A spokesperson for JD Vance criticized the Associated Press (AP) for publishing a misleading headline that implied the Republican vice presidential candidate had downplayed school shootings as a “fact of life.” In an comment to Fox News Digital, William Martin accused the AP of “brazenly lying” about Vance’s remarks.
He said: “This is yet another case of the fake news media brazenly lying about a Republican politician.Senator Vance said exactly the opposite of what the Associated Press claimed. It should come as no surprise that the AP lost any and all credibility it had years ago, because they will lie about literally anything in order prop up the Democrats. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has called for all police officers to be removed from schools, putting children all over America at risk. It’s yet another example of how Kamala Harris’s weak, failed, and dangerously liberal agenda makes her unfit for office.”

At a Phoenix rally, Vance had commented on a recent school shooting in Georgia, saying, “I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines…our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools.” The AP’s initial headline and social media post, which summarized his comments as, “JD Vance says school shootings are a ‘fact of life,’” was criticized for being misleading. AP later revised the headline to clarify Vance’s statement, stating he “laments” the shootings and called for better security.
In response, the Harris-Walz campaign criticized Vance and Donald Trump, claiming they prioritize the NRA and gun lobby over children’s safety, while Vice President Harris advocates for action to prevent school shootings.

JD Vance vs AP

The Associated Press (AP) earlier retracted an article that fact-checked false claims about JD Vance, alleging he wrote about “having sex with a couch” in his memoir

Hillbilly Elegy

. The article, initially published to debunk the rumour, was removed because it did not meet AP’s editorial standards, inadvertently amplifying the baseless claim due to the “Streisand effect.”
The rumour originated from a tweet falsely citing Vance’s memoir, which was widely shared on social media. The AP’s fact-check confirmed that no such content exists in the book, yet the retraction drew more attention to the controversy. Social media reactions ranged from criticism of AP’s handling of the situation to humour and disbelief, highlighting the difficulty of addressing misinformation without unintentionally fuelling it.