Collins challenges J.D. Vance on ‘double standard’ between Jan. 6 protesters and campus protesters

The basic problem here is that you do have some radicals in these protests who are committing violence, who are preventing students from going to class. And certainly you don’t want to arrest people who are just engaging in basic First Amendment speech. But you also want to make sure that people can go to school safely and that, you know, college campuses, which of course are public spaces, are not turned into garbage dumps by these encampments. So I I, you know, look, I’m sure that we can find examples of college administrators being too aggressive and how these they police these things. But I also think you can find some pretty good examples of students who are clearly violating the rights of other students and violating the law by engaging in some of these protests. So we’ve got to strike that balance. I think that so far we’re doing a pretty good job in this country between letting people express their viewpoint but not not making sure or or at least I should say making sure that our Jewish students and other students are able to go to class without without infringement. I think I’ll say Kaitlyn I I come with this from a very pro Israel perspective. And my my view on this is that Israel is our ally and that we should support them. But you can’t police people for being anti Israel or pro Israel. You can’t police people for violating the law. And we have seen some of that with some of these protests. OK, so you agree that that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted. Exactly. OK, I’m just checking because you did help raise money for people who did so on January 6th, which was, you know, impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building that they weren’t allowed to be in and vandalizing the capital. Well, Caitlin, I know that this is the obsession of the national media to talk about what happened two years ago, three years ago, on January the 6th. It’s not an obsession. Just seeing if it’s a double standard. No, let me. No, let me. Let me answer the question, Caitlin. Let me look here. Here’s my been my basic argument about January the 6th. If you beat up a cop, of course you deserve to go to prison. If you violated the law, you should suffer the consequences. But there are people who protested on January the 6th who have had the complete weight of the Justice Department thrown at them when at worst they’re accused of misdemeanors. Now again, there are people who are accused of worst offences and that’s a problem. But you can’t have Black Lives Matter protesters who rioted and vandalized Ghost Free when you have people who were actually peacefully protesting on January the 6th who have the book thrown at them. That’s the double standard that I’m most worried about. Yeah, I I don’t think there’s an obsession with January 6th. But but it is a legitimate question and and given what you just said there and and as Trump is getting closer to, you know, as he’s a presumptive Republican nominee, he has said he would pardon, it’s considered a blanket pardon for everyone on January 6th. Are you saying that that that shouldn’t happen? People who beat up cops should be excluded from that. Well, I think what President Trump has said, and of course he can speak for himself, but I I pay attention, pretty close attention to what he says. And you know, I think what the president has said is that people who have this double standard applied to them should be pardoned. And you, you shouldn’t have the Department of Justice letting violent offenders walk Scott free. And then you have a misdemeanor trespassing case from January the 6th. That person has their life ruined because of the law. Fair, the Biden administration. I think that’s a totally reasonable standard for the president to apply. Hopefully he does get reelected. And I think, frankly, there are some innocent people who have been caught up in the law fair, the Biden administration, Donald Trump included, if we’re being honest.