‘Why Haven’t We Won?’: 3 key questions put Vance on the spot in CBS Town Hall

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance appeared on CBS News' "Things That Matter: A Town Hall”, which aired on Saturday evening, October 17.

Ahead of the midterm elections, Vance faced several tough questions from the host and the audience, and his answers raised a few eyebrows.

He was pressed on several burning issues, including immigration, allegations that President Donald Trump's business interests could influence his decisions, why the US had not decisively won the war with Iran, and violence involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), among others.

Here are some of the key moments from the town hall that put Vance on the spot.

Vance pressed on why the US couldn't decisively win the Iran war

Vice President JD Vance was repeatedly put on the spot during a tough exchange with host Tony Dokoupil, who pressed him on the administration's handling of the conflict. Dokoupil bluntly asked the vice president why the US had not won the Iran war decisively.

Dokoupil pressed Vance on why the Iran war has continued much longer than many people, including members of the administration, had initially expected.

“I have really just one big question on Iran. Why haven’t we won decisively?” the anchor asked.

“Well, Tony, I would say in some ways we have won decisively, but the Iranians, the enemy gets a vote here, and they have responded in certain ways,” Vance said.

“And so to step back a little bit, why did the President of the United States do this? The President of United States did this because he believes it is very important. And I think he’s right. I think most people here would agree, and if they don’t agree with all the particulars of the policy, to say Iran, the largest state sponsor of terr*** in the world, cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Is Trump admin making immigrants scapegoats?

The next uncomfortable moment arrived when Vance was confronted on the ongoing rhetoric around immigrants. Vance was grilled by an immigrant who recently received her US citizenship.

She said the Vice President was the first person she had voted for after becoming a citizen, but she was disappointed with his claim that immigrants are taking American jobs away.

“But after seeing ICE behave like military police and you recently call H1 visa workers foreign indentured servants, I think Americans are anything but safe. So I’m just curious, why are you scapegoating immigrants,” she asked.

“So first of all I appreciate the question,” Vance replied, “And I would say and to the extent that my rhetoric has been imperfect here. That’s on me.”

He later responded to her question about the “demonization of immigrants,” by pivoting to “major corporations” who hire immigrants and fire people already on the payroll before Dokoupil interrupted.

“They’re not talking about the system or the policy, they’re talking about the rhetoric, the language, that what they see is dehumanization of immigrants,” Dokoupil said.

“Sure, and Tony, I will tell you that nobody’s perfect, certainly not me. But my goal here is not to dehumanize any immigrant, in fact I love a number of immigrants. My goal here, is to make it so that we can have a country with some baseline of social cohesion and sense of community,” Vance said.

Vance says ‘president wouldn’t tolerate’ corrupt behavior

The Trump administration has faced corruption concerns amid reports that the President Donald Trump and his family have made substantial amounts of money during his second term.

During the town hall, CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil pointed out that corruption remains a major concern for voters. He cited a poll showing that half of Republicans believe Trump's business interests influence his decisions as president.

When Dokoupil asked Vice President JD Vance whether he had seen anything inside the White House that made him uncomfortable, Vance said he had never witnessed Trump engaging in corruption. He added that he had looked into the allegations himself and found that some reports involving Trump and his son were inaccurate.

Vance then pushed back against Dokoupil's suggestion that Trump was allowing corruption to take place. The anchor responded that these concerns were being raised by voters themselves.

Defending the president, Vance said Trump would never tolerate anyone making money by selling access to him.