A frontrunner to be Donald Trump's running mate in the presidential election once implied he believed a woman who accused the former President of sexual assault.
Sen. JD Vance(R-OH), now a leading candidate for Trump's VP, seemingly issued his support for Trump accuserJessica Leeds while the presumptiveGOPnominee was campaigning ahead of the 2016 election.
Leeds, a former stockbroker who testified in E. Jean Carroll's sexual assault lawsuit against Trump, alleged the ex-President abruptly groped her on a plane in the 1970s.
During an October 2016 appearance onMSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews, Vance was probed about the allegations and suggested that Trump often lies and he was inclined to 'believe that woman on the tape'.
The interview, along with other negative remarks by Vance including when he branded Trump an 'idiot' and compared him to Adolf Hitler, resurfaced as Trump is expected to make his VP selection in the coming days.
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), afrontrunner to be Donald Trump's running mate in the presidential election, once implied he believed a woman who accused the former President of sexual assault. Trump (left) and Vance (right) are pictured at a rally on March 16, 2024 in Ohio
JessicaLeeds alleged that Trump groped her on a plane in the 1970s. Leeds is pictured leavingManhattan Federal Court onMay 2, 2023 after testifying in a civil case against Trump
Vance, during the 2016 interview, was shown footage of Leeds describing the alleged assault, Mediaite reported.
'These are not memories that you want to go over,' she said, adding that it was 'unnerving' to be 'rehashing' the incident.
'You suppress it. It's not part of your active thinking every day. But you don't forget.'
Leeds alleged that Trump groped her and tried to kiss her as they sat side by side in first class on a New York City-bound jet in 1979.
'Somehow or other, the armrest in the seat disappeared. And it was a real shock when, all of a sudden, his hands were all over me. He was like an octopus. It was like he had six arms. He was all over the place,' she said.
She accusedTrump of putting his hand up her skirt before she fought him off and walked away to another seat.
Matthews asked Vance, who had in 2016 come intoprominence with his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, 'what do you think' of Leeds' account.
During an October 2016 appearance on MSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews, JD Vance was probed about Jessica Leeds' allegations. He said: 'At the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump who always tells the truth? Just kidding, or do you believe that woman on the tape?'
But Vance has since changed his tune, seemingly dismissing his prior criticisms of the ex-President, saying that he was 'wrong' in thinking Trump (pictured at a rally in Florida on July 9) would be a bad president
Vane replied: 'It's sort of - it makes me think that at fundamental, this is sort of he said/she said, right?
'And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump who always tells the truth? Just kidding, or do you believe that woman on the tape?'
The Republican lawmaker also once liked a tweet thataccused Trump of 'serial sexual assault,' according to Raw Story.
But Vance has since changed his tune, seemingly dismissing his prior criticisms of the ex-President.
During an appearance on CNN's State of The Union in May, Vance told host Dana Bash: 'Look, my view on Donald Trump - I have been very clear on this - is, look, I was wrong about him.
'I didn't think he was going to be a good president, Dana, and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It's one of the reasons why I'm working so hard to get him elected.'
E. Jean Carroll (center) leaves federal court in New York City on Jnaury 26, 2024 after a jury awarded her $83.3million in a case against former President Donald Trump
He has also seemingly changed his view on Trump's accusers. Earlier this year,after a judge ordered the ex-President to pay Carroll $83.3million for defamation, Vance told The Hill that the jurors in the trial were from 'extremely left-wing jurisdictions'.
The jury ruled that Trump had maliciously damaged Carroll's reputation in 2019 after she went public with her accusations.
Jurors awarded her $18million to compensate for the personal harm she experienced, then added $65million more to punish Trump.
The sum was in addition to the $5million in damages Trump was ordered to pay Carroll in May 2023 following acivil trial, which Leeds testified in.
Carroll's lawyers had called Leeds to the stand in an attempt to establish an alleged pattern of Trump assaulting women.
Jurors in the civil case rejected Carroll's claims that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexual abuse and for defaming her after she made her allegations public.
Sen. JD Vance is picturedin Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024 after Trump and Joe Biden's first presidential debate
Meanwhile,Trump has frequently said he will announce his running mate at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week.
Trump appeared to tease at a rally in Miami on Tuesday night that he could pickFlorida Senator Marco Rubioas his running mate, who has seemingly found himself in the final shortlist.
The presumptive GOP nominee repeatedly name-dropped Rubio during his rally, as he said there has been a 'lot of press' around the former presidential candidate's prospects.
'They’ll probably be thinking that I’ll be announcing Rubio as my vice president,' Trump even admitted at one stage.
He also prodded Rubio over his policy proposal to remove taxes from tips if he regains the White House, and told him that 'you may or may not be there to vote for it - but you'll be involved.'
Trump's running mate roster is also believed to include Vanceand North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, with outside names Vivek Ramaswamy and Byron Donaldsalso floated in recent months.
