Vice President JD Vance on Monday blasted the “mob of lawless thugs” engaged in a “really gruesome” weekend attack on white people in Cincinnati, as he urged law enforcement to “throw their a**es in prison.”
His remarks came as police have reportedly identified at least four suspects.
Speaking to a crowd in Canton, Ohio, Vance said: “I haven’t seen the full context, but what I saw was a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person and it’s disgusting.
“And I hope every single one of those people who engaged in violence is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And they will be, they will be so long as law enforcement in the state of Ohio takes their job seriously.
BREAKING: VP JD Vance GOES OFF on the viral clip of a violent mob attacking a woman at the Cincinnati Jazz Festival
“Take the THUGS who engaged in that violence and throw their ASSES IN PRISON.”
“You had a grown man who sucker punched a middle-aged woman! That person ought… pic.twitter.com/xYcwCrdWyL
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 28, 2025
Vance continued: “I don’t know how the fight started, but the one part that I saw that was really gruesome is you had a grown man who sucker-punched a middle-aged woman. And from where I come from, at least, when you have a grown man who sucker-punches a middle-aged woman, that person ought to go to jail for a very long time.
“And frankly, he’s lucky there weren’t some better people around because they would have handled it themselves. But if they’re not gonna handle it, the cops in Cincinnati, the law enforcement, you’ve got to prosecute people. We’ve had way too much lawlessness on the streets of great American cities.
“We have got to make great American cities safe again for families and children,” Vance concluded.
“If you want to take your wife or your children out for a meal, you shouldn’t be worried about street violence, and the only way to destroy that street violence is to take the thugs who engage in that violence and throw their a**es in prison.”
BREAKING: Following pressure from Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon, Cincinnati police have just identified at least FOUR suspects involved in the all-out assault at the jazz festival.
They are now looking for possible arrests.
This SHOULD NOT have required pressure from the… pic.twitter.com/umq9ZYcQw4
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 28, 2025
Ken Kober, president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police, told WLWT-TV he believes the victims were taken to the hospital with “pretty serious injuries” and would be “recovering from this for a while.”
“There’s a difference between a mutual fight and an absolute savage attack. You have somebody who’s knocked to the ground and kicked in the head by multiple people and a woman trying to break this up and she gets knocked out. Just because it starts as a mutual fight, it doesn’t give you the right to savagely attack somebody,” Kober said.
Cincinnati FOP President Ken Kober says 4-5 people of interest have been identified by police in connection to a violent brawl early Saturday morning that has gone viral on social media. https://t.co/qO9H2MOHR2 pic.twitter.com/RFN6QvEWfv
— WLWT (@WLWT) July 28, 2025
“If you can’t behave yourself in public, you have no business being out there. The police can’t be everywhere all the time. You have all these things going on and we only have so many police officers,” he added.
“Hopefully it tells elected officials, it tells judges that society is tired of this. It’s something that never should be here, and nearly 25 years I’ve been with the police department, I’ve never seen something this disgusting. It’s people downtown trying to enjoy themselves and this mob mentality it taking over and it needs to be addressed,” Kober said.
The horrific beating caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department and other federal officials, who are “closely” monitoring how local officials handle the investigation.
“Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the Justice Department.
“We @CivilRights will monitor closely how local authorities handle this attack. Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply.”
Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans. We @CivilRights will monitor closely how local authorities handle this attack.
Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply. https://t.co/QeADELQMsZ
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) July 27, 2025
Dhillon was responding to a post by U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who indicated: “The Mayor of Cincinnati, @AftabPureval, who has an opinion on lots of irrelevant topics, has not issued a statement, let alone a condemnation, of this heinous attack.
“Instead of dreaming about higher office, which will never happen, he should be ensuring his residents are safe.”
As WorldNetDaily reported Sunday, Cincinnati police are investigating a graphic assault by blacks Saturday injuring at least three white people, with the violence documented in disturbing viral videos.
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge is slamming the perpetrators, indicating: “I am in complete disgust waking up to the viral video many of you have now seen.”
Another man assaulted in the street during the Cincinnati Jazz Festival. Lord knows what that impact of his back on that bumper did.
…and of course the crowd is cheering it on. The only surprising thing about the video is they didn’t immediately rob him after being… pic.twitter.com/iGQib0Zk0j
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) July 27, 2025
“The behavior displayed is nothing short of cruel and absolutely unacceptable. Our investigative team is working diligently to identify every individual involved in causing harm. It’s also important to clarify: this was a sudden dispute between individuals following a verbal altercation. It was not connected in any way to the Music Fest. If you have any information related to this incident, please contact Crime Stoppers immediately at 513-352-3042.”
The incident has received local media attention, but the national media have been largely silent. Elon Musk is asking, “Why zero stories?”
Why zero stories? https://t.co/O25jkVcwpi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2025
Cincinnati Police have not released any information regarding a motive.
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