Sen. JD Vance reached back into the viral archives from 2007 to resurrect a clip of a befuddled Miss Teen USA contestant stumbling over a question to mock Vice President Kamala Harris' Thursday night CNN interview.
He followed it up Friday morning by refusing to apologize after being told that the contestant contemplated suicide when the interview attracted embarrassing, unwanted attention.
Vance, Donald Trump's running 2024 mate, posted the video of the then-Miss South Carolina answering the question at the beauty pageant to needle Harris about the interview she gave with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
"BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview," Vance mocked on X.
In the years-old clip, the teen delivered a rambling, word-salad response to a question about why many Americans are unable to locate the United States on a map.
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, um, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq and everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future," she said in an answer that immediately went viral.
International Business Times is not naming her out of concern for her wellbeing.
Vance, a Republican from Ohio, appeared to shrug off any blame when CNN's John Berman informed him that the pageant contestant told New York Magazine in 2015 that she became "depressed," experienced some "dark moments" and even "thought about committing suicide."
Berman asked Vance whether he was aware that the woman had contemplated suicide because of the clip the vice presidential candidate had just shared on X.
"No, certainly not, John, and my heart goes out to her and I hope that she's doing well," he replied, adding: "I've said a lot of stupid things on camera."
Berman pressed again, asking Vance if he'd like to apologize for posting the interview now that he was aware of the effect it had on the woman.
"John, I'm not going to apologize for posting a joke," he answered.
Last weekend Vance also claimed that angrily blasting women without kids as "childless cat ladies" was merely a "joke."
