So-called free speech warriors at Turning Point USA have been accused of screening questions during Vice President JD Vance’s appearance at the University of Georgia.
A college student claims in a viral TikTok that a staff member quizzed attendees on what they planned to ask Vance during the Tuesday event before attempting to cut off questions before he reached the front of the line.
“They might preach for freedom of speech and non-censorship, but this was just my experience,” the student said.
The student, who has not identified himself, was still able to ask his question about the Epstein files. However, he says he was only able to do so because the vice president encouraged more questions after an unnamed staff member tried to end the Q&A session.
“I sat at the front of the event and was prepared to ask a question on whether there should be a formal investigation,” the student explained. “When the spotlight came on for the Q&A, five people were already standing there, wearing suits and dresses with TPUSA lanyards, already positioned there. I still got up and got in line, and I think I was the first one there that was not a part of TPUSA, so I just sat in line and got ready to ask my question.”
Next came the intense screening, he claims.
“This lady in a blue top was going around asking people, especially not in TPUSA, what topic we were going to ask about,” he said. “When I was waiting in line, and the lady came up to me, I could tell from her tone that they were probably screening questions by topic. So I just said that I was going to ask about foreign policy.”
The student claims that a “few” people approached him and asked what his question was. Then, once he was second in line, the same staff member who initially quizzed him took the mic and announced that the next question—the one just before him—would be the night’s last.
However, the 41-year-old Vance insisted that the questions keep coming at the sparsely attended event, giving the student hope that his query on Epstein would be heard.
“OK, can we take two more? Because I like it,” Vance said. “I like to answer questions. We’ll take a couple more.”
The student says the staff member reacted by “immediately” asking him again what his question was, going so far as to ask him to read it aloud to her.
“I was astonished by how they were talking to us, so I went off to the side to talk to somebody sitting down,” he continued.
Once he stood back up, he realized that he was no longer on deck.
“I look back, and immediately someone had cut me in line,” he says, with a stream of the event backing up his account. “The lady in blue put this girl right in front of me because her topic was ‘better than mine.’”
The student did not respond to a TikTok message seeking an interview. TPUSA did not respond to a request for comment, but the video has elicited criticism from others on the right.
The student’s Epstein question—“How can the public trust that this administration will hold anyone accountable when its own justice department is actively blocking the investigation?”—elicited a response from Vance that ultimately made headlines.
“I’m probably more obsessed with this than most officials,” Vance said, telling the audience that he had read an email in the Epstein files that “sounded like the Pizzagate conspiracy theory” but still warranted investigation.
“My reaction to that was, ‘We should absolutely investigate that person,’” he continued. “I’m going to follow up on that to see whether we’ve investigated that person because we should. We absolutely should when you see evidence of sexual assault, sexual misconduct, regardless of whether you are powerful or not, you should probably investigate it more, if you’re a powerful person.”
