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JD Vance Schools CNN on 'Bogus' Case Against Trump

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  May 03, 2024 9:00 AM

On Wednesday night, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) appeared on CNN's "The Source With Kaitlan Collins," where he was asked several questions about former and potentially future President Donald Trump. The segment was problematic from the start, as Collins tried to put words into Trump's attorney's mouths, a move Vance called her out for, when discussing the case on presidential immunity that the U.S. Supreme Court recently heard. 

As Vance tried to discuss official versus private acts, and how Trump's attorneys had mentioned a system of checks and balances, Collins would hardly let him answer the question. 

When he finally did get to offer his response, Vance called to mind how "there are a number of examples, in American history, where if you apply the standard, the lawfare standard of the Biden administration, against Donald Trump, it would make the presidency impossible, to actually execute the law. So, in the name of taking down... in the name of taking down their political opponent, Kaitlan, these guys are, are really pushing a legal theory that I think would destroy the presidency, whether a Democrat or Republican was in charge."

As Vance also went on to aptly point out, "you can't have prosecutors, many of whom, of course, are deeply embedded with the Democratic Party, trying to destroy the life of a former president, who's now running for president, because they think that they have a better argument, for what that president should have done."

On that note, the senator also offered "I think that's what a lot of the Biden administration Department of Justice is trying to do. The politicized and weaponized DOJ under President Joe Biden has gone after not only Trump, but also everyday Americans as well.

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The segment delved further into concerns with the DOJ, when Vance brought up Special Counsel Jack Smith. A particularly smug Collins looked to be trying to trap Vance with questions about January 6--as she herself denied obsession with that topic--and Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence. 

As Vance tried to bring up Smith, he was cut off for not the first time by Collins. He turned her narrative against her once more, though, when talking about "threats to democracy."

"We know that there are threats to American democracy. I think the biggest threat to American democracy, Kaitlan, is that the Biden administration is trying to prevent Donald Trump from campaigning, and taking his case to the American people," Vance insisted, as Collins vehemently tried to deny this. 

"This is a really important point, Kaitlan," Vance countered. "Who is the number three person, from the Biden Department of Justice, who went to work for the New York prosecutor, just months before he brought this case, against Donald Trump? You can't have people moving, from the Biden administration, to prosecute Donald Trump, in New York, and say it has nothing to do with the Biden administration, especially... when the judge is a Biden administration donor," he said, referring to Acting New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan Manuel Merchan. 

As one of his last points, Vance emphasized that "it's pretty unusual for the number three person, in the Department of Justice, to then go to the New York prosecutor's office, to bring a bogus case against Donald Trump, and then to have the judge presiding over that case, to be a donor to Biden-Harris. I think that's pretty unusual, Kaitlan." The senator was referring to Matthew Colangelo. 

Vance also reminded Collins that "aside from your views or anyone else's views about Donald Trump, this is a real threat to Americans' trust in the legal system."

"If you look at polling, even a lot of folks, who are going to vote for Joe Biden think that the lawfare against Donald Trump is bogus. We're destroying faith, in the American system of law and in order... to try to bring down Joe Biden's political opponent. That's a threat to democracy," he continued. 

Polling, in fact, does show that to be the case. The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll has been asking such questions for months now, and continues to show voters' concerns, including the recently released April poll. 

When it comes to concerns with Colangelo's involvement in Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's hush money payments case against Trump that is currently going on in New York, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Tuesday wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland about the DOJ's coordination with Bragg over such a case. 

"Since last year, popularly elected prosecutors—who campaigned for office on the promise of prosecuting President Trump—engaged in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current leading candidate for that office," Jordan's letter pointed out. "That a former senior Biden Justice Department official is now leading the prosecution of President Biden’s chief political rival only adds to the perception that the Biden Justice Department is politicized and weaponized," it also later mentioned. 

Jordan is seeking answers by May 14. 

Vance has previously called out the mainstream media when it comes to highlighting concerns with the politicized trials against Trump. He made very similar points back in February when appearing on ABC News' "This Week," during which he shared talking points that host George Stephanopoulos very much did not want to hear about weaponized trials against Trump.