JD Vance Snaps at Interviewer When Fact Checked—’Do You Hear Yourself?’

JD Vance lashed out at an interviewer who tried to fact-check him about Donald Trump’s comments on Venezuelan gangs in Aurora, Colorado.
Aurora has found itself at the center of a political firestorm after a video reportedly showing armed members of a Venezuelan gang inside an apartment complex went viral.
Trump has since spoken out about the story multiple times, using it as one of the several examples he cites when discussing the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies, including last weekend, at a rally in the city.
“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered – these towns have been conquered,” he said during one at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center on Friday.
His running mate Vance was questioned about this rhetoric on ABC News on Sunday when anchor Martha Raddatz quoted Aurora’s mayor Mike Coffman’s statement.
She said: “The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes and the mayor said, ‘Our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns.’ A handful of problems.”
Vance replied: “Martha? Do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem, not Kamala Harris’ open border?”
He continued: “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.”
A few days before Trump’s visit, Coffman said that the rally would be an opportunity to put an end to some of the “exaggerated” stories about the gang’s impact.
He said: “Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city—not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs.
“My public offer to show him our community and meet with our police chief for a briefing still stands.”
Coffman added: “It’s my understanding that when you do have a concentration of Venezuelan migrants, sometimes, sadly, that criminal element follows and exploits them within their own immigrant communities.”
A few weeks after the apartment block video went viral, the city’s police department identified 10 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, who had allegedly been causing problems for many months.
The TdA began as a prison gang in Aragua, Venezuela, before expanding rapidly in recent years, according to the U.S. State Department, focusing on human trafficking and other abuses of desperate migrants.
Newsweek has contacted teams for Trump and Vance, via email, for any further comment.