Press Gaggle: JD Vance Speaks to Reporters Prior to Air Force Two Departure - July 1, 2026

Mr. Vice President, how are you doing, sir? Why do you think --

Hold on, guys. First of all, I want to say thanks to Jen Kiggins, who's doing an amazing job. You know, she actually -- her last duty station as an active-duty service member was at this very base, so she cares a lot about the people who serve here, the active-duty service members. She's also been an amazing champion for our veterans, and I know we have a lot of those in her district, but of course, all across the country.

So, I really want to come, obviously show our support for the troops, thank them for everything that they've done, but also just give a little shout out to Jen because she's been such a happy warrior on behalf of our veterans and service members. So, I think you were very happy to see them and very happy to get to spend some time with them.

This was a great honor, to be able to have you here, Mr. Vice President, and the Secretary of the VA. We do have such a large veteran population, but also a large active-duty population. And this base is meaningful to me personally as a Navy veteran, as a Navy wife, now as a proud Navy mom of a Navy pilot.

So, there's a lot of work to be done here. And I fight for these guys every day of the week. I know our local media knows this; the quality of life measures we've put in place; the work we've done to make sure our warfighters have the resources they need. The Navy is our district; the military is our district; our veterans are our district.

So, very important amongst the other work that we have the privilege of doing in Washington. But this is definitely a priority and what a better -- no better time than 250th birthday of our great nation. So, thank you so much for being here.

Of course, absolutely. Of course, one of the things we're proudest of in the Trump administration is that we've seen a massive reduction in backlogs for veterans who are calling the VA to get the treatment and the benefits they deserve. Doug, why don't you say a little bit about that, because that's been because of your great work.

Well, one of the things the president said, he said go take care of veterans, and this will help the people like Jen Kiggins and Congress. And we've been able to partner together to lower backlogs. Just to let you know, when we stepped in from the previous administration, we had 260,000 backlogged claims over 125 days.

I'm here to tell you historic lows were in the 60s from 137 days down to 77 days. That's what it means to put a veteran first in the VA. With help like Jen, who works at it every day on the Congress side, with the vice president and the president, we all work together to do one thing, to put veterans first at the VA. Time for -- wait times are going down, more people are getting services.

We've actually opened, Mr. Vice President, 2 million more appointment times across the country that did not exist a year ago so we can take care of our younger veterans. These folks coming out right here, they're going to be taken care of. Thank you all.

OK, thank you, Doug. All right, questions.

Thanks, Mr. Vice President. Why do you think Ocasio-Cortez says she hopes that you're the nominee in the 2028 presidential election?

I don't know. I don't think much about 2028. As you know, my attitude is let's do a good job now. Let's continue to try to bank some wins for the American people. We can worry about the future when the future comes, but we've got an important midterm election here. We've got to keep the people in Congress who've been fighting for our troops and our veterans, like Jen Kiggins, in office.

That's what I'm focused on.

Yeah, that mid-term convention -- In line with your remarks just now, can you commit that the US won't return to full-fledged combat operations before the 60-day clock on the MOU [Inaudible]

Well, I can't commit to anything because, obviously, it depends on what the Iranians are ultimately going to do. As I said up there, what I can commit to is the president's not going to send our military back in unless he has to, unless there's a clearly defined purpose for it. I think that was really the contrast.

I was trying to draw between open ended military commitments with no clear objective, and what the president of the United States has done, which is define an objective, go and accomplish that objective. If we've got to do more, of course, that's kind of up to the Iranians. If they try to rebuild their nuclear program, if they try to start shooting at commercial vessels again, that's going to change our calculus.

But right now, what the president has said is go and make a deal, go and negotiate in good faith and that's what he's empowered us to do.

Sir, do you think Justice Alito will retire before the end of the term -- or before the next term?

I don't know. You know, Justice Alito is such an amazing guy, and I think the Supreme Court -- he would be irreplaceable. But of course, if he retired, that's up to him and we would try to do the best job we could at finding a proper replacement.

Vice President, what are the status of the Doha talks that the president mentioned earlier in the week?

Well, right now the technical negotiators are sitting down with the Iranians, with the Qataris and with others in Doha talking about some of the details here, making sure commercial traffic really does -- it's already started in an amazing direction. We've got now oil at $68. We've got gas prices starting to come down.

But really just ensuring that we continue to make progress on that and that's what they're focused on. And then, obviously, we're worried about the nuclear issue. We're going to start talking about that. So, right now the talks are going well, it's still pretty early, but talks are going well.

When you spoke at the briefing room a couple of weeks back, you mentioned there are well-known factions within the Iranian government that you're struggling -- not struggling, I should say, but you kind of have to negotiate with both. Can you give us a little more color on what those factions look like? Who is helpful and being productive in those talks and who is not?

Well, look, I think in the Iranian system, like a lot of places, you've got people who actually recognize the last 47 years of their government has been a mistake and that they need to change their relationship with the United States, with Europe, with the Gulf Arab countries. And then you've got a few people who are still kind of attached to the old ways.

We think we see a lot of momentum for the people who are trying to turn over a new leaf. We're obviously going to give -- that's why we're going to give the negotiations as much of a chance to succeed as possible. But of course, as I said to somebody earlier, if they try to rebuild that nuclear program, if they refuse to let inspections in, if they keep -- if they, I should say, resume shooting at commercial vessels, which they have stopped for a few days, then obviously, the president still has a lot of options on the table.

We'll do one more question. Anybody?

Some conservatives are angry with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, are you one of them?

Well, look, do I think she made a mistake in the ruling? I do. I don't know how anybody can say that if a person who is an illegal alien or a person, for example, who's pregnant and comes to the United States on a vacation, they have a baby, and all of a sudden, their entire family gets the benefits of American citizenship.

I don't think that's what the framers of the 14th amendment had in mind. I don't think it's the right case. But look, it was 5-4; sometimes the Supreme Court makes mistakes, we're going to try to correct that mistake. But nobody's perfect, including the Supreme Court. See you guys. Have a happy 4th if I don't talk to you.

Happy 4th.