JD Vance clashes with Kaitlan Collins during tense White House briefing over Trump Iran remarks

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance accused Kaitlan Collins of “misrepresenting” both his comments and President Donald Trump during a heated White House press briefing on Tuesday, May 19.

The 41-year-old vice president stepped in for White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is currently on maternity leave, and quickly found himself sparring with the CNN anchor over Trump’s comments about Americans’ financial concerns amid tensions with Iran.

JD Vance says Trump's comments were taken 'out of context'

Collins brought up Vance’s earlier defense of Trump after the President said he was not thinking “even a little bit” about Americans’ financial situations while negotiating around the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Before asking her question, the 34-year-old journalist pointed out that Vance had previously denied that Trump had remarked the way it was being interpreted, despite Trump later calling it a “perfect statement.”

She then asked the Vice President, “Do you believe that Americans' financial situations should be taken into consideration when you're making decisions as an administration about the war?”

“You see, Kaitlan, what you did is misrepresented the question that I was asked, and you misrepresented the answer that I gave. What I said is that a question that was asked where the president allegedly said he didn't care about Americans' financial situations, he never said that,” Vance replied.

The vice president argued Trump’s remarks had been stripped of context and insisted the President was focused on national security during discussions involving Iran.

“What he said...was totally taken out of context. What he said is that when he is negotiating with the Iranians, he's focused on the national security objectives that he's trying to achieve,” Vance said.

He continued, “Of course, the president has a mandate to be focused on a number of things, and I guarantee you that every single day, I have conversations with him about it. Every single day, he's worried about his fellow Americans. He wants them to be prosperous, he wants them to thrive, he wants them to have a good job.”

Vance also defended the administration’s economic record, claiming the White House had taken steps to “create record job growth,” “wage growth,” and “induce trillion dollars in new investment.”

He added that when Trump is speaking with Iran, those talks are specifically “germane to the concerns” surrounding the conflict and national security.

Trump stands by his original statement

The exchange stemmed from comments Trump made to reporters on May 12, when he was asked how much Americans’ financial situations were influencing his approach to a potential peace deal with Iran.

“Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters, when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said at the time. “I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Days later, during a May 15 interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, Trump showed no signs of walking the comments back.

“That's a perfect statement. I'd make it again,” he said.

Vance had already attempted to clarify the President’s remarks during a separate May 13 press conference, where he defended Trump after being asked whether he agreed with the statement.

“Well, I don’t think the president said that. I think that’s a misrepresentation of what the president said, but look, I agree with the president that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said at the time.

“We’re obviously engaged in a very aggressive and very engaged diplomatic process to try to ensure that that doesn’t happen. And the President has a lot of options, as he said repeatedly. There are options diplomatically; there are options on the military side. But the fundamental goal here is the President wants to make the world safe, but particularly the American people safe from Iran having a nuclear weapon,” he added.