Running mate JD Vance has said he believes Trump committed sexual assault

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, repeatedly indicated in 2016 that he believed Donald Trump had committed sexual assault, even suggesting on a TV show that in a “he said, she said” situation, Trump was less trustworthy than one of his accusers.

Vance appeared on an October 2016 MSNBC segment about Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct, which featured an interview with Jessica Leeds, a former saleswoman who accused Trump of groping and forcibly kissing her during a flight in the 1970s. Vance said it was hard to believe Trump’s denials about Leeds.

“At a fundamental level, this is kind of a ‘he said, she said,’ right? And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump, who always tells the truth? I’m kidding,” Vance said sarcastically. “Or do you believe that woman on that tape?” he said, referring to Leeds.

But in May 2023, in a sign of his shift from outspoken Trump critic to fiercely loyal surrogate, Vance’s position completely changed, invoking similar language: Vance said he believed his “friend” Trump, shortly after the former president was found liable by a jury for sexually assaulting author E. Jean Carroll.

“I think fundamentally the lawsuit is about something that happened 25 years ago. It’s a ‘he said, she said’ situation. And I trust my friend and the guy that I met and got to know,” the Ohio Republican told Wolf Blitzer of CNN about six months after winning his race for the U.S. Senate with Trump’s endorsement.

Vance then suggested that the lawsuit and the people funding it were not about justice, but about politics. “They’re trying to bring him down for political reasons. This, to me, is not about justice, this is not about finding the truth. This is about using the legal system instead of the political system to win a debate against Donald Trump.”

A spokesperson for Vance told CNN : “JD’s tweets and comments about President Trump from nearly a decade ago are old news that have been addressed countless times since he entered the political world. They do not reflect his views on President Trump today and have not for many years.”

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual assault.

Repeated accusations

Vance’s defense of Trump marked a marked shift from his 2016 remarks in the wake of the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape that showed the Republican presidential candidate making lewd and sexually aggressive comments about women.

In October 2016, Vance tweeted: “What percentage of the American population has been sexually assaulted by @realDonaldTrump?”

The tweet, which was first reported in 2018, was later deleted, but his replies still exist on the platform, and the tweet was later compiled into an opposition report published by his own super PAC in 2022 to uncover his potential vulnerabilities as a candidate.

In deleted likes from your Twitter account, analyzed by CNN Vance also indicated that he believed Trump’s accusers and those who criticized Trump as a “serial sex offender.”

“Perhaps the Central Park 5 could take out a full-page ad condemning the pampering of serial sexual assault real estate barons,” read the post, reposted shortly after the “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced.

Another post liked in 2016 by Vance read: “I wish there was a second vice presidential debate just to see @GovPenceIN deny Trump said he grabbed a**.”

And in October 2016, Vance shared on Facebook a Washington Post editorial by Russell Moore, then of the Southern Baptist Convention, criticizing Trump’s views on women.