‘Shameful’: Pete Buttigieg slams 'lying' J.D. Vance over new 'disqualifying' remarks

Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), officially became a 2020 election denier Wednesday, a fact Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized as “shameful” and a political mistake.

“First of all it's wrong, of course Donald Trump lost,” Buttigieg told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday night. “And I think he knows that. I think he's lying. I also think it's a mistake politically because voters have a dim view of election deniers.”

Buttigieg, who appeared on The Source with Kaitlan Collins in his official capacity as a Harris surrogate, noted Vance has tried “to avoid officially becoming an election denier” until Wednesday when he gave a definitive answer repeating Trump’s false claim that the former president did not lose the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

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“Now that he's given a straight answer, he J.D. Vance, is officially on the record as an election denier, something that is shameful, but also something that if – certainly if we look at 2022 – and, pretty much anybody who was an election denier who was on the ballot in so many swing state statewide races, lost,” Buttigieg said.

He continued his rebuke of the Republican vice presidential nominee – who included Buttigieg in his now famous “childless cat ladies” attack – by saying Vance has no choice “because Donald Trump has probably demanded that he lie and that he say that.”

Buttigieg said a politician not being able to say they lost an election – “one of the most fundamental parts of how democracy works” – is “one of the most disqualifying things.”

“It’s no fun to lose an election,” Buttigieg said. “I know what it's like to lose an election. But you do it. It should go without saying.”

Watch the clip below or at this link.