Donald Trump defends Ohio Sen. JD Vance after backlash over 'childless cat ladies' comment

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to choose JD Vance as his running mate but declined to say whether he thinks the Ohio senator is ready to be president if necessary.

Trump fielded several questions about Vance during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago. His remarks came after a rocky debut for the GOP vice-presidential nominee: As Vance criss-crossed the country for campaign rallies, he faced backlash for his criticism of "childless cat ladies" and was mocked for a joke he made about Democrats believing Diet Mountain Dew is racist.

More: Trump questions Kamala Harris' racial identity at NABJ, says she 'happened to turn Black'

Fox News host Harris Faulkner asked Trump whether Vance would be ready to take over "on Day 1," noting that the former president recently survived an assassination attempt. Trump didn't answer the question directly.

"Historically, the choice of a vice president makes no difference," Trump said. "You're voting for the president. You can have a vice president who's outstanding in every way, and I think JD is. I think that all of them would have been. But you're not voting that way. You're voting for the president. You're voting for me."

Many of Vance's past comments, which also dogged his Senate campaign, have resurfaced since he secured the vice-presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. In multiple interviews, he advocated for people to have more children and said Americans who don't have less of a stake in the country's future. He suggested parents should get more votes at the ballot box and pay lower taxes.

Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats have sought to paint Vance as a risk to women's rights in the first presidential election since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In Chicago, Trump cast his running mate as a family man who "thinks the family experience is a very important thing."

"That doesn't mean that if you grow up and you grow older and you don't meet somebody that would be wonderful to meet and would've been good, that that's a bad thing," Trump said. "He's not saying that."

The former president also outlined why he chose Vance in the first place, even though other Republicans considered for the role have more political experience. Trump rattled off the senator's resume and said his difficult upbringing equips him to reach working class Americans − something the campaign hopes will be an advantage in key Rust Belt states.

"He's made himself an amazing life," Trump said. "He then goes to Ohio, lives in Ohio − and he had my endorsement, that helped − but he wins the Senate. He becomes a United States senator. He's a United States senator. So Harris, like I respect you for your success, I respect people for their success."

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Donald Trump defends JD Vance in NABJ interview