Vice President JD Vance speaks in Concord, discusses public safety after Charlotte stabbing
Yeah
Thank you all
It just happens too much
Are police officers being assaulted are police officers being attacked
You have these crazy attacks where you have a cop
in a squad car who's enjoying their lunch break and
somebody comes up and summarily executes them before the cop
even had a chance
It happens way too much and it happens because too
many of our political leaders have encouraged it
Now it's and it's not just that it's not just
the rhetoric that encourages violence against our law enforcement you
know when I was in in the Senate
There was a big bill that was going around and
it was basically that we were going to try to
eliminate qualified immunity from police officers one of the most
disgraceful and worst ideas that I've ever seen
In other words that we were going to make it
easy for criminals to sue police officers for doing their
job
Now does anybody think when you see the fake news
media and the way they attack our police officers does
anybody think that we need to make it harder for
our police to do their job Some of America's cities
today some of America's cities today have worse murder rates
than the very worst third world cities all over the
world
That's not a joke
You go to Port au Prince Haiti or you go
to some of the poorest countries all over the world
Even those countries have a better murder rate than Washington
DC or some of the major American cities
Some of them have better murder rates than
North Carolina
That's a disgrace
All of us should be asking how do we make
that better How do we make people safer in their
communities How do we make it easier for a young
family to walk down the street in security and comfort
but unfortunately we've got a crew of violent radicals in
the United States of America who think we ought to
make it harder for police to keep us safe than
easier for police to keep us safe
So here's one thing I'd like to do
I'd like every single Democrat starting today and every Republican
too while we're at it to say that we are
going to defeat these efforts to strip immunity from our
police officers
We're going to make it easier for them to do
their job not harder for them to do their job
Let's fight for it every single day
Yeah
That's exactly right sir
That's exactly right
You can say that but I can't
I've hit my quotient for cuss words today
I don't want Ted Budd to disown me so I'm
not gonna say that but we can run the clip
back later
But let me just let me just leave you with
one final thought here
Look I was asked earlier today by a reporter a
reporter I actually like but a reporter who said Well
don't both sides have crazy people And of course obviously
a country of 330 million people of course both sides
have crazy people but if you look at the political
violence in our country over the last couple of months
the last couple of years it is not a both
sides problem
It is primarily on one side of the political
So if we are going to truly go after the
political violence in this country we need the democratic leadership
of Washington DC to look in the mirror
We need them to renounce all political violence when a
poor kid like Charlie Kirk is gunned down in cold
blood we need them to start with condemning the violence
instead of condemning something that Charlie Kirk said that they
disagreed with
When you have when you have an entire network of
of of left wing organizations that encourage that promote and
that apologize for violence you know what you're gonna get
out of it you're gonna get political violence
So here's my sacred obligation to you to all the
law enforcement but every person
Whether they wear a uniform or not over the next
couple of years the Trump administration is going to do
everything that we can to dismantle the networks to destroy
the funding and to make it harder for people to
kill one another just because they disagree with what somebody
says
That is what we're going to do
We're going to fight for it
Let me just leave you with this one final thought
Now most of the time when I go around to
events like this I'm talking about our our big beautiful
bill our working families tax cuts and I want to
leave us with a reflection on that because while we're
talking about law and order today and we're honoring the
police one of the ways in which we rebuild the
American dream is by allowing you to keep more of
your hard earned money
And that bill that these great congressmen worked on and
the great senator here what it did was very simple
It increased the child tax credit
It meant that we're going to increase take home pay
by about $10,000 over the four years of the Trump
administration
It means that if you're working on tips or if
you're working an overtime shift the government is going to
take less of your money and I think that's a
pretty good idea because if you're working hard I think
the government ought to keep its hands out of your
We're gonna do all those things
Because I believe the American dream is fundamentally about this
principle
It's about the principle that for all the parents and
grandparents out there and I'm now the parent of three
beautiful young kids I just want them to have a
better life than the life that I have
That to me is the core of the American dream
that if you work hard and play by the rules
we're going to give our kids and we're going to
give our grandkids something that's just a little bit more
prosperous a little bit more secure and a little bit
more proud than what we were given when we were
kids
That is I think our sacred obligation that by inheriting
a great country from our parents and grandparents we've got
to pass on something even greater to the next generation
But none of that none of that matters without law
and order and public safety
How can you have the American dream if you can't
walk down your neighborhood in safety How can you have
the American dream if you're worried about getting mugged when
you're taking your family out to a nice meal downtown
How can you have the American dream when every celebration
every big moment in a person's life you're too worried
about violent crime and not focused enough on the things
that make life worth living One of the things that
we have got to get back to remembering is that
if we want to preserve the American dream we've got
to preserve the right of everybody rich or poor to
live in safety and security in their neighborhoods
You know when I grew up in Middletown Ohio in
the 90s we didn't have a whole lot of money
I was raised by a woman who struggled very often
to put food on the table and clothes on her
back
Mamma everybody loves mammal most of all me
But you know what for all of the problems that
we had for all the times that Ma'amma was worried
about where our next meal would come from for all
the times that Ma'amma was sometimes terrified that she wouldn't
be able to make an important bill payment we never
worried about public safety
And the reason we never worried about public safety the
reason she knew I could go across the street and
play in the park and safety and comfort is because
we had something in this country and that was a
recognition Democrat and Republican that we stood with law enforcement
and we stood with their mission
It didn't matter what your political affiliation was
We wanted to support people who kept our community safe
and that's something we've gotten away from because a lot
of the people who report on the news a lot
of the people who actually make policy in Washington DC
let's be honest they are wealthy people who can block
themselves off from the consequences of the policies they impose
on the rest of us
Now maybe
Now maybe maybe they've never had to call a police
officer because they can call a private security guard
Maybe they've never had their home broken into because they
live behind a gated community
Maybe they don't have to worry about walking down the
streets of the city safely because they've got a driver
and a big fancy car who can take them from
point A to point B but that is not true
of the gross majority of our
Citizens so I want to tell you when I talk
about protecting the American dream when President Trump talks about
fighting for the American dream at the very top of
that list is fighting for your ability whether you're rich
or poor to be safe in the home that you
love
It is our sacred obligation
It's their sacred obligation and we're going to work for
it every single day
God bless you
Thank you for having me
Now
Now Now I forgot
I I told I told them the fake news and
I'm sure there's some real news back there
I told them I'd take a few questions
So I'm not getting out of here just yet
We'll take a few questions from the reporters
I would prefer to start with some of the local
North Carolina folks and then we can take some national
questions after that
Do we have a microphone back there Hey Vice President
I can't see you over here Mr
Vice President thank you for uh taking questions from us
um and thank you for visiting Concord
Uh you referenced the awful death of Irina Zarutska
I'm just curious have you had the chance to watch
that awful video that was released by Katz and what
your thoughts are after viewing it Well yeah you know
I I've honestly seen a lot of gruesome footage some
involving my friends over the last couple of weeks but
the the the the footage of Arena getting stabbed to
death is very hard to watch and I have not
seen the whole video video from start to finish
I actually I had to cover my eyes for part
of it because it is so gruesome and maybe I
should just stare at it
Maybe all of us should stare at it to know
the kind of evil that we're actually confronting because what
happened to her was really really disgusting and I think
it comes from a deep and dark and evil place
that exists
Thankfully in a Very few number of people but those
people we got to lock up in prison so they
can't get anybody else
But when I when I saw that video you know
what really got me as a father I've got 3
little kids 2 boys and my youngest is baby girl
She's 3 years old
She is the apple of my eye as you dads
will know
Daughters just have an effect on us
They get away with more stuff
They they don't they It's it's kind of annoying actually
She gets away with things she should not get away
with that her brothers would never get away from get
away with but I I I look at this girl
who's 22 years old and I think to myself you
know I I would love for for for my daughter
to have the kind of life where she never has
to worry about that
And there's this moment where she looks up at her
attacker and she covers her mouth and you realize what's
going through her head
She knows that something very terrible has happened to her
and I hope that she didn't realize it for too
long because that is unimaginable suffering
But if you're a man I don't care what skin
color you are
I don't care whether you're rich or poor but if
you're a man and you see the pleading eyes of
a girl looking up for protection then we have to
protect our girls and our women in this country
And that was my reaction to it
That was my thought when I watched it
Now young man we this is a very earnest young
man
I don't he doesn't look like a journalist to me
but go ahead and shout out a question because I'm
not gonna deny that level of energy and that level
of passion
What's first of all what's your name Henry it's good
to meet you Henry
Ask your question please
Come up here
Henry said I skipped school
Can I have a picture with you Well I guess
you gotta have some excuse to skip school so I
might as well get a photo with Henry
I
Well right OK this
All right
Uh now now the next reporter is gonna be hey
I'm from CNN
Can I get a photo with you too I wish
that I got questions that easy
I'm not holding out hope sir
Could uh can we get you a microphone I can't
hear you sir
Got you
Um I'm Jordan Green with Raw Story
Um President Trump and other speakers here have blamed um
uh former Governor Cooper and the mayor of uh Charlotte
for Irina Zarrootzka's death
Do you also hold the uh North Carolina General Assembly
responsible who set the laws governing pretrial release that may
have affected this crime Well look I think every politician
who didn't work hard to keep violent criminals behind bars
deserves to have some of the blame but at the
very top of that list is Governor Cooper because at
the time that we are pushing these soft on crime
policies Governor Cooper was the man in charge
Now I know we've got some great North Carolina legislators
and I might call them out if they're here
Do we have a North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall
Where's Destin at Destin thank you man
Um we got Phil Berger here
Phil thank you so much Senate President Pro Tem
Uh we've got County Sheriff Van Shaw
Where's County Sheriff Van Shaw
Thank you sir
We've got Cavers County DA Ashley Shanley Shanley I got
that right OK
Of course we got North Carolina GOP chairman Jason Simmons
Jason Simmons is
That's a celebrity in the Trump White House there
North Carolina Labor Commissioner Luke Farley
Luke where are you Luke thank you
And I I know look
I know that our great North Carolina local legislators here
have worked very hard to solve some of these soft
on crime policies and make it harder to let violent
criminals out so easily and to demand that when you
have a violent criminal who goes in the person stays
there and doesn't get a slap on the wrist and
release to commit more crime in the community
That's what we want
We don't want
A criminal justice system that goes after innocent people
We also don't want a criminal justice system that lets
obviously violent felons off the out of prison without any
real consequences
It's just very simple
And again I go back to the statistic where we've
got such a small number of people who commit so
much of the violent crime if we just locked them
up and I mean look I believe in
And I believe in forgiveness but I believe that forgiveness
often only comes on the other side of real punishment
and real regret which is why we got to lock
some of these guys up in the first place
So yeah I blame the political leadership and I just
I can't get over
A governor who pursued soft on crime policies Roy Cooper
who pursued soft on crime policies who let violent criminals
out of prison and then after Irena was murdered to
have the audacity to blame our law enforcement
Law enforcement arrested this guy 14 times
They did their job
It's time for the politicians to do their job too
Next question
Vice President Vance thank you so much for taking questions
I'm Casey Jones from WCCB Charlotte
When it comes to cracking down on crime in cities
like DC Memphis Chicago sending the National Guard what specific
metrics does the administration use to decide where those resources
go And can we expect that kind of response here
in Charlotte anytime soon Well look if the mayor of
Charlotte and the governor of North Carolina asked for our
help we would absolutely send it because we believe in
helping people regardless of whether they're Democrats or Republicans
We would love to have the mayor of Charlotte reach
out for our help and that's you ask what the
metrics are
That's one of the most important metrics we want to
go where we can have a real partnership between local
law enforcement and the federal officials so that we can
root out the crime
And that goes to the second metric
What is the most important thing You can tell how
many people are being murdered in a community
You can tell how many carjackings there are
You can tell how many armed robberies there are
There's way too much violent crime happening in our country
And when we look at an American community again we
don't care about their politics
When we look at an American community where people are
suffering because of violent crime our response is we want
to help just let us
And I'd encourage everybody to talk to your local officials
I know we're a little far away from Charlotte but
to talk to your local officials and encourage them to
ask for the help of the Trump administration
We are willing to provide it
We want fewer people to be affected by violent crime
but these guys have actually got to play a partnership
role with us and unfortunately way too many of them
some of these people it's crazy
They are ruling over cities that have violent crime rates
that are worse than Mogadishu and they say no no
no we don't want Donald Trump to come in
Well excuse me if you don't need the federal help
then why is your murder rate so terrible in the
first place You do need the help
You just need to admit it
Thank you Casey
Next question
Vice President uh Michael Warwick I'm with WBTV
Welcome to race and Co
First of all Irena's law was just passed by Republican
lawmakers
It's now on Governor Stein's desk
It addresses cashless bail
It would allow magistrates to involuntary commit uh people who
they believe to be sick
Um however opponents of that bill don't think it goes
far enough for the mental health side of things
It also opens the door to the death penalty which
I know some opponents are against
Why would you encourage the governor politics aside
To sign that bill Well because I want to keep
violent criminals off the street and I want Americans to
be safer and this bill does it
IRENA's law does it
Congratulations to the Senate President and House Speaker for getting
it over the finish line
The governor's got to sign it
I guarantee if this bill is signed into law it
will help our incredible law enforcement keep the streets safe
and that's ultimately all I really care about again
It breaks my heart to think that you have young
kids you know especially in poor communities whether they're black
or white who don't feel like they can walk outside
You've got grandmothers who are taking care of grandkids who
don't want to sit out on the front porch because
they're worried about drive-by shootings
That should break everybody's heart and the way to solve
the problem is to empower these cops to go after
the bad guys and to do it with their full
skill
And their full force
Now I don't know
Have I read every detail of the law
I know some of the things that it does
I know that it ends cashless bail which would be
huge for the people of North Carolina
I know it makes it harder for some of these
local magistrates to let people out with a slap on
the wrist
That would be huge for the people of North Carolina
But could there be more There could always be more
But don't let the perfect be the enemy of the
good
This bill is going to make North Carolinians safer
They ought to sign it
Hi Mr
Vice President it's Kit Maher representing the White House TV
pool today
I just have two national questions for you if you
allow it
Number one on Ukraine President Trump said that Ukraine should
can fight and win back its territory
Could you explain the shifting stance there from stopping the
bloodshed immediately ending the war and now saying that Ukraine
should fight Is that a tactic to pressure Putin back
to the table We'll go ahead and do the second
question
Yeah last year when I was covering you on the
campaign trail you told Joe Rogan that the difference between
Harris and Trump is that they're not uh Trump is
not trying to censor his fellow Americans wondering if you
can square your your fervent belief in free speech with
what's going
now with Jimmy Kimmel and the FCC press
I'd love to hear your thoughts on both of those
Well look on the free speech conversation I'm pretty sure
that Jimmy Kimmel was back on the air last night
and to the extent that he's not back on the
air it's because he's not funny and has terrible ratings
This is not a federal government problem
This is
I And Kate I I look I I want to
answer your question in good faith
What people will say is well you know didn't the
FCC commissioner put a tweet out that said something bad
Well compare that
The FCC commissioner making a joke on social media
What is the government action that the Trump administration has
engaged in to kick Jimmy Kimmel or anybody else off
the air 0
What government pressure have we brought to bear to tell
people that they're not allowed to speak their mind 0
We believe in free speech in the Trump administration
We are fighting every single day to protect it
that to the Biden administration where we found out just
yesterday that conservatives on YouTube and on a number of
social media platforms were being censored
Why Because the Biden administration picked up the phone and
said we want you to censor our political opponents
That is real government censorship and it left the White
House when Joe Biden left the White House now to
Ukraine
Look I I I've answered a version of this question
probably 100 times over the past 3 months and one
of the things I'll say about the president is that
he is responsive to the reality on the ground
And the reality on the ground is that number one
we have engaged in incredibly good faith negotiations with both
the Russians and the Ukrainians and I believe the president
is growing incredibly impatient with the Russians right now because
he doesn't feel like they're putting enough on the table
to end the war
That's #1
2 the president has grown very confident that this war
is bad for Russia
You hear me say this all the time
Presidents say this all the time
The war is bad for Russia
It's bad for Ukraine
It's bad for America
We want the killing to stop
That remains the president's position but the president also can
look at reality on the ground
He sees the economic numbers that are coming out of
Eastern Europe
He sees the number of dead people both Russians and
Ukrainians that are happening in that war and the president
is telling Vladimir Putin it is time to stop the
killing
He would say that to Zelinsky
In fact has said that to Zelinsky
He wants this war to end and he's doing everything
he can to stop it
But look if the Russians refuse to negotiate in good
faith I think it's going to be very very bad
for their country
That's what the president made clear
It's not a shift in position
It's an acknowledgement of the reality on the ground
We're going to keep on fighting for peace every single
day in the Trump administration
Now I'll do one more question here
Let me turn it
Another question
I don't want to take it from you
Good afternoon Mr
Vice President
Monica Casey WRAL out of Raleigh
We are coming up on the one year anniversary of
Hurricane Helene's devastation
What is the administration doing to speed up the distribution
of federal aid for that disaster Yeah so so just
in the last week
Homeland Security put another I believe $64 million into the
disaster relief effort
We inherited I'm gonna be honest with you a FEMA
that was mired in bureaucracy and red tape
The president has made very clear from day one we
want to get relief to the people of North Carolina
as quickly and as rapidly as humanly possible and that's
what we're trying to do
The second thing I'll say is that I understand the
governor had a very good call with the president I
believe on 9/11 actually about a week and a half
ago
It may have been the day before or the day
afterwards but he had a good conversation with the president
about some of the disaster relief needs that are there
We're going to keep on working on this
We're going to
Working with some of our colleagues and the federal congressional
delegation from North Carolina but let me just say I've
visited the devastation myself
I want the people there to know we continue to
think about them
We continue to work on this issue and we're going
to make sure that we never forget that area in
North Carolina and the devastation that storm caused
All right
On that note I just want to say you guys
have been an incredible group to get to spend some
time with Henry
I hope you got the photo you needed
So are you gonna get like a tardy Henry or
what's what's the deal If you get a photo with
the vice president you're allowed to have an excused absence
Is that how that works OK he doesn't know actually
Henry is not as confident in that question as I
would have hoped but it's it's it's it's great to
meet you my friend
It's great to be with all of you
Just remember we've got a very very important job and
each and every single one of us has a role
to play to our law enforcement thank you for the
job that you do
We're going to keep on fighting for you in the
Trump administration
We're going to keep on fighting for safety and security
all across the state of North Carolina
God bless you
Thank you for having me