Here are the Top 5 Moments From JD Vance’s Tough CBS News Town Hall

Vice President JD Vance was repeatedly put on the spot during a tough CBS News town hall Saturday night, with voters — and CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil — calling him out on everything from gas prices and the Iran war to immigration and corruption in the White House.

Dokoupil, 45, pulled no punches during the hour-long meet in Michigan, at one point straight up asking Vance, 42, why America hasn’t yet “decisively” won the war in Iran and in another moment refusing to let the vice president put blame for high gas prices on former President Joe Biden.

Vance even left the door open to someone else being the Republican candidate for president in 2028.

“Of course there’s a chance,” he said when Dokoupil asked “is there a chance you don’t run for president in 2028?”

“We’ve got four little kids, my wife has never loved politics. She loves public service. I think, you can do a lot of good in this job, and I’ve tried to do as much good as possible,” he said. “People ask me this question all the time…I’m a procrastinator. I hate thinking about it.”

Here are five other top moments from Vance’s difficult night:

1. “At a certain point, it’s your economy”

After a voter who went for President Donald Trump twice, in 2020 and 2024, questioned how gas prices could go back to where they were during the first Trump administration, when he said gas hovered just above a buck a gallon compared to more than $4 today.

Vance began by saying, “I recognize that gas prices are too high right now,” before discussing the a lack of oil refinery capacity in the country — and then trying to put the blame on Biden.

Dokoupil wasn’t having it, pointing out the man, a 43-year-old barber from Detroit, was asking about how gas prices have risen “since you guys took office.”

“It’s almost been two years. At a certain point it becomes your economy, not Joe Biden’s economy. Also back in March right here in Michigan you said it was just a temporary blip in gas crisis. How long is temporary?” Dokoupil asked.

“…When this conflict is over we are going to see gas prices come down,” Vance answered.

2. “The fear and violence of ICE”

A nun who identified herself and her order as having worked on the southern border held Vance’s feet to the fire on ICE.

“We have sisters who minister at the southern border in the United States, as well as here around Detroit,” Nancy Sylvester told Vance.

“And they are constantly seeing families who are affected by our immigration policies. They see the trauma of children who are separated from their parents, sometimes on a moment’s notice. They go to school and they come back and they’re not there and they have to sort of fend for themselves. And so the sisters see the kind of effect, the fear and violence of the ICE behavior,” she said.

While she acknowledged what she called “the complexity of the issue,” Sylvester asked Vance to justify ICE’s actions.

“I want to though wonder what would you say, how would you justify to people of faith, especially those of us who try to follow the gospel, how the behavior of the ICE men and women can constantly be justified in terms of the kind of values we want to live by, and also, what policies would you advocate to try to promote more compassionate and respective behavior toward our immigrant sisters and brothers?” she asked.

Vance claimed there are “approximately 25 million illegal aliens that have come in over the past 30 or so years, many of them completely unchecked and unvetted,” before insisting the administration is “trying to strike a balance” between law enforcement needs and the question of “how do we do it humanely?”

“Are you not striking that balance?” Dokoupil asked.

Vance called it “a work in progress,” while praising law enforcement as “amazing people who are patriots and they want to do a good job protecting their country.”

The vice president didn’t specifically mention the ICE-involved fatal shootings around the country in his answer.

“Sometimes you have some people who make mistakes, sometimes you have some people really screw up and obviously we have a responsibility to prosecute, investigate when people do screw up,” he said.

3. “Why haven’t we won decisively?”

Dokoupil wasted no time when it came to the Iran war, which began Feb. 28 when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes and has now dragged on nearly eight months.

“Mr. Vice President, the war in Iran has gone on much longer than I think a lot of people expected, certainly people in the administration. 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 terrorism in the world, cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

4. “Why are you scapegoating immigrants?”

A recent citizen told Vance he was the first person she’d voted for after obtaining her citizenship five years ago — then held his feet to the fire on his immigration talk.

“I was concerned about border safety, as in the trafficking and the drugs, not because I think immigrants actually take away jobs from Americans,” she told the vice president about why she voted for him.

“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? For the issues you’re supposed to be solving as the Vice President,” 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.

5. “The president would never tolerate that behavior, Tony”

The administration has been dogged by corruption concerns amid reports that the president and his family have been raking in big bucks during Trump’s second term.

Dokoupil noted that corruption is high on the list of voters concerns, even above gas prices, before bluntly pointing out a poll that “found that even half of Republicans believe that Donald Trump’s personal business interests are affecting his decision as president.

“Have you seen anything inside the White House, when it comes to corruption, that makes you squeamish?” Dokoupil asked.

“You’re asking, has Donald Trump’s decision-making been influenced by his business interests–” Vance began to answer before Dokoupil cut in.

“No, I’m asking if you’ve seen anything from anybody inside the White House,” Dokoupil said.

“I’ve never seen anything like that from the president,” Vance answered, before claiming he has investigated corruption in the administration himself.

“No, Tony, I just don’t. I think that there’s a lot of allegation out there and there’s a lot stuff where, frankly, I’ve read these articles and I’ve read the superficial summary and I say, oh, that doesn’t sound right,” Vance said.

“And then I go and do the investigation myself and I say, wait a second, what they’re saying the President did or what they are saying the President’s son did, he didn’t actually do,” he added.

He then accused Dokoupil of “implicitly, I think, saying that there’s a corruption problem, that if he’s not involved, then I think you’re accusing him of at least sanctioning–”

“The voters are saying that,” the anchor retorted.

“Donald Trump hates when people make money off him. He hates the idea that somebody would come in and say, I’m gonna give you a meeting with the president and I’m going to get rich because I gave you access to the president. The president would never tolerate that behavior, Tony,” Vance insisted.

Watch above via CBS.

 

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