it nearly impossible for the men and women of law enforcement to simply do their jobs. Democrats are calling to defund federal law enforcement agencies who are protecting public safety, and Democrats are calling to abolish ICE and defund the police. That will never be allowed to happen under this president and vice president.
(24:54)
The Trump administration will redouble our efforts to get the worst of the worst, criminal illegal alien, killers, rapists, and pedophiles off of American streets. The Department of Homeland Security will continue to operate on the ground in Minnesota, not only to remove criminal illegal aliens, but also to continue conducting door-to-door investigations of the rampant fraud that has taken place in the state under the failed and corrupt leadership of Democrat Governor Tim Walz.
(25:24)
Taxpayers have been ripped off to the tune of billions of dollars in this one state alone, and that is going to end and people are going to be held accountable. The Trump administration has activated thousands of federal agents, doubled the number of US attorneys in the DOJ office in Minneapolis, and surged resources to hold fraudsters accountable, and demand justice for law-abiding American taxpayers and citizens across our country. And that's what brings the vice president out here with me today to discuss all the Trump administration is doing and to make an additional important announcement on this front. So please, Mr. Vice President will be joining us now.
JD Vance (26:08):
Thank you, Karoline.
Karoline Leavitt (26:08):
Thank you.
JD Vance (26:09):
Great. Well, good afternoon everybody. And I want to echo some of what Karoline said about what we're doing to combat the rampant fraud that exists in our immigration system, thanks to failed politicians and thanks to people who allow the American taxpayer to be taken advantage of for far too long. I think it's important to understand why this matters to the American people. I am a father of three young kids, a lot of kids, a lot of people in my generation. What is that going on there? Is that normal? CNN installed this broken camera just to throw me off my game, but it's not going to work.
(26:44)
So, here's the simple fact here. If you're a young parent struggling to afford child care in the United States of America, there are programs that we have to make it easier for your kids to get in daycare, for your kids to get in preschool. Those programs should go to American citizens, not be defrauded by Somali immigrants and others, make it hard for you to get the access to the resources you need. But number two, making it easier for people who shouldn't even be in this country to fleece the United States and our taxpayers to begin with.
(27:16)
We have actually activated a major inter-agency task force to make it possible to get to the heart of this fraud. We have Department of Agriculture resources that are focused on SNAP fraud so that people who need food benefits can get them, but illegal aliens and other fraudsters don't. We have over 1,500 subpoenas that the Department of Justice has issued to get to the heart of the fraud ring. We've done almost 100 indictments, mostly Somali immigrants, but also a few others. And of course, we're looking in with broad investigatory authority to a number of the instances of wrongdoing that we've seen in Minneapolis.
(27:53)
But we also want to expand this. We know that the fraud isn't just happening in Minneapolis, it's also happening in states like Ohio, it's happening in states like California. And so, what we're doing in order to help coordinate this remarkable inter-agency effort from the Trump administration, but also to make sure that we prosecute the bad guys and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible, is we are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud. Now, of course, that person's efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort because unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way. I.
(28:35)
Want to thank a couple of people for the cooperation in particular, Pam Bondi, our Attorney General, first of all for getting a lot of resources to Minneapolis to start to investigate and prosecute this fraud, really at an industrial scale. We've never seen fraud like this in the history of our country. Pam has been doing a great job to get the resources there to uncover it, but importantly, creating a job like this often takes months, sometimes even longer. When we realize that we needed this associate attorney general position, Pam got this person up and running in about a week. We're going to make the nomination hopefully in the next few days. We'll obviously let you guys know who that is when we do it.
(29:11)
I've talked to Senate Majority leader John Thune, who has promised me swift confirmation for this official, but this is the person who is going to make sure that we stop defrauding the American people. Here's one final thing I'll say about this. I've heard a lot of people say that we need a special counsel to investigate fraud in the United States of America. I actually agree, and that's what this position does. It has all the benefits, all the resources, all the authority of a special counsel, but with two crucial differences. Number one, it will be run out of the White House under the supervision of me and the president of United States. And number two, it's actually constitutionally legitimate.
(29:47)
As you guys may know, the special counsel statute has some major constitutional questions. When we get the bad guys, we want to make sure we get them permanently and they don't have some legal technicality they can get out of, which is why we set it up as an associate attorney general. I'll take some questions, but I want to just one final observation here. When I was actually walking out here, somebody sent me a photo of a CNN headline about what happened in Minneapolis, and this is the headline, I'm just going to read it. Outrage After ICE Officer Kills US Citizen in Minneapolis.
(30:20)
Well, that's one way to put it, and that is the way that many people in the corporate media have put this attack over the last 24 hours. And I say attack very, very intentionally because this was an attack on federal law enforcement, this was an attack on law and order, this was an attack on the American people. The way that the media, by and large has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace, and it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day. What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his legs. So, you think maybe he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile? What that headline leaves out is that that woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America.
(31:11)
What that headline leaves out is that that woman is part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ice officers to do their job. If the media wants to tell the truth, they ought to tell the truth, that a group of left-wing radicals have been working tirelessly, sometimes using domestic terror techniques to try to make it impossible for the President of the United States to do what the American people elected him to do, which is enforce our immigration laws. The President stands with ICE, I stand with ice. We stand with all of our law enforcement officers, and part of that is recognizing that you people in the media, not everybody in this room, but many people in this room have been lying about this attack. She was trying to ram this guy with her car. He shot
JD Vance (32:00):
… shot back. He defended himself. He's already been seriously wounded in law enforcement operations before, and everybody who's been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves, every single one of you. Questions.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
[inaudible 00:32:18]. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I wanted to read a quote from Tim Walz earlier today. He said, "When things looked bleak, it was Minnesota's first that held the line for the nation on July 3rd, 1863, and I think we may be in that moment now." Can you comment on his rhetoric and Mayor Jacob Frey and whether they want to see unrest in Minneapolis?
JD Vance (32:35):
Well, it's very tough rhetoric from a guy who just quit because his fraudulent activities have been uncovered. Look, Tim Walz is a joke. His entire administration has been a joke. The idea that he's some sort of freedom fighter, he's not. He's the guy who has enabled fraud and maybe in fact has participated in fraud. That's what this new assistant attorney general position is going to find out. I don't care what Tim Walz says, I care about getting to the bottom of this fraud for the American people and I care about enforcing the nation's immigration laws. That's what we're going to stay focused on.
Speaker 6 (33:01):
[inaudible 00:33:02]. A related question here. Democrats have accused ICE of murder. They've said they're targeting Americans. They've told ICE to get the F out of Minnesota. This is going to stoke the fire against ICE agents, and you're talking about ICE agents right now being concerned. What, if anything, is the administration going to do to make sure these folks are protected during these protests? But also should DHS sort of revisit their procedures here? I mean, nobody wants to see an American killed. Are there changes that need to be made to make sure something like this doesn't happen again?
JD Vance (33:34):
Look, first of all, of course, nobody wants an American citizen to be killed. This is absolutely a tragedy, but it is a tragedy of the making of the far left. They have radicalized a very small segment of the population, taught them that ICE agents are engaging in wide-scale violation of people's rights. What our ICE officers are doing is deporting the millions of criminal aliens that were let in during the Biden administration.
(33:58)
So number one, we have to say, as a matter of leadership, and I would appreciate if the Democrats would join me on this, let's be honest about the fact that we have way too many illegal aliens in this country. Our ICE officers should be supported in doing their job. You're trying to actually marshal the far left lunatic fringe to engage in doxxing to try to make it impossible for them to enforce the law, and in some cases actually to engage in acts of domestic terrorism against our law enforcement officers.
(34:26)
When you talk about different plans, different protocols, different policies, I forget exactly how you asked the question. Here's the simple fact. What we're going to do is make it easier for the American people's administration to enforce the American people's law, and that means that Democrats have to stop rallying the mob against legitimate law enforcement operations, and that means that we are going to get tougher, and that's what this AAG position is about. We're going to get tougher at the people who are defrauding the United States by inciting violence against our law enforcement officers. That's one of the things that we're going to do. We've already started that work at the Department of Justice, but we're going to keep on doing it and this new AAG position is going to kick that into high gear.
Speaker 7 (35:08):
Vice President Vance, you just suggested that this woman who was killed, Renee Good, is part of a broader left-wing network. Who do you think is behind this broader left-wing network?
JD Vance (35:20):
Well, it's one of the things we're going to have to figure out, but here's the way that I put it. When somebody throws a brick at an ICE agent or somebody tries to run over an ICE agent, who paid for the brick and who told protesters to show up and engage in violent activity against our law enforcement officers? You see just with this most recent terrible incident in Minneapolis, you see friends of this woman's or other people who are eyewitnesses saying basically that she was there to engage in obstruction of a legitimate law enforcement operation. How did she get there? How did she learn about this? There's an entire network, and frankly some of the media are participating in it, that is trying to incite violent against our law enforcement officers. It's ridiculous, it's preposterous, and part of our investigatory work is getting to the bottom of it. Who's funding it, who's supporting it, who's cheerleading it? And of course if there's a legal activity related to that, we're going to get to the bottom of that and prosecute it where we can.
Speaker 8 (36:14):
[inaudible 00:36:14]. Mr. Vice President, thank you for taking questions today. Is there a risk, with you describing her as a deranged leftist, talking about very specific facts of these events when an investigation is just beginning. Are you preempting a thorough investigation by drawing such conclusions? And have you received any information beyond the videos we've seen publicly about this individual, her specific acts, that has informed your point of view?
JD Vance (36:41):
Well, first of all, the Department of Justice is going to investigate this. The Department of Homeland Security is already investigating this, but the simple fact is what you see is what you get in this case. You have a woman who was trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. Nobody debates that. You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that. I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it's a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement, a lunatic fringe against our law enforcement officers.
(37:16)
I think what is clearly happening here, and it's going to keep on happening unless the Democrats wake up and say, "You know what? You don't have to agree with our immigration policies. You don't have to agree with what the President or the Vice President believe about immigration enforcement, but why don't you take this to the ballot box? Why don't you vote? Why don't you organize?" Instead, what some of them are doing, what some of them are doing is encouraging people to get violent with our law enforcement officials. It's disgraceful and it's got to stop.
Speaker 9 (37:44):
[inaudible 00:37:44]. Just to follow up on that question, and again, thank you for taking Questions, Mr. Vice President, there's clearly a lot of emotion in Minnesota across the country over this incident. You're calling Renee Good a deranged leftist. There's been heated rhetoric that we've also heard officials. What responsibility do you and the president have to defuse some of the tension that we are seeing play out in Minnesota, bring down the temperature as this investigation is unfolding?
JD Vance (38:07):
What we have a responsibility to do is to protect the people who are enforcing the law and protect the country writ large. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you deserve to have the people's laws enforced in the United States of America. Now, again, I am not happy that this woman lost her life. I'm not happy that this woman was there at a protest violating the law by interfering with a law enforcement action. I think that we can all recognize that the best way to turn down the temperature is to tell people to take their concerns about immigration policy to the ballot box. Stop assaulting and stop inciting violence against our law enforcement officers. That's the best way to take down the temperature.
(38:44)
And we're not, look, we're not going to give in to terrorism on this, and that's exactly what's happening. People trying to antagonize, to commit acts of violence. They throw bricks at them, sometimes they shoot at them, sometimes they dox them. Sometimes they go to their place of residence and harass their families. This is classic terrorism. And we cannot say that when a far left fringe is inciting violence against our brave law enforcement officials, that we're no longer going to enforce the law. That's rewarding the very people who are engaged in this garbage. The actual reward that they just got is a new assistant attorney general who is going to prosecute and investigate this stuff even more aggressively than before.
(39:25)
Go ahead.
Speaker 10 (39:28):
[inaudible 00:39:26]. Thanks for taking my question. So the head of Minnesota's investigations agency says that the US attorney's office has essentially cut off the state investigations agency's access to the investigation. What is the precedent for that and why shouldn't the Minnesota officials on the ground have access and evidence to work on this investigation?
JD Vance (39:46):
First of all, I wish the state officials in Minnesota would investigate why you have so many people who are using their vehicles and other means to actually interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation. The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy's protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job. The idea that Tim Walz and a bunch of radicals in Minneapolis are going to go after and make this guy's life miserable because he was doing the job that he was asked to do is preposterous. The unprecedented thing is the idea that a local official can actually prosecute a federal official with absolute immunity. I've never seen anything like that. It would get tossed out by a judge. So what I'd like Minnesota to focus on is the real issue that they're encouraging people, Minneapolis officials are encouraging people to commit violence against ICE officials. It's ridiculous. It's got to stop.
(40:39)
Go ahead.
Speaker 11 (40:40):
Mr. Vice President, thank you. You said earlier that there's a left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault and make it impossible for ICE officers to do their job. You told my colleague just now that there's an going on into that network.
JD Vance (40:57):
Yep.
Speaker 11 (40:58):
So if everything that you say is true, how does being part of that network justify being shot?
JD Vance (41:07):
Well, being part of a network doesn't justify being shot, but ramming an ICE officer with your car, that's what justifies being shot. It's not a good thing, by the way, but when you force somebody to engage in self-defense, it's almost a preposterous question. I'm not saying that funding some of this stuff justifies capital punishment. Nobody would suggest that. The reason this woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car and that guy acted in self-defense. That is why she lost her life, and that is the tragedy.
(41:37)
Now, there may be other violations of the law and other penalties that are associated with those violations of the law. For example, if you are funding violence against our law enforcement officers, I'm not a prosecutor, my guess is that's not the sort of thing that earns capital punishment, but it should sure as hell earn you a few years in prison if you're funding the effort to try to assault our law enforcement officers. I'm sorry guys, what's going on here? You guys are meant to report the truth. How have you let yourself become agents of propaganda of a radical fringe that's making it harder for us to enforce our laws? You just asked me a question that presumed that the reason why this woman died is because she was engaged in legitimate protest. She tried to run somebody over with her car and the guy defended himself when that happened. Next question.
Speaker 11 (42:28):
You said the investigation is still ongoing.
JD Vance (42:29):
I said next question.
Speaker 12 (42:30):
Mr. Vice President, you presumably watched the video yourself. There's not the slightest doubt in your mind, having viewed it, that the victim, you still believe that she deliberately tried to ram him despite seeing this video?
JD Vance (42:46):
Look, I don't know what is in a person's heart or in a person's head, and obviously we're not going to get the chance to ask this woman what was going on. What I am certain of is that she violated the law. What I'm certain of is that that officer had every reason to think that he was under very serious threat for injury or in fact his life. What I'm certain of is that she accelerated in a way where she ran into the guy. I don't know what was in her heart and what was in her head, but I know that she violated the law and I know that officer was acting in self-defense.
(43:15)
It raises an interesting point though. Look, if people want to say that we should have a legitimate debate about what was she really doing? Was she panicking when she drove into this officer or was she actually trying to ram him? That's a reasonable conversation. What's not reasonable is for so many of you to plaster all over the media that this was an innocent woman and that the ICE agent committed murder, which is what many of you have said explicitly and some of you have said implicitly. That's what I have an objection to. The idea that this was not justified is absurd, and I think everybody knows it in their heart. Yeah. In the green jacket.
Speaker 13 (43:53):
[inaudible 00:43:51] down the temperature, it seems like political violence is ratcheting up and riots could be around the corner. What steps does the administration have planned to try to unite America? Average people on both political sides are so tired of fighting with each other, and I think all the journalists in this room could agree with me that we don't want to be part of the problem.
JD Vance (44:11):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 13 (44:11):
Do you have any words to unite America?
JD Vance (44:13):
Yeah, I know you don't want to be a part of the problem, and I think that's true of a lot of you. I'm not sure it's true for everybody, because the reporting over this has been one of the biggest scandals I've ever seen in media. I've never seen a case so misrepresented and misreported when you have a guy who was defending himself and is now being treated as some sort of federal assassin by so many of the people in this room.
(44:34)
First of all, let me say about crime. You mentioned violence. One of the things we're proudest about is that you saw violent crime over the last year drop by 20%. Why has that dropped by 20%? Is it because we're attacking our law enforcement officers or is it because we in the administration are empowering our law enforcement officers to enforce the law? I think that's one of the ways you take down the temperature is you make people feel more secure and safe in their person and property. That's why we care so much about protecting our law enforcement because it accrues to the benefit of the entire national community.
(45:05)
I think that we can absolutely talk about the ways in which we can lower the temperature by discussing differences in a reasonable and rational way. Again, I'm happy to talk with any Congressional Democrat or any of you about our immigration policy about why I think it's necessary, about why I think it's in the best interest of the country, about why the President of the United States was elected to actually enforce the border for the first time in at least four years.
(45:32)
So here's the problem. That's not the debate so many people are having. They are actively covering for people who are committing acts of violence against federal law enforcement. It is preposterous. The way to take down the temperature is to stop it. Have your debates about policy. Attack me, attack the President of the United States. Don't attack our law enforcement officers. They are trying to do the job the American people demanded that they do. They are not policy actors. They are enforcing the law. They should be treated with a modicum of dignity and respect, and the fact that they're not is why incidents like yesterday happened.
(46:08)
The one final point I'll make about this is, look, there's a part of me that feels very, very sad for this woman, not just because she lost her life, but because I think she's a victim of left-wing ideology. What young mother shows up and decides they're going to throw their car in front of ICE officers who are enforcing legitimate law. You've got to be a little brainwashed to get to that point to where you're willing not just to protest, that's fine, not peacefully protest, but throw your vehicle in front of legitimate law enforcement officers and drive your car into them. To get to that point, you have to be, I think, radicalized in a very, very sad way. I certainly wish that she hadn't got there. I know there's an ICE officer right now who very much wishes he was not put in the position where he had to fire a gun to defend his own life. Yeah.
Speaker 14 (46:56):
[inaudible 00:46:57]. Thank you. Mr. Vice President, what's your message, following up on that, what's your message to the leaders in Minnesota, the governor of Minnesota, the mayor of Minneapolis, to calm down the situation on the ground, on the streets? What's your message also to those protesters who saw that video in a completely different way than you saw that video?
JD Vance (47:18):
Well, first of all, I think if you watch every angle of that video, there is one angle where if you squint, you can maybe tell yourself that it's not clear what happened. But when you look at all angles of that video, it is very clear that her vehicle went right for the guy. She actually collided with him, and then that's of course when he fired his shots. That's obvious. Okay?
(47:39)
So what I'd say to the protesters is by all means protest peacefully, but make this about ideas. Make this about disagreement with our policy. Don't use your protest as a justification or an encouragement for people to go and incite violence and participate in violence against our law enforcement officials.
(47:57)
To the people on the ground in Minneapolis, meaning that the
JD Vance (48:00):
Local officials in Minneapolis from Tim Walz on down, I'd say, look, why can't you just disagree with a given piece of immigration policy without turning law enforcement into the enemy? And I mean, think about for example, a criminal law where a police officer goes and arrests somebody because they violated a criminal law. If you're mad about that, go and protest the politician who passed that law. Don't attack the police officer who's just doing their job.
(48:28)
We had a wide-open border under Joe Biden. I happen to think it's a good thing the President of United States has closed it down. If you think that's a bad idea, criticize this administration for a policy decision. Don't attack our people for enforcing the law. Because I guarantee, you go to ICE, there are black people and white people. There are Democrats and Republicans. They are patriotic Americans who are trying to enforce the law. Attack me. Lay off of our ICE agents. Yeah, in the blue all. The way. Yep.
Speaker 16 (48:56):
Thank you Mr. Vice President, you called on Tim Walz to resign. Can you lay out the case as to why he should step down?
JD Vance (49:02):
Well, look, I think Tim Walz should resign because it's very clear either that he knew about the fraud in Minneapolis, he knew about the welfare fraud, or at the very least, he looked the other way. I mean, this is not like Lex Luthor, right? This is not movie villain fraud. This is the lowest IQ possible fraud. This is we're going to take kids, or sorry, we're going to take the absence of kids and set up a daycare center where there are no children and we're going to call our early childhood education center, the Quality Leering Center. By the way, if you can't spell learning, maybe you shouldn't be in early childhood education.
(49:42)
But people got rich off of this. We know that there were schools who either had no enrollment or at least they overstated their enrollment. Tim Walz, either it was unbelievable incompetence or he was in on the fraud. That's one of the things we're going to get to the bottom of. Sir.
Speaker 17 (49:57):
Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Can you explain the difference between this Associate Attorney general and a special counsel, and do you envision this being a permanent position or having more of a limited scope?
JD Vance (50:09):
Well, it's going to be permanent until we get to the bottom of what's going on, so I think it's going to last for at least the remainder of the administration. What's different about it from a special counsel is if you remember the Jack Smith case where the special counsel was found unconstitutional. One of the big issues there is that that person was not an appointed person. Completely aside from all the other issues, that the person was a lunatic and that the case had no merit, there was a fundamental constitutional issue, which is that he had not been appointed by the president and he had not been confirmed by the United States Senate.
(50:41)
An Assistant Attorney general, what that's going to allow us to do is appoint this person, have them confirmed by the Senate. That's one difference. The more substantive difference is that this person is going to be part of a very broad inter-agency White House that's being led from the President of the United States on down, and that's going to give them the resources, the access to material and information to make this person more effective. I think a lot of people have asked, how are you really going to get to the heart of the fraud? We've been asking ourselves that question for the past couple of months, and we think this is the critical piece at the Department of Justice to really ramp this fraud investigation into high gear. In the red tie, yeah.
Speaker 18 (51:20):
Vice President Vance I wanted to ask, what's your message to far-leftist agitators who feel emboldened to obstruct to ICE activity in Minnesota and around the country?
JD Vance (51:29):
Well, I think they shouldn't feel emboldened because now they have an Assistant Attorney general who is going to prosecute and investigate their fraud and their violence more aggressively than it has ever been investigated in the United States of America. We are doing so much to try to find the financing networks and the domestic terrorism networks that legitimate this violence, that fund this violence, and then of course engage in the violence. These people should not feel emboldened because they have for the first time maybe in American history, an administration that is not going to tolerate political violence of any kind from anywhere. Yeah.
Speaker 19 (52:02):
We lack clear today that the entire way of the federal government is behind these ICE agents and this ICE agent in particular. There is still a federal investigation happening on the ground. Does that mean that they are not looking into this ICE agent at all? They are just focused on the woman who was in the car. What is the investigation if the federal government has already determined that its weight is behind this ICE agent?
JD Vance (52:23):
So what do you mean? When you say investigation, do you mean investigation of the shooting yesterday or of the fraud that's happening in Minneapolis?
Speaker 19 (52:29):
Of the shooting yesterday?
JD Vance (52:30):
Okay. Look, DHHS, as I understand it, has an investigation already ongoing. I know that other organs of our government are looking at this, so yes, there's certainly an investigation that's happening right now. But as part of the broader fraud investigation, a lot of what we're doing with the Department of Justice has already started. We've got over 1,500 subpoenas. We've got people, this morning actually we're going door to door to actually knock on some of these fraudulent care centers, these fraudulent social services organizations to get to the bottom of what's going on there. So the investigation in some ways has already been ramping up into the anti-fraud element for at least a few weeks.
(53:04)
What we're trying to do is supercharge it and make sure there's a designated person within the Department of Justice who completely controls that particular focus.
Speaker 20 (53:13):
Just to follow up on that, Mr. Vice president. On the agent, is he still on duty or has he been placed on leave, on administrative leave? And what really was the target of the operation on Wednesday, of the ICE operation on Wednesday?
JD Vance (53:26):
Well, first of all, it was a legitimate law enforcement operation. We were going door to door to try to find criminal illegal aliens and deport them from the United States of America because if you come to our country illegally in violation of our immigration laws, then we have the mandate, and in fact, we have the legal duty to enforce those immigration laws. Whether he's been placed on administrative leave, I don't know the answer to that question. I'd refer it to the Department of Homeland Security and they can follow up.
(53:49)
I will say, look, I would appreciate everybody saying a prayer for that agent. Look, in the past six months, he has been hit twice by a motor vehicle. One time, the first time it led to over 30 stitches and very serious injuries to his legs. This is a guy who's actually done a very, very important job for the United States of America. He's been assaulted, he's been attacked, he's been injured because of it. He deserves a debt of gratitude, and I think the media prejudging and talking about this guy as if he's a murderer is one of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen from the American Media. Yeah.
Speaker 16 (54:20):
Mr. Vice President, what is your specific role in the future of Venezuela? And I'm wondering, could you confirm reports that the director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was kept out of the planning for the operations because of her past concerns about military involvement in Venezuela?
JD Vance (54:36):
So I've heard a couple of things. One, that I was kept out of the planning for the Venezuela operation. That's false. And another that Tulsi was kept out of the planning for Venezuela operations. That's completely false. Look, we're all part of the same team, and one of the things that is really amazing about that operation is that we kept it very tight to the senior cabinet-level officials and related officials in our government, and we kept this operation secret for a very long time. I'm very proud of that. I think it suggests that the team works very well together.
(55:04)
Looking ahead, what is my role? Look, my role is going to be whatever the president asks me to do.
Speaker 16 (55:08):
Has he asked you to do something yet?
JD Vance (55:09):
Well, every single, or I should say every other day, I'm chairing the meeting that we do on this among White House principals to talk about next steps to try to ensure that Venezuela is stable and as the President has directed us to do, to ensure that the new Venezuelan government actually listens to the United States and does what the United States needs it to do under our country's best interest. So I'm going to be as involved as the president wants me to be. So far that's been very involved and I'll keep on doing that so long as the president asks me to do it. In the purple.
Speaker 21 (55:36):
Yes, Mr.-
JD Vance (55:36):
Even beyond the war powers-
(55:36)
Sorry. We'll go purple and then we'll go pink or whatever that is in front.
Speaker 21 (55:44):
Royal purple and then beige. You talked about the network. Are there any indications that the lady who was shot, I know there are different reports from there. Her wife said they were new to the area. Are there any indications she may have been a paid agitator and maybe that there are others that were brought to the area considering everything that's going on in Minneapolis?
JD Vance (56:04):
I wouldn't say that she was paid. I don't have the evidence to say that one way or the other. What I do know is that she was violating the law. And if you just look at the eyewitness accounts, they were saying she was there to prevent the enforcement of the law. She was trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. That much is obviously clear. The rest of it, of course, is part of the reason why we investigate this stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 15 (56:23):
Mr. Vice president, even beyond the war powers resolution today, Congress has bucked President Trump on issues like tariffs. Are you concerned that President Trump is losing his grip on Republicans and Congress? And what are you going to do about it?
JD Vance (56:38):
No, I'm not concerned at all. First of all, we talked to some of the senators who are going to vote the wrong way, in my view, on this resolution today. Much of their argument was based more on a legal technicality than any disagreement in policy. If you look at the people who actually voted, every single one of them have supported the administration's plan.
(56:54)
Second of all, as the president, I believe himself has already said, every President, Democrat or Republican, believes the War Powers Act is fundamentally a fake and unconstitutional law. It's not going to change anything about how we conduct foreign policy over the next couple of weeks, the next couple of months, and that'll continue to be how we approach things. Go ahead.
Speaker 22 (57:12):
Thank you so much, Vice president. So we are seeing regarding Iran, we're seeing the protests in Iran these days. The cities are begging for help from the US and Israel, naming streets in the city after President Trump. It seems there is an opportunity here that may not come again. Will the United States stands by the citizens of Iran? And if Israel decides to strike again the nuclear sites in Iran, is the US expected to take part?
JD Vance (57:35):
Well, look, we certainly stand by anybody who's engaged in peaceful protests, anybody who's trying to exert their rights for free association and to have their voices heard. Obviously, the Iranian regime has a lot of problems. And as the President of the United States has said, the smartest thing for them to have done, it was true two months ago, its true today, is for them to actually have a real negotiation with the United States about what we need to see when it comes to their nuclear program. I'll let the president speak to what we're going to do in the future, but we certainly stand with anybody across the world including the Iranian people who are advocating for their rights. I'll take just a couple more questions. Yeah. Go ahead.
Speaker 23 (58:08):
Thank you very much. Mr. Vice President. Concerning Venezuela, how would you assure the Caribbean region that they will remain a zone of peace because some member states in the region are concerned?
JD Vance (58:22):
Well, look, the President had a very productive phone call with the president of Colombia yesterday, and we continue to talk at all levels of government with a number of our friends in the Caribbean region. I actually think this is really good for peace in the Caribbean because when you take away a major source of illegal cartel revenue, which is the cocaine trade, the fentanyl trade, other sources of illicit revenue, you actually remove the power of one of the main destabilizing forces in Latin America and in the Caribbean.
(58:49)
I really do think, look, we say it all the time, this is the president of peace. One of the ways that you establish peace in your own hemisphere is to make it clear that the United States is going to be respected, that the United States is willing to take power away from criminal cartel organizations and give it to legitimate governments. That's how we see the future of the Western Hemisphere, and we think it's going to be much more peaceful than it was certainly under Joe Biden. I'll take one more question. Go ahead.
Speaker 12 (59:13):
Mr. Vice President, thank you. On Greenland, do you have a message for European leaders? Many in Europe reject the idea that the island could be for sale.
JD Vance (59:24):
First of all, secretary Rubio, I believe, is meeting with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland next week I want to say it is, but maybe it's the week after that. We'll continue to deliver some of these messages in private, some of them in public. But I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the President of the United States seriously. What has he said about Greenland?
(59:43)
Set to the side, the crazy overreactions that I've seen from the press and from certain people in Europe, what has the president said? Number one, Greenland is really important not just to America's missile defense, but to the world's missile defense. Number two, we know that there are hostile adversaries that have shown a lot of interest in that particular territory, that particular slice of the world. So what we're asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that landmass more seriously, because if they're not, the United States is going to have to do something about it. What that is, I'll leave that to the President as we continue to engage in diplomacy with our European friends and everybody on this particular topic.
(01:00:19)
And again, thank you all for listening. Thanks for taking questions. And I just ask you, look, this is politics and often Republicans get in arguments with the press about things, and I understand that. I think it's really irresponsible for you guys to go out there and imply or tell the American people that a guy who defended himself from being rammed by an automobile is guilty of murder. Be a little bit more careful. We're going to talk about toning down the temperature, which I know the President wants to do, and I certainly want to do. One of the ways we tone down the temperature is to have a media that tells the truth. I encourage you all to do that. God bless you.
Speaker 24 (01:00:58):
Happy New Happy Year, Mr. Vice President.
JD Vance (01:01:00):
Happy New Year guys.