The release of an American hostage justifies using positive language to describe the Russian president, JD Vance said at a news conference on Tuesday. Vance endorsed Trump envoy Steve Witkoff’s assessment of Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian,” stating that it was acceptable to say “something nice” to a leader who had recently freed a US citizen.
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called the remarks deeply troubling and part of a pattern of cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia. During the same event, Vance defended attacks by Ramaswamy on Amy Acton and claimed that Donald Trump is intensely opposed to people who use government access for fraudulent self-enrichment.