Ohio Senator JD Vance was confronted by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday about his running mate former President Donald Trump’s recent “enemy within” remarks.
In an interview with Fox News on October 13, Trump suggested that an “enemy from within” could threaten Election Day security and that “if necessary” the military may have to intervene.
“I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical-left lunatics,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures at the time. “I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
At another point during the interview with Bartiromo, the former president said, “We have two enemies. We have the outside enemy. And then we have the enemy from within. And the enemy from within, in my opinion, is more dangerous than China, Russia, and all these countries.”
Trump later told Fox News’ Harris Faulkner during a town hall event in Georgia on October 16 that he was “not threatening anybody.”
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, previously told Newsweek in an email that the former president “is 100% correct—those who seek to undermine democracy by sowing chaos in our elections are a direct threat, just like the terrorist from Afghanistan that was arrested for plotting multiple attacks on Election Day within the United States.”
On October 8, the Department of Justice issued a criminal complaint against Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi for “conspiring to conduct an Election Day terrorist attack in the United States on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS),” according to the department’s press release.
Meanwhile, during a heated exchange between Tapper and Vance in a pre-recorded interview that aired on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Tapper said that Trump “said publicly he wants to use the military to go after the enemy within which is the American people.”
“He did not say that Jake,” Vance said. “He said he was going to send the military after the American people? Show me that quote where he said that.”
Tapper then responded, “He said ‘the enemy within.'”
Vance then interrupted him and said, “He said far-left lunatics. He’s talking about people rioting after the election.”
Talking over Vance, Tapper said “the Pelosis and Schiff.”
Tapper was referring to Trump’s comments on Fox News’ Media Buzz on October 20 when he called Democratic California Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff the “enemy from within.”
“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, they are, to me, the enemy from within,” Trump said.
The former president also said, “I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within.”
Tapper asked Vance, “The Pelosis were rioting after the election? Adam Schiff was rioting after the election?”
“You’re using two separate phrases,” Vance replied.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment Sunday morning.
Tapper also brought up Trump’s comments from his interview with podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday.
Speaking of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said, “We had no problem with him,” adding, “I say it to people, we have a bigger problem, in my opinion, with the enemy from within.”
“We have an enemy from within, we have people that are really bad people, that I really think want to make this country unsuccessful,” Trump said on The Joe Rogan Experience.
When Tapper brought these comments up, Vance said, “Did he say he wants to use the military against those people?”
“He wants to use the military to go after the enemy from within,” Tapper said.
Vance replied, “Here’s the game that you’re playing,” before Tapper interrupted him and said, “I’m not playing a game.”
The Ohio senator reiterated that Trump’s comments on the matter were made throughout multiple conversations in “totally different” contexts.
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