Vance declares 'I've acquired my lesson' on articulating for Trump
Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump's running companion, on Sunday distanced himself from statements he made in August asserting that Trump would veto a federal abortion prohibition if it arrived at his desk.
"I've acquired my lesson on articulating for the president before he and I have actually conversed about an issue," Vance informed NBC News' "Meet the Press," just several days after Trump publicly stated that he hadn't ever conversed with Vance about what he'd do if an abortion prohibition crossed his desk as president.
"I didn't converse about it with JD in all fairness," Trump said during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday. "And I don't mind if he has a certain perspective, but I think he was articulating for me."
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At the debate, the former president proceeded to say that Harris would never get the opportunity to codify Roe v. Wade if elected because Congress, "can never get this approved. So it doesn't matter what she says about going to Congress. Wonderful. Let's go to Congress."
"She can't secure the vote. She won't even come close to it," Trump added.
His assessment of Harris' chances of passing a law to restore the federal protections for abortion that existed before the Supreme Court struck them down in 2022 is also applicable to the Republicans' hopes of passing any kind of abortion prohibition.
Any such legislation would be challenging to pass through the Senate without a Republican supermajority, except if a future Senate Republican majority were to majorly alter Senate rules and eliminate the filibuster.
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On Sunday, Vance echoed Trump's remarks, telling moderator Kristen Welker that he and Trump "still haven't conversed about it, by the way, because it's not realistic."
The senator called any questions about a federal abortion prohibition, "kind of a ridiculous hypothetical," adding that, "if a national abortion prohibition was brought before the United States Senate right now, it would get at best 10 senators out of 100."
Vance also said that Trump has "been incredibly clear that he doesn't support a national abortion prohibition. He wants abortion policy to be made by the states."