Here & Now

Vance and Milwaukee Mayor Swap Remarks on Election Oversight

Frederica Freyberg:
Vice President JD Vance came to Milwaukee this week with a message of stamping out fraud in taxpayer funded programs. Ahead of his visit, Mayor Cavalier Johnson asked the vice president to come see Milwaukee’s election operation because he wrote, “federal law enforcement agents deployed at the direction of the president’s administration have been present in my city interviewing election officials. I know of no justification for this activity. Evidence of wrongdoing is entirely absent,” he said, “and the investigation is intimidating honest public servants.” Vance was asked to respond.

JD Vance:
Some guy sends me a letter, the mayor of Milwaukee, and says we don’t do any election fraud. We don’t do any election fraud. We don’t do any election fraud. When I hear a guy protesting out of nowhere, I did not do any election fraud. I did not do any election fraud. It makes me wonder, why is that guy protesting so aggressively? It’s a little odd. A second thing I’ll say is, look, there’s, of course, this big debate about how much election fraud happens in the United States of America. You guys know my views. We’re not going to settle this here. First of all, any election fraud is too much election fraud in the world’s greatest and oldest constitutional republic. And number two, if Democrats want us to stop talking about election fraud, I make them a simple deal. Pass the Save America Act and get voter ID, and we’ll stop talking about election fraud.

Frederica Freyberg:
Vance said he could not meet with the mayor or tour election sites, but said Johnson was welcome to visit him in D.C.