JD Vance Pressed on Trump’s Nick Fuentes Dinner, Racist Remarks About Wife

Ohio Senator JD Vance, the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate, was asked about racist attacks on his wife, including those made by Nick Fuentes who shares ties with former President Donald Trump on Sunday.

Fuentes, a far-right commentator who gained notoriety after attending the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a “white nationalist livestreamer.” He has made repeated antisemitic and racist remarks, and has been banned from several social media platforms.

Most recently, Fuentes attacked Trump’s presidential campaign, criticizing the selection of Vance as the former president’s running mate because Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, is of Indian heritage. Fuentes claimed that the senator would not be a “defender of white identity.”

During an interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on This Week that aired Sunday morning, Karl questioned Vance about Fuentes’ remarks and his connections to Trump.

Karl cited a recent livestream where Fuentes said, “What kind of man marries somebody named Usha? Clearly, he doesn’t value his racial identity,” which Karl condemned as “racist garbage.”

Vance agreed, responding, “Yes, it is.”

Karl then asked, “But this is also a guy that dined with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago during this campaign.”

In 2022, Trump faced widespread criticism for a dinner he had with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The former president defended himself, saying at the time that he “knew nothing about” Fuentes before the dinner.

Vance deferred and said, “Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about him and frankly doesn’t care for. Look my attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she’s beautiful, she’s smart. What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly.”

Since Trump announced Vance as his running mate at the Republican National Convention (RNC) last month, some Make America Great Again (MAGA) and far-right members have taken to social media to launch racist attacks against Usha Vance because of her heritage and the assumption that her influence on her husband’s political career means the Republican Party will be softer on immigration. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

The senator continued on Sunday, “If they want to attack me, or attack my views, my policy views, my personality, come after me, but don’t attack my wife—she’s out of your league.”

Karl circled back to the dinner, pressing that “Trump still hasn’t given a full-throated denouncement of this guy [Fuentes].”

Vance said that Trump “has issued plenty of condemnations on this,” with Karl interjecting, “Not of Fuentes, he hasn’t.”

Vance continued: “The one thing I like about Donald Trump is that he actually will talk to anybody, but just because you talk to somebody doesn’t mean you endorse their views. Donald Trump has spent a lot of quality time with my wife. Every time he sees her, he gives her a hug, tells her she’s beautiful, and jokes around with her a little bit.”

He reaffirmed: “I’m not at all worried about Donald Trump. I’m worried sometimes about these ridiculous attacks. This is what you sign up for when you come into politics. I wish people would keep it focused on me. They’re gonna say what they’re gonna say. My wife’s tough enough to handle it and that’s a good thing.”

Newsweek reached out to Vance’s press team for comment via email on Sunday.