US vice president JD Vance on Monday slammed journalist Mehdi Hasan for pointing out his hypocrisy after he claimed that European countries are suppressing free speech, while the White House simultaneously banned news agency Associated Press for its continued use of the Gulf of Mexico.
The war of words erupted after Hasan tagged Vance and linked to an Axios article which said that the Trump administration’s decision to indefinitely block AP from the White House over usage style was an attack on free press.
“Hey JD Vance I know you’re busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this?” Hasan said.
The social media post referred to Vance’s recent speech at Munich Security Conference on Friday where he called out European governments for suppressing free speech. He accused European Union “commissars” of suppressing free speech and blamed the continent for mass migration and accused its leaders of retreating from “some of its most fundamental values.”
Vance responded to Hasan’s comment and said that there is a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views.
“Yes dummy. I think there’s a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views. The latter is a threat to free speech, the former is not. Hope that helps!” Vance said.
This comes days after White House blocked an Associated Press journalist from covering a news conference with two major world leaders upping the stakes in a disagreement between the news agency and the Trump administration over AP’s style decision to stick with the name “Gulf of Mexico” for the body of water that the president rechristened the “Gulf of America.”