JD Vance in heated exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper: "You took the words of unnamed FBI agents"

JD Vance clashed with CNN's Jake Tapper over Trump’s rhetoric and claims by former aides calling him a “fascist.”

GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance sparred with CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday over former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and comments from some of Trump’s former top aides labeling him a “fascist.”

Tapper opened the “State of the Union” segment by pressing Vance on Trump’s remarks about an “enemy from within” and retired Gen. John Kelly’s statement that Trump aligns with the “general definition of fascist.”

Vance, 40, dismissed Trump critics like Kelly and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as proponents of war, prompting Tapper, 55, to further question Trump’s statements about targeting dishonest election officials.

An exasperated Vance replied, “You’re taking words out of context. If you’d like to put up a clip and actually put him in context, I think the American people would realize that Donald Trump is a hell of a lot more reasonable than the people like Liz Cheney, who would like to lie us into war.”

“Now, Jake, we also should remember, I mean, step back a little bit. Ask yourself a basic question about network integrity. You guys talked about the Russia hoax nonstop.”

Tapper defended CNN’s coverage, stating, “The FBI was investigating it, so, we covered them.”

Republicans have long been frustrated with media coverage surrounding allegations of Trump’s supposed connections to Russia, claiming the issue was overemphasized and fueled public misconceptions.

“You took the words of unnamed FBI agents and put them on your network as if they were the gospel truth. You did it again and again,” Vance countered.

“A viewer of your network would’ve believed that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin conspired in 2016. Now that was totally and preposterously false,” he said.

Tapper maintained that Vance’s portrayal of CNN’s coverage was “false” and reiterated that the network was simply reporting on an FBI investigation.

Vance argued, “You covered it in a way that gave credence to anonymous sources [and] accusations. You did it yourself. Your network did it, Jake.”

The two then returned to their heated exchange over Trump’s rhetoric and the warnings some of Trump’s former administration officials have issued to the public.