CINCINNATI — Vice President JD Vance said he hopes the "thugs" who were involved in a violent fight in downtown Cincinnati over the weekend are "prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
"I haven't seen the full context, but what I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person," Vance said when asked whether he had seen the clips of the fight circulating online.
The Middletown native who has a home in Cincinnati stated that he does not know the full context of the videos nor how the fight started, but said what he saw was "disgusting."
"You had a grown man who sucker punched a middle-aged woman, and where I come from at least, when you have a grown man who sucker punches a middle-aged woman, that person oughta go to jail for a very long time," Vance said.
Vance said he believes the people involved will be prosecuted "so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio takes their job seriously," calling out authorities who have "allowed lawlessness to run wild."
"The only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engaged in that violence and throw their asses in prison," Vance said.
The VP said he was sent a clip by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who has also spoken out against Mayor Aftab Pureval for the city's response to the fight. After Pureval released a statement Monday saying he is "outraged" by the videos and called it "unacceptable and disgusting behavior," Moreno questioned how long it took to react.
"Cincinnati Mayor waits over two days to issue a poll tested statement," Moreno said on social media. "I’ve been in touch with all of the victims. They haven’t heard a word from their Mayor or their Congressman. Pathetic."
Hear more from Pureval and other city and national leaders in the video below:
