INTERVIEW: Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Sen. JD Vance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan”

In this interview with CBS Margaret Brennan’s Face The Nation, Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, discusses a wide range of topical issues of this 2024 U.S. presidential election, from importance of a vice presidential pick, to the economy, foreign relations, abortion and every conceivable subject. It makes for an interesting read to know where JD Vance stands, and contrasting the Trump campaign to Vice President, Kamala Harris’s.

James David Vance is a former Marine veteran and author, a Republican politician and author from Ohio State. He served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007, and graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. Vance won the 2022 Ohio Senate election, defeating Democratic nominee Tim Ryan. Initially opposed to Trump’s candidacy, he has become a strong Trump supporter. In July 2024, Trump selected Vance as his running mate. Vance is a national conservative and right-wing populist, with political positions including opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, gun control, and military aid to Ukraine.

The Interview

Q Thank you for having us out here to Ohio. You know, President Trump has said you are outstanding, but when you look at what decides elections, the vice presidential pick rarely matters. How are you going to prove him wrong? 

Ans Well, I think President Trump’s right about that, actually. I think most people are voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. Donald Trump delivered rising wages and a secure border. Kamala Harris has delivered an open border and falling wages relative to inflation and groceries and housing and so forth. So I think that he’s actually right, that most people, when they cast their ballots, they’re basing it based on who the presidential nominee is, not the vice presidential nominee. It’s just straightforward political reality. I think Donald Trump’s right.

Q So you are there to deliver some of the punches. 

Ans Well, I’m there to help define our opposition a little bit. I think that unfortunately, Kamala Harris has run a campaign where every time she’s in front of voters, a teleprompter is in between. She doesn’t really talk to the media, like at all. She hasn’t answered, I think, a single tough question from a reporter. So yeah, one of my jobs is to get out there and just make sure the American people know that this is a person who supported open borders, who suspended deportations, who stopped the Remain in Mexico policy that kept a lot of Americans safe. And of course, my job is to help govern once we actually get elected. But I think, again, most people are voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. That’s just the way it is.

Q So let’s talk about the vision for the country–

Ans Yeah.

Q That you’re offering. You supported the Supreme Court ruling recently on Mifepristone, the so-called abortion pill, that ruled opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the FDA approval. 

Ans Sure. That’s right.

Q This drug is used in like 60% of all abortions in the United States. In a Trump Vance administration, would you use the FDA to block access to this drug?

Ans Well, no. What the President has said very clearly is that abortion policy should be made by the states. Right? You, of course, want to make sure that any medicine is safe, that it’s prescribed in the right way, and so forth, but the President wants individual states to make these decisions, because, look, Margaret, California is going to have a different abortion policy from Ohio, which is going to have a different abortion policy from Alabama–

Q Right, but that was actually different, because after Dobbs, the Supreme Court took up this case.

Ans Yeah.

Q They viewed it as different. 

Ans Sure, but like you said, on a matter of legal standing, but I think that what we really want is when states and voters in those states make decisions, we of course want the states and the federal government to respect those decisions, and that’s what President Trump has said is, consistently, we need to get out of the culture war side of the abortion issue. We need to let the states decide their specific abortion policy. And look, what President Trump and I want to do on family policy is make it easier for families to start in the first place. We want to bring down housing costs so that if you have a baby, there’s actually a place to raise that baby. Want to increase and expand the child tax credit. We want to make it easier for moms and dads to not be shocked by these surprise medical bills when they go to an out-of-network provider. We’re working on all this stuff, and I think that’s ultimately how we turn down the temperature a little bit, is to make it easier to choose life in the first place. Because when you talk to women, you talk to moms and dads, a lot of times they feel like, if you have a pregnancy, especially an unexpected pregnancy, there just aren’t options. We want to provide more options so that people are raising families in a thriving and happy way in this country. 

Q So at his presser this past week, Donald Trump seemed to indicate he was open to restrictions on Mifepristone. He was asked by a reporter about this, and he said “there are many things on a humane basis that you can do, but also give a vote.” So he did seem to be indicating he’s open to restrictions on this particular drug. 

Ans Look, I think what he said — 

Q Are you saying that’s wrong? 

Ans Well, I think what he said, Margaret, is- first of all, even some of the reporters who were in the room at that press conference said it wasn’t clear what the reporter was asking. Maybe he couldn’t hear that person super clearly. So I don’t want to put words in President Trump’s mouth. What he said very clearly in the debate is that he agrees with the Supreme Court decision, but more importantly, he wants these decisions to be made by the states. I think that is the President Trump vision for the Republican Party.

Q Because you, personally, signed on as a senator to a letter to the DOJ demanding it shut down all mail order abortion operations under the Comstock Act. So would you seek to enforce that law differently?

Ans Well, what we said in that letter, Margaret, is that we want doctors to prescribe this stuff to ensure that it’s safe. I mean, we do this with antibiotics, we do this with a lot of antidepressants —

(CROSSTALK)

Q Well, the FDA says it is.

Ans And we just want the FDA to make sure that doctors are prescribing this in a safe way. That’s all that we ever said, and I believe that that is how President Trump feels about this is, again, you want the states to make these determinations, you also want to make sure the FDA is ensuring that these medications are safe for anybody who’s taking them.

Q It’s been on the market for decades, and the FDA does say it is safe, but would- where a doctor —

Ans Well, antibiotic– Margaret, antibiotics are safe, but we want to make sure they’re prescribed by doctors, and the doctors are properly monitoring this stuff so that people don’t get hurt. 

Q Of course, but —

Ans We’ve talked now, I think for six questions about abortion–

Q I’m still trying to get a clear answer. So for an FDA–

Ans And I gave you one.

Q Commissioner that you would be part of choosing, where that Commissioner stands on this drug, would that determine whether or not they are chosen to be put in this key role? 

Ans I think President Trump has clearly said there are no litmus tests on this particular issue. He just wants to make sure that drugs are safe and effective before they’re out there in the market, and, of course, that doctors are properly controlling this stuff so that people don’t get hurt. And again, Margaret, I mean, we talk about abortion, I think President Trump’s views on abortion are extremely clear. What’s interesting, of course, is that President Trump is trying to find some common ground on this issue. And you have Democrats who have supported abortion right up to the moment and sometimes even beyond the moment of birth, which is just sick stuff. And I think it’s such a contrast–

Q That’s not accurate.

Ans It is accurate. In fact, the Born Alive Act, multiple members of the current Democratic administration, including our vice president, supported that legislation*, they have supported taxpayer funded abortions up to the moment of birth. I just think it’s bizarre, and you contrast it to Donald Trump, who’s trying to find some common ground on this issue, what he’s trying to do —

Q Well actually he’s saying send it back to the states, so he doesn’t have to stake out position on this, but–

Ans No, so that the states, so that the states — Margaret, that’s an important part of our federal process, is that states sometimes are going to make these decisions for themselves, and I think that’s how you find some common ground. 

Q But on that- but on that, you were saying both that it should be doctors who determine the safety of a drug, but also that states should determine the availability of that drug. Do I have that right? 

Ans Well, no, that states are going to determine their abortion policy, and of course, doctors are going to decide the safety of drugs.

Q And if 60% are through medication abortion, it brings us back to the pill. That’s why I was asking you that.