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Martha Raddatz Unbelievably Downplays Illegal Immigrant Gangs in Interview With JD Vance

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 14, 2024 7:45 PM

Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) has always had articulate Sunday show appearances, though he's really stood out since becoming former and potentially future President Donald Trump's running mate. For this most recent Sunday, he spoke to Martha Raddatz, who was hosting ABC News' "This Week." While the mainstream media has been all in for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee, Raddatz's comments downplaying the threats posed by illegal immigrant criminals were no less shocking.

While speaking about the takeover of apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado from Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, Raddatz and Vance quibbled about whether such claims were "exaggerated."

"That means there's got to be some--that means there's got to be some element of truth here," Vance aptly pointed out, also reminding how Trump had actually been on the ground in Aurora. As he added,
"what we're hearing, of course, Martha, is that people are terrified by what has happened with some of these Venezuelan gangs."

During the crosstalk, Raddatz tried to shut Vance down, insisting that "I’m going to stop you because I know exactly what happened. I’m going to stop you," only to go on to admit that such takeovers are happening, while downplaying where they are occurring.

"The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complex--apartment complexes and the mayor said our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns. A handful of problems," she tried to emphasize, all with a serious face.

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"Only--Martha, do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem, and not Kamala Harris's open border Americans are so fed up with what's going on, and they have every right to be," Vance responded.

He also went on to bring up a very telling point about the problem with Raddatz's framing. "And I really find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting because you seem to be more focused with nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs," Vance continued. "I worry so much more about that problem than anything else here. We've got to get American communities in a safe space again."

As Vance tried to further highlight the problems with the Biden-Harris administration and Vice President Kamala Harris in particular on immigration, Raddatz desperately tried to move on. Perhaps more telling, however, was that her last words on the subject suggested she in no way cared about the points Vance had just made when it comes to the safety of the American people. 

"And unfortunately, when you let people in by the millions, most of whom are unvetted, most of whom you don't know who they really are, you're going to have problems like this. Kamala Harris' 94 executive orders that undid Donald Trump's successful border policies, we knew this stuff would happen," Vance pointed out. "They bragged about opening the border and now we have the consequences and we're living with it. We can do so much better, but frankly, we're not going to do better, Martha, unless Donald Trump calls this stuff out. I’m glad that he did," he managed to get in there.

"Okay. Let's--let's just--let's just end that with they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said," Raddatz sputtered, as Vance again called her out for her framing, adding "a few apartment complexes, no big deal." The conversation then moved on to abortion. Vance once more brilliantly rebutted the leftist lies on such a topic. 

The Trump War Room shared a clip of Raddatz's remarks, and Vance's expert response, though they certainly weren't the only ones to do so, as many others jumped in to point out how appalling the host's comments were.

ABC News also put out an equally problematic headline on the segment, which The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway savaged, as Doug P. at our sister site of Twitchy highlighted. 

"Vance stands by Trump's false claims about Venezuelan gangs in Aurora, Colorado," the headline from Sunday morning still reads. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also addressed the Sunday show appearance on his Monday episode of "The Verdict," specifically what this means about how the mainstream media is willing to cover, or specifically not cover, about such an issue.

During the discussion, as they played the clip from "This Week," co-host Ben Ferguson noted that "it's amazing that they're actually saying this with a straight face, that 'oh, a couple apartment complexes taken over by criminal gangs from Venezuela, is apparently supposed to be normalized and is no big deal in America today.'"

Cruz stressed his agreement, as he quipped that he was "actually surprised that Martha Raddatz didn't finish her questioning with, 'I'm Kamala Harris, and I approve this message,'" adding, "I mean, it was pure, naked propaganda for the Democrats. 'It's only a handful of complexes you know. Now, mind you, if you happen to live in one of those apartment complexes that has been taken over by Venezuelan gangs that are controlling it and terrorizing, maybe it's a problem for you, but you know, I mean, where the media, what do we care about the pesky little people that live in apartments? They don't really matter,'" the senator continued.

"Martha Raddatz has a very, very nice home in DC. She lives very, very comfortably, so not a problem for her, if some little people have to deal with these criminals," Cruz also reminded, as many others have pointed out over X. 

"What an arrogant, out of touch comment. 'Only a handful of apartment complexes have been taken over by Venezuelan gangs,' and she says, 'no big deal.' Look, I think ABC looks utterly ridiculous in that exchange," Cruz further stressed about Raddatz.

As Ferguson and Cruz discussed how Democrats don't care about the issue, Ferguson also brought up the plight of one resident, who asked, "how many gang members living right outside your door is okay? How many gun guns right outside your door is okay? How many motorcycles revving their engines in the middle of the night to wake you up and your kids up is okay?"

"Well, the media doesn't want you to know about it. They want to dismiss it. They want to mock at it. They want to laugh at it," Cruz shared. 

Raddatz and ABC News as a network weren't just downplaying comments from Vance and Trump, though. CBZ Management posted a lengthy thread over X on Friday. The thread began by making clear that "Gangs have taken control of several of our properties in Aurora, Colorado," and also called out those who "have spread false information about our situation," noting they were doing so "to discredit this fact for political purposes and avoid governmental accountability."