Vice President JD Vance has spoken out about the horrific downtown brawl that went viral on social media over the weekend.
Vance was in northeast Ohio on Monday to support President Donald Trump’s massive tax cuts and budget measure, commonly known as the “one big, beautiful bill.”
During the press conference, he was questioned about the large group of black people violently attacking three white people. The recordings of the violent incident went viral on social media, sparking criticism from individuals such as Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno and Elon Musk.
“There was a group of people who attacked a couple folks on the street in Cincinnati. Senator Bernie Marino, some others have spoken out about it, have been critical of it,” a reporter asked.
“OK, OK, yes, yes. So what I saw, and I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it’s disgusting. And I hope every single one of those people who engage in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And they will be. They will be so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio takes their job seriously,” Vance began.
“I know Dave Yost cares a lot about these things. But yeah, I actually, you’re right, Bernie did send me a clip of this, and we talked a little bit about it. I don’t know the full context. I don’t know how the fight started. But the one part that I saw that was really gruesome is you had a grown man who sucker-punched a middle-aged woman. And where I come from, at least, when you have a grown man who sucker punches a middle-aged woman, that person ought to go to jail for a very long time,” Vance declared.
“And frankly, he’s lucky there weren’t some better people around because they would have handled it themselves. But if they’re not going to handle it, the cops in Cincinnati, the law enforcement, you’ve got to prosecute people. We’ve had way too much lawlessness on the streets of great American cities. How many of you all have wanted to go to downtown Akron or downtown Canton or downtown Columbus for a meal, but you’re worried because the local authorities in these big cities have allowed lawlessness to run wild?” he added.
Vance continued, “We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children. If you want to take your wife or your children out for a meal, you shouldn’t be worried about street violence. And the only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engage in that violence and throw their a**es in prison.”
WATCH:
Five people have been charged in connection with a savage beating on a Cincinnati street, after video of the altercation went viral.
The individuals’ names were not disclosed, and Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge declined to identify the charges, warning that further arrests were likely.
“We have five we have charged, and anticipate more,” Theetge told reporters Monday, two days after the 3 a.m. Saturday incident that she referred to as a “fight.”
According to internet recordings, the “fight” involved a crowd stamping on the skull of a guy cowering on a downtown street, while a lady was cold-cocked and knocked unconscious, blood streaming from her lips, after attempting to interfere.
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he spoke to the woman who was knocked out, claiming she was a mother named Holly who told him “not a single local or state official had yet reached out” to her besides “one police detective.”
“She’s a single working mom who went to a friend’s birthday party,” the former GOP presidential hopeful said. “It’s unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital.”
Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police president Ken Kober told WLWT the victims suffered “pretty serious injuries” and would be “recovering from this for a while.”