Vice President JD Vance rebuked a reporter for his questioning style at a White House briefing on Tuesday. The clash happened as Vance defended Donald Trump’s stock trading activity, detailed in recent financial disclosures.
JD Vance calls out reporter amid Donald Trump question
Reporter Andrew Feinberg asked JD Vance to address public concerns over the president’s financial conduct. Vance interrupted early, describing the query as “a hell of a question.” The former pressed on, noting that Americans, according to recent polling, increasingly describe the president as corrupt. He began to mention Vance’s own Senate campaign pledge opposing individual stock trading by public officials. Before he could finish, Vance interrupted again.
“What’s the question?” the vice president asked. Feinberg asked how the administration could argue it is fighting corruption while the president appears to promote stocks he holds and then sell them for profit.
JD Vance criticised the reporter’s questioning style. “There are different ways to ask a question,” he said. “You could just ask a question and try to get your answer, or you could do a speech where you say: ‘oh you know Mr Vice President, you’re a terrible human being… and then your question is ‘how dare you.’ Come on man, have a little bit of objectivity in the way you ask these questions.”
On the substance of the trading, Vance denied that Trump personally directs transactions. “The president doesn’t sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his, like, Robinhood account, buying and selling stocks,” he said. “That’s absurd. He has independent wealth advisors who manage his money. He is a wealthy person. He has had success in business. He’s not making these stock trades himself.”
Vance stated he remains a “big fan” of banning congressional stock trading and claimed the president shares that view. However, the recent filings detail more than 3,700 transactions. These include shares of companies and owners who support Trump and his administration in one way or another.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory
