Vice President JD Vance called on Israel to allow food assistance to flow into a starving Gaza during an appearance in the Midwest to tout President Donald Trump‘s signature “big, beautiful bill.”
“We are very worried about the humanitarian problem [in] Gaza. We see a lot of starving children. We want to make sure they get food,” said Vance during an appearance in Canton, Ohio. “We also want to make sure that the thugs and Hamas that are preventing them from getting food are stopping that process. So we gotta get food to the neediest people.”
Hours before Vance spoke, Trump disputed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s assertion that children aren’t starving in Gaza, claiming during a meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday that “those children look very hungry.”
Multiple reports have detailed a growing crisis of malnourished and starving children, although Israel has denied these claims. Vance echoed Trump’s concerns about the photos of hungry children while also calling for the destruction of Hamas.
“We’ve also got to make sure that Hamas gets the hell out of Gaza and lets the food come into that terrible, terrible situation,” said Vance. “Because I don’t know if you’ve all seen these images, you’ve got some really, really heartbreaking cases. You’ve got little kids who are clearly starving to death. Israel’s got to do more to let that aid in.”
The vice president also pushed back on criticisms surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files during his stop in Ohio.
“First of all, the president has been very clear: we’re not shielding anything. The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information,” said Vance when questioned by a reporter.
“He’s been incredibly transparent about that stuff, but some of that stuff takes time,” he continued. “You’ve got to assemble that stuff, you’ve got to compile that stuff, you’ve got to redact some victims’ names so that you protect the victims.”
Vance then criticized the media for not covering the disgraced “scumbag” Epstein’s case during former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush’s tenure.
“For four years under Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, the media didn’t give a damn about the Epstein files or about the Epstein case,” he said.
TRUMP DISPUTES NETANYAHU’S DISMISSAL OF STARVATION IN GAZA
“For literally 20 years, the story about this scumbag, and he is a scumbag pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. He’s dead now, but for 20 years, you had Obama and George W Bush’s Department of Justice go easy on this guy,” Vance added. “They didn’t fully investigate the case. They didn’t show any curiosity about the case. And now Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency, and somehow, that’s a criticism of Donald J. Trump and not Barack Obama and George W Bush.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche held a two-day interview last week with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s coconspirator. Trump has claimed he is “allowed” to pardon Maxwell, but added that “nobody’s approached me with it.”