‘Sorry Senator!’ CNN’s John Berman Goes Hard At Vance Over Trump Abortion Ban Flap

CNN anchor John Berman went hard at Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) on Trump’s abortion ban cleanup — pressing him across two segments and interrupting when Vance tried to answer.

The Trump campaign went into cleanup mode after Trump said he would vote against Florida’s six-week abortion ban, claiming, “He has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”

On Friday morning’s edition of CNN News Central , Berman spent several minutes pressing Vance on the issue — until Vance fell silent because he couldn’t hear Berman.

When they came back from break, Berman continued to press Vance, and interrupted the senator’s third repetition of an answer about leaving it to the states:

JOHN BERMAN: Senator J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee. We have the duct tape in place. Hopefully the audio was all fixed.

We were talking about Donald Trump’s statement on abortion overnight, where he said he would vote for more than six weeks in Florida when the campaign then put out a statement saying, “yeah, but he’s not saying he’s going to vote for the amendment,” which would allow for more than six weeks. And I was asking you if it was a language thing, if he understood what he was saying or if this was a shift in position.

SEN. JD VANCE: Well. Well, again, John thinks I can hear you much better now. I appreciate you guys fixing that.

But, look, the president is simply saying he doesn’t like six weeks. He obviously has said he doesn’t like late term abortion. And I think he will make an announcement on what he actually wants to do on the Florida law in particular.

But again, President Trump’s been extremely consistent that he’s going to make this decision as a citizen of Florida.

But he wants the national government that he intends to lead to be focused on national issues like inflation, the cost of housing and the wide open southern border.

He wants states to make their own abortion policy, and that will be his position for the remainder of the campaign and the remainder of his presidency.

JOHN BERMAN: You say he’s been consistent, but of course, it was a period in Donald Trump’s life where he was not anti-abortion. Then he became anti-abortion, at one point suggesting that women should be punished if they have an abortion.

Now he’s saying he’s for more than six weeks, but it’s not clear how he’s going to vote in an amendment in his own state. So that’s why I think people are seeking clarity. You can understand that.

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, John, the Dobbs decision, what it fundamentally did is this goes back to democratic legislatures and the people, of course, who elect those legislatures.

I think the president has said in a post- Roe , a post- Dobbs world, he wants voters to make these decisions. I think it’s important to remember, of course, that Kamala Harris has come out for taxpayer funding of abortion —

JOHN BERMAN: Sorry, Senator, but he’s a voter in this case! The reason it matter — the reason it matters in Florida is he’s a voter —

SEN. JD VANCE: John, I just wanted to finish this point —

JOHN BERMAN: Go ahead.

SEN. JD VANCE: Well, of course it matters what his position is, and I’m sure that he’s going to say what his position ultimately is, John.

But I do think it’s important to say that between Republicans and Democrats, Democrats have talked about trying to defund Christian hospitals that don’t do late term abortions.

Donald Trump is trying to preserve some ability for the states to make these decisions. It is a very different approach to a highly contentious issue.

I actually think what Donald Trump is trying to do is identify some common ground so that we can focus on the big national questions like, why can Americans afford groceries and housing? That’s what we’re going to focus on when we went in November.

Watch above via CNN News Central .