NEW YORK (AP) — JD Vance, Republican vice presidential nominee, again refused to acknowledge that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election over former President Donald Trump, evading the question five times in an interview with The New York Times, the newspaper reported Friday.
The Ohio senator repeated the response he used during his debate against Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, saying he was “focused on the future.”
“There’s an obsession here with focusing on 2020,” Vance said in the interview. “I’m much more worried about what happened after 2020, which is a wide-open border, groceries that are unaffordable.”
Vance's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the 2020 election echoes the rhetoric pushed by his running mate. Trump has been charged criminally with knowingly pushing false claims of voter fraud and having “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power after losing to Biden. Judges, election officials, cybersecurity experts and Trump’s own attorney general have all rejected his claims of mass voter fraud.
Vance spoke for an hour with Lulu Garcia-Navarro, the host of the newspaper's “The Interview” podcast, which will publish on Saturday. He offered an evasive response each time she asked if Trump lost the last election.
He blamed social media companies for limiting posts about the contents of a laptop once owned by Hunter Biden, the president's son, asking if censorship by tech firms cost Trump millions of votes.
"I’ve answered your question with another question,” Vance said. “You answer my question and I’ll answer yours.”
When Garcia-Navarro said there was “no proof, legal or otherwise,” of election fraud, Vance dismissed the fact as “a slogan.”
“I’m not worried about this slogan that people throw, ‘Well, every court case went this way,’” Vance said. “I’m talking about something very discrete — a problem of censorship in this country that I do think affected things in 2020.”
Vance's refusal to say whether Trump was widely considered his weakest moment of the debate against Walz, Minnesota's governor, who called Vance's response “a damning non-answer.” Vice President Kamala Harris ' campaign quickly turned the exchange into a television ad.
Republican vice president nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during a campaign event in Greensboro, N.C., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Converted into the New York Yankees closer, Luke Weaver let out his animal instinct.
“It’s just like the ferocious jungle cat just comes out me," he said during the clubhouse celebration after Thursday night's AL Division Series clincher in Kansas City, speaking on the Yes Network.
“You just feed into the energy,” he said. “I think you tell yourself you’ve got to be relentless, you got to be convicted. I don’t want to mess around and sleep at night be like: I didn’t give my all. I was scared or I was timid. Just go right after them and keep at it.”
New York opens the AL Championship Series at home against Cleveland or Detroit on Monday night, seeking to reach the World Series for the first time since winning its 27th title in 2009.
Yankees relievers didn't allow an earned run in 15 2/3 innings against the Royals. It was the third-most innings without an earned run in a postseason series after 18 1/3 by Minnesota against Toronto in the 1991 ALCS and 17 by the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in the 2017 NLCS.
Weaver saved all three wins against the Royals, striking out five in 4 1/3 innings while allowing two hits. He is seven for seven in save chances since replacing Clay Holmes as closer on Sept. 6 and has struck out 29 of 55 batters.
“We’re really happy to have him and keep calling him the unicorn,” Juan Soto said. “It's just a cool way to call him.”
Holmes had been the closer since supplanting Aroldis Chapman early in 2022 season, but the two-time All-Star blew 13 of 43 save chances, tying the Yankees record shared by Goose Gossage and Dave Righetti.
Dropped to a setup role, he pitched five scoreless innings against Kansas City, striking out three and walking just one.
“It's treating every out like it's the most important out in the game,” he said. “To me it simplifies things. You kind of take how the whole situation — put a situation in your head like this lane or this batter or whatever. It's like you got to get every batter out and this out could be the most difficult out of the game.”
Holmes said it wasn't hard to accept his new role.
“Things didn't go perfect,” he said. “It doesn't mean I still can't get outs and be a really good pitcher. ... No matter what role it is, I’ll be a part of it and I want to help my teammates. And I think just to have that mindset, it's kind of helped me be resilient.”
Right-handers Tommy Kahnle, Jake Cousins and Ian Hamilton also pitched in relief along with left-handers Tim Hill and Tim Mayza.
“It’s been a conversation all year long about what this is going to look like, and I feel like it’s trending in the right direction in the second half, the last month in particular,” pitching coach Matt Blake said ahead of the series against the Royals. “We've got really five-to-six high-leverage options that can kind of help us navigate the back end of the game maybe a little bit differently than we have in the past.”
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New York Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes throws during the eighth inning in Game 4 of an American League Division baseball playoff series against the Kansas City Royals Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
New York Yankees relief pitcher Clay Holmes pauses on the mound during the fifth inning in Game 3 of an American League Division baseball playoff series against the Kansas City Royals Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin Braley)
New York Yankees relief pitcher Luke Weaver throws during the ninth inning in Game 4 of an American League Division baseball playoff series against the Kansas City Royals Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
New York Yankees relief pitcher Luke Weaver celebrates the final out in a 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Game 4 of an American League Division baseball playoff series Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
