Sen. J.D. Vance's claim that former President Donald Trump never targeted political opponents from the White House — and Vice President Kamala Harris did — was a lie on top of lies, a stunning new fact check reveals.
Vance's claim that Harris tried to arrest anti-abortion activists and political opponents (even as Trump boasted he'd sic the military on his "enemies within") is the subject of an epic 2,500-word takedown from Washington Post analyst Glenn Kessler.
"It’s a familiar pattern of a Trump surrogate playing down Trump’s words and actions — and then Trump almost immediately blasting past the talking point," Kessler wrote.
"We pressed the Vance staff for specific examples to make his case...We mostly received misleading statements."
Kessler dives in with what he describes as a "quick list" of proven instances in which then-President Trump sought to wield his executive powers against political opponents.
The list includes 12 separate instances of Trump going after perceived enemies over the course of just four years.
- Trump in 2017 pressured then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to order an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
- Trump in 2017 publicly scolded Justice department for not investigating Clinton.
- Trump in 2017 called for a U.S. Attorney to investigate Clinton over a debunked Uranium One conspiracy theory — the probe ended in 2020 with no action.
- Trump demanded an investigation of the Clinton Foundation that resulted in a 2018 grand-jury subpoena — the case closed without charges.
- Trump boasted of firing former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. A criminal probe was launched into whether McCabe lied to FBI agents but no charges were brought.
- Trump in 2018 demanded an investigation of former president Barack Obama over debunked “Spygate” claims — various probes found no evidence.
- Trump in 2018 told the White House counsel he wanted to order the Justice Department to investigate Clinton and former FBI director James B. Comey. The counsel refused.
- Trump sought Internal Revenue Service investigations of Comey and McCabe.
- Trump in 2018 publicly suggested former secretary of state John Kerry had violated the Logan Act and the Justice Department ordered prosecutors to investigate. No evidence was found.
- Trump in 2018 demanded that the attorney general investigate multiple people and, after the Mueller report's release in 2019, then-Attorney General William P. Barr appointed a U.S. Attorney to investigate its origins. The probe was a bust.
- Trump in 2019 urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate then-former Vice President Joe Biden.
- Trump in 2021 threatened to prosecute Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should he refuse to “find” votes to overturn Biden's election victory.
Here's what Biden and Harris' administration have done, according to Kessler's analysis:
- Biden privately vented Attorney General Merrick Garland did not act with enough haste in pursuing Jan.6-related charges against Trump but, according to the New York Times, never communicated those frustrations directly.
Asked to comment, Vance's spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk complained Trump and his running mate were subjected to an unfair standard in a response to Kessler:
“The double standard of the liberal media is laughable at this point. It is indisputable that under Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s DOJ, the Republican nominee for President was targeted and indicted, while under President Trump, nothing like that ever transpired against either of the Democrats he faced off with in 2016 or 2020. Actions matter and Senator Vance was 100 percent correct that despite pressure from many Republicans to indict Hillary Clinton for her mishandling of classified information, President Trump never crossed that rubicon the way Kamala and Joe did.”
Kessler replied, "Vance, his spokeswoman’s response suggests, seems to regard an inability to win a prosecution as evidence that Trump 'didn’t go after' his opponents."
Again pressed for comment, Van Kirk replied, “The Washington Post is purposefully gaslighting the Trump-Vance campaign because this insufferable newspaper fails to clarify that Senator Vance was talking about political opponents under Trump’s Administration never being indicted.”
Again Kessler had a retort: "That wasn’t the question he was asked."
Ultimately Kessler reward Vance four of his iconic Pinocchios for telling "whoppers."
"The record clearly shows that while no indictment was brought against Trump’s political opponents during his presidency, it wasn’t for lack of trying," Kessler concluded.
"In the case of Trump’s indictments, a special prosecutor found enough evidence to convince two grand juries to issue indictments — with no discernible role by the president or vice president in either the launching of the probe or the issuing of the indictment. That’s a world of difference, even though Vance tries to spin it as deliberate."
