JD Vance slammed for ‘childless cat ladies’ comment
Alex Wong/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A Fox News interview from 2021, in which Sen. JD Vance smeared Vice President Kamala Harris as a “childless cat lady,” has resurfaced since he became the Republican vice presidential nominee, sparking widespread anger.
In the clip, Vance questioned Democrats — including Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — for not having biological children.
“We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” Vance said.
“How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?” he asked.
The 2021 interview began circulating widely after Hillary Clinton shared the clip on X. “What a normal, relatable guy who certainly doesn’t hate women having freedoms,” she wrote.
Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Though Harris does not have biological children, she does have two stepchildren — Cole and Ella Emhoff — who have lovingly referred to her as “Momala.”
Kerstin Emhoff — second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife, and mother to Cole and Ella Emhoff — has been a vocal supporter of Harris, and defended her against attacks about her parental status.
“These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I,” she said. “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
Ella Emhoff shared her mother’s statement on Instagram, writing, “I love my three parents.”
“How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?” she added.
Buttigieg also hit back against Vance’s comments, saying in a CNN interview that Vance should not speak about other people’s children.
“The really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey,” Buttigieg said. “He couldn’t have known that, but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t be talking about other people’s children, and it’s not about his kids or my kids or the vice president’s family. It’s about your family, people’s families whose well-being will depend on whether we go into a future led by somebody like Kamala Harris, who is focused on expanding the prosperity, the freedom, the well-being of our families.
Actress Jennifer Aniston, who has spoken about her struggles with fertility, made a post on Instagram slamming Vance, who has voted against establishing federal protections for in vitro fertilization.
“I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States,” Aniston wrote. “All I can say is … Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her too.”
Vance’s comments have even struck a nerve with some prominent conservative women.
“One of my best friends did rounds and rounds of unsuccessful IVF wanting to have a child. It is still painful to talk about,” Meghan McCain said in an X post. “This ‘childless women’ comment by JD Vance has made so many waves with so many different friends of mine for its insensitivity and cruelty to women.”
Beverly Hallberg, a fellow with the conservative nonprofit Independent Women’s Forum, replied to McCain’s post.
“I’m childless on earth, but I have a baby in heaven due to an ectopic pregnancy,” Hallberg said. “Not all women who don’t have children are childless by choice. It adds insult to injury, to put it mildly, when these comments are said.”
Corie Whalen, media relations director at a Republican think tank and former congressional staffer, said on X she was disgusted by Vance’s comments.
“I’m a right-leaning woman who agrees with almost nothing the Biden-Harris administration has done, but the primal hatred and disgust Vance stokes in me transcends politics,” she wrote. “I suspect I am not the only woman of my vintage, so to speak, who feels this way.”
The head of a major infertility nonprofit also spoke out against Vance, calling his comments “painful and tone-deaf.”
“People are childfree for many reasons — from grieving the pain of miscarriage to experiencing failed adoptions or rounds of fertility treatments to making their own choice not to have children,” said Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.
“For some, living without children doesn’t feel like a choice that they made, but a choice that they live with, despite trying to grow their families,” Collura added. “Under no circumstances, should living childfree be weaponized in a way that degrades people or their value to society.”
In an interview with ABC News at the American Teachers Federation Conference in Houston, Briget Rein — a former Brooklyn teacher, who wore a pink shirt that said “Cats Against Trump” — proudly identified herself as a “cat lady” and said she thought Vance’s remarks were “stupid.”
“Vance also is unprepared to be a vice president, he’s not prepared. Because he’s busy looking at the surface. He’s not looking at the full picture,” she said.”You know, this cat lady went to college. This cat lady went to work … but he’s busy talking about cat ladies, and talking about women in a very derogatory fashion.”
(CHICAGO) — The final day of the Democratic National Convention wraps up with Kamala Harris’ big moment: her acceptance speech in which she gets to tell her story to the millions of Americans watching.
Her campaign says, in addition to describing her middle-class upbringing, she will continue to stress optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — the overall themes we’ve heard throughout the gathering.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Trump a ‘hateful man’: ‘Exonerated 5’
New York City Council member Yusef Salaam, one of the five men exonerated in the “Central Park Five” case, called Trump a “hateful man” during his DNC appearance.
“He wanted us dead,” Salaam said. “Today, we are exonerated because the actual perpetrator confessed. And DNA proved it.”
Korey Wise, another one of the men who was exonerated in the case, said they were “threatened” by people after Trump ran ads calling for the death penalty for violent crimes in New York in the wake of the attack.
He said Harris, by comparison, has “worked to make things fairer.”
“I know she will do the same as president and I approve that message,” Wise said.
Harris to promise to be ‘a president for all Americans’
In her acceptance speech tonight, Harris will deliver a message of unity as Democrats look to appeal to independent voters.
“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past,” she will say. “A chance to chart a New Way Forward. Not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans.”
“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris will say, according to released excerpts of her speech.
“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads — and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work.”
Trump’s tie to the ‘Central Park 5’ case
Four of the five men in the “Central Park Five” who were wrongfully convicted in the 1989 rape of a Central Park jogger appeared at the DNC.
The five Black and Latino men, who were teenagers at the time of their arrest, were taken into custody, hounded in police interrogations and ultimately gave false confessions in the brutal assault on jogger Trisha Meili.
While the five teenagers awaited their trial, former President Donald Trump bought newspaper ads calling for New York to adopt the death penalty for violent crimes.
“Bring back the death penalty. Bring back our police!” the ad stated in all caps.
The five men were exonerated in 2002 after convicted rapist Matias Reyes confessed to being Meili’s sole attacker, and Reyes’ DNA was matched to the crime scene. New York City settled with the Central Park Five in 2014 for $41 million in a civil rights lawsuit.
When asked in 2019, following the release of a Netflix series about the case, whether he would apologize for the ads to the men who were exonerated in the Central Park jogger case, Trump refused.
“Why do you bring that question up now? It’s an interesting time to bring it up. You have people on both sides of that,” he said. “They admitted their guilt. If you look at Linda Fairstein and you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case, so we’ll leave it at that.”
Following Trump’s indictment in 2023 on 34 felony counts of falsified business records in the hush money case, some of the exonerated men called it “karma.”
Speakers make case for Harris as commander in chief
The DNC is highlighting national security, with recent speakers Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger; Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin and New York Rep. Pat Ryan, an Army veteran, making the case for Harris as the commander in chief.
“I’ll tell you what I think of Donald Trump. They told me I can’t say that word on TV,” Ryan said.
Slotkin leans in on patriotism
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., made it clear: Democrats are patriotic, too.
Her speech was the most vocal example of how Democrats are taking back words like “freedom” and symbols like the flag, leaning on her time in the CIA and accusing Republicans of betraying the values they represent.
“We’re the damn United States of America. We lead,” she thundered in conclusion.
Warren makes couch joke when talking about Trump, Vance
Warren, a policy wonk, said she trusted Harris to handle the economy, abortion, climate change and more.
“Trust Donald Trump and JD Vance?” she said. “To look out for your family? Shoot, I wouldn’t let those guys — I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.”
Elizabeth Warren gets teary-eyed during long ovation
The Massachusetts senator was seen wiping her eyes as she got emotional during a rapturous welcome from attendees at the United Center.
Vulnerable senators finally make an appearance
Last night, I commented on how few Democratic Senate candidates had addressed the DNC thus far — including zero in competitive races. Well, that ends tonight. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin spoke earlier, and Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania was just on stage. Both are in competitive races in swing states this fall.
-538’s Nathaniel Rakich
Early speakers breeze through speeches
The beginning of the fourth night has been moving briskly, with shorter speeches.
Although there have been a few musical interludes from DJ Metro, they also did not last long. The previous three nights of the DNC have ended after 11 p.m. ET.
Harris’ plan for middle-class families
Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark focused on the burden of child care costs, saying Harris and Walz “know that when everyone can find and afford child care, our kids and our communities will thrive.”
The Harris campaign said it aims to keep some money in middle-class consumers’ pockets by reducing their tax burden.
The plans include a restoration of the expanded child tax credit of $3,600 per child that expired in 2022. Harris also proposed an additional, new $6,000 child tax credit for families with a child in the first year of life.
What Harris has proposed to help homeowners
Former HUD secretary Marcia Fudge and Congressman Ted Lieu just touted Harris’ housing proposals, which she unveiled last week.
Harris has vowed to provide up to $25,000 in down-payment support for first-time homeowners and called for the construction of 3 million new housing units to ease the housing supply shortage.
Sen. Padilla: ‘I knew that I had some big Chuck Taylors to fill’
Sen. Alex Padilla, the first Latino to represent California and Vice President Kamala Harris’ Senate successor, told the crowd “I knew that I had some big Chuck Taylors to fill.”
Harris for years has often sported the popular shoe.
White outfits fill convention arena
White outfits peppered the convention hall here in an ode to suffragists and Harris’ historic candidacy.
The outfit motif has been a hallmark of House Democrats, who have used the color to send a signal at major events, such as past state of the union addresses, including this year’s, when Democrats sought to make a point about abortion.
-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod
DJ gets crowd moving to ‘Lil Boo Thang’
Chicago’s DJ Metro got the crowd to its feet, dancing to “Lil Boo Thang” by Paul Russell, at the start of the night.
100,000 balloons ready to end the night: Source
Convention organizers have 100,000 balloons ready to drop at the end of the evening, according to a source with knowledge.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
4th night of the DNC underway
The fourth and final night of the DNC is officially underway.
The theme of the night is “For our future” and will feature a keynote address from Vice President Kamala Harris as she accepts the party’s nominee for president.
Emhoff says Harris remains focused on issues ahead of ‘her big moment’
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said Vice President Kamala Harris remains focused on the issues even “while she is preparing for her big moment tonight.”
“She has been in the Oval Office with the president on all of these major issues. She’s been in the Situation Room on all these major issues, just with what’s happening now,” he said Thursday at an event about combating antisemitism hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
“She’s still working on these issues while she is preparing for her big moment tonight. That’s what leaders do,” he continued.
Harris has spent the day continuing to review her speech and tweaking it by hand as she prepares to deliver what will be the most important remarks of her political life, a personal familiar with the preparation told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Mary Bruce
Harris, Emhoff wish each other happy 10th anniversary
Vice President Kamala Harris wished her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff a happy anniversary on Thursday ahead of her acceptance speech at the DNC. The couple are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.
“To the best partner I could ask for: Happy anniversary, Dougie,” Harris posted on social media, with a picture of the two visiting campaign headquarters in Wilmington the day after she announced her candidacy.
Earlier Thursday, Emhoff did the same, posting a slideshow of photos of himself and Harris.
“Ten years of marriage, forever to go,” Emhoff wrote. “Happy anniversary, @WRQ11HGNB. I love you.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
Meet the oldest DNC delegate, Angie Gialloreto
Angie Gialloreto, 95, has attended every Democratic National Convention since 1976, when Jimmy Carter was on the ticket.
Since the 99-year-old former president could not attend this year’s DNC due to his health issues, Gialloreto is the oldest delegate to travel to Chicago, where she will watch Harris accept her party’s nomination.
The Pennsylvania native told ABC News the possibility that Harris could become the first woman to serve as president was a long time coming because women “have taken a back seat many years and now we’ll have a leader.”
When asked how she would celebrate if Harris ends up victorious during the November general election against Donald Trump, Gialloreto said she will focus on “getting ready for the next election of local candidates.”
-ABC News’ Morgan Gstalter
Walz meets with former students in Chicago
The morning after accepting his party’s nomination for vice president, Walz gathered in Chicago with former staff, family, friends and former students — including some of the football players who appeared on-stage Wednesday night at the United Center.
ABC News spotted Walz at a Chicago hotel on Thursday morning.
During that meeting, he mingled with several of his former Mankato West High School students over an informal breakfast, according to a source familiar with Walz’s movements. Some of those who met with Walz at the hotel were observed by ABC News donning “Harris-Walz Alumni” T-shirts.
Earlier in the day, Walz posted a video on X showing him hug and greet the students backstage at the convention.
-ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Allison Pecorin and MaryAlice Parks
How Harris prepares for big speeches
Former campaign managers and senior staffers who worked Harris through the years shed light on how she prepares for big speeches.
They said she’s a trial lawyer at her core, and so preparation was key as well as being ready for audience reactions.
In crafting a speech, she would start with themes, outline and then focus in on what she wanted to say well in advance. She would be intimately involved in every speech, making edits and collaborating with those around her.
They said like most people she gets nervous, but would relax, review the remarks, save her voice, conserve energy and rest up.
-ABC News’ Zohreen Shah
What some of Chicago’s young voters think about the 2024 election
Three young voters — one liberal, one moderate and one conservative — discussed their thoughts on the 2024 election while in Chicago for the DNC.
-538’s Nathaniel Rakich
Trump to do live play-by-play of Harris’ speech on Truth Social
Former President Donald Trump said he will do a “LIVE PLAY BY PLAY on TRUTH Social” of Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech at the DNC Thursday night.
“We will start at 10 P.M., Eastern, and be covering and commenting on some of the earlier Speeches made, prior to hers,” Trump posted on his social media platform before going on to slam the dropout of President Joe Biden and saying he was going to “expose” Harris’ policies.
-ABC News Lalee Ibssa
Harris campaign dodges question on why there isn’t a Palestinian speaker at DNC
The Harris campaign at a briefing Thursday morning dodged a question from ABC News on why there isn’t a Palestinian speaker at the convention and why simply saying former President Donald Trump would be worse for Arab-Americans is not the campaign taking their votes for granted.
“No, we’re absolutely not taking their votes for granted,” campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said. “I think, as it relates to uncommitted delegates at this convention, we’re proud, glad that they are here. We’ve worked to engage them throughout the convention.”
Tyler noted a panel conversation that was held with members of the uncommitted movement and said Harris recently engaged with the movement’s leadership in Michigan. He also emphasized that the vice president is working toward a resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict “with a permanent cease-fire that allows Israel to fully secure itself, that fully continues and make sure that we have full humanitarian aid, but also make sure that Gazans are able to peacefully live and prosper in Gaza.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie
12:58 PM EDT Gun control to be featured ahead of Harris’ remarks
Before Vice President Kamala Harris takes center stage Thursday night, gun violence survivors and gun safety advocates will address the DNC, according to Harris-Walz campaign spokesman Michael Tyler.
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, Rep. Maxwell Frost and the “Tennessee Three” — state Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, are also expected to speak.
Tyler told reporters Govs. Gretchen Whitmer and Roy Cooper, Sens. Mark Kelly and Elizabeth Warren, and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger — a member of Jan 6. select committee — will give remarks too.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
10:11 AM EDT Kamala Harris to tell her personal story in acceptance speech
The fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention is leading up to a dramatic finale: Kamala Harris giving her acceptance speech and getting to tell her personal story — in her own words — to an audience of millions.
She’s expected talk about a middle-class upbringing with a working mother. She will continue to stress the themes we’ve heard from speakers throughout the convention: optimism and patriotism — the “politics of joy” — drawing a contrast, her campaign says, with the “dark” vision of Donald Trump.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Matt Gaetz defeated his Republican primary opponent on Tuesday in one of Florida’s most conservative congressional districts, according to an Associated Press projection, handing former Speaker Kevin McCarthy a final blow to his so-called “revenge tour” against a handful of Republicans who helped oust him last year.
“Thank you FL-01. I will never stop fighting for you,” Gaetz posted on X shortly after the race was called.
Despite being outspent in the race — with a McCarthy-aligned group pouring $3 million into attack ads — Gaetz is projected to handily defeat former Navy pilot Aaron Dimmock, who he’d dismissed as a carpetbagger and criticized his previous work in diversity training.
Although Gaetz was the heavy favorite heading into Tuesday, he ramped up campaigning in recent weeks, holding a string of events across Florida’s 1st district, which featured several Republicans who had supported his effort to remove McCarthy from the speakership last year, including Arizona Rep. Eli Crane and Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett.
Gaetz’s win marks yet another defeat for McCarthy, who has looked to target the group of eight far-right members of Congress, led by Gaetz, who were instrumental in his removal as House Speaker, which led to weeks of chaos on Capitol Hill as Republican members scrambled to elect a new leader.
With Tuesday’s primary in the books, McCarthy’s efforts against his far-right rivals only resulted in one big win against the so-called “Gaetz eight,” helping defeat House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good in one of the most closely watched and expensive Republican primaries of the 2024 election cycle. Meanwhile, he failed to unseat any others, including South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who won her primary decisively.
Gaetz’s for governor?
Tuesday’s primary victory will likely also fuel further speculation around Gaetz’s plans to run for governor of Florida in 2026, as Gov. Ron DeSantis will be term-limited from seeking re-election. Although the Florida congressman has consistently denied rumors that he is eyeing statewide office, some sources close to him suggest otherwise.
If Gaetz does decide to run, McCarthy’s revenge tour could continue. Allies of the former Speaker have already briefed donors on plans to continue targeting Gaetz if he pursues the governorship, sources tell ABC News. Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, a McCarthy-aligned group circulated a memo that suggested its efforts had damaged Gaetz’s chances of running for governor, pointing to polling data it had commissioned that showed Gaetz trailing in a prospective primary.
But those close to Gaetz told ABC News that the Florida congressman is likely to run for governor in 2026, and McCarthy’s efforts won’t deter him—in fact, they might even motivate him further.
“McCarthy did not do a single f—ing thing to dissuade Matt from running for governor,” a source close to Gaetz told ABC News. “If that was the effort, it’s been a piss-poor one.”
Still, Gaetz has publicly stated that he has no plans to run—at least not yet.
“I have no plans to run for governor. I like my job and I want to help President Trump in Washington,” Gaetz posted on X on Monday. “If those plans change, I hope I have opposition as incompetent as these dorks.”
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon will stand trial beginning Dec. 9 on charges he defrauded donors to an online effort to raise money for a wall along the U.S. southern border.
During a brief hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors said they would take three to four days to present evidence. Defense attorneys expected their case to last two days.
Bannon, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence for contempt of Congress, did not attend the hearing.
“Mr. Bannon was excused by the court,” Judge April Newbauer said.
Prosecutors sought a trial date in November, but Newbauer said that was too soon since Bannon will not be released from FCI Danbury until October.
“This trial was originally set for May. We were prepared to try it then,” Assistant District Attorney Dan Passesser said.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty and asked the court to dismiss the charges in January. Newbauer said she would rule on that request in late August.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has said Bannon defrauded donors to the nonprofit We Build the Wall by falsely promising that none of the money they donated would be used to pay the salary of the organization’s president, Brian Kolfage, while secretly funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to him by laundering it through third-party entities.
The campaign said We Build the Wall would use the money to privately construct the border wall — a central tenant of Trump’s 2016 campaign, and again on his current campaign — and prosecutors said a “central piece of the public messaging in support of this fundraising effort was that Kolfage was not taking a penny of compensation.”
Financial records show Kolfage was paid according to a secret salary arrangement — an upfront payment of $100,000 and monthly payments of approximately $20,000.
Kolfage was sentenced to 51 months in prison in April 2023 for his role in the fundraiser, which generated upward of $25 million in donations.
