'Biggest liars': J.D. Vance cornered as freedom speech sunk by Musk's own comments

Vice President J.D. Vance was swiftly put in his place by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) when he tried to claim European countries are engaged in an assault on free speech.

Vance was responding to a news clip in which German prosecutors were asked "Is posting an insult a crime?" and "Is it a crime to repost a lie?" — and they responded "yes."

German law guarantees a right to freedom of speech but, as with many European countries, that right is not as absolute as it is in the U.S. Constitution, with exceptions criminalizing hate speech — an issue taken seriously in Germany due to the country's history with the rise of Nazi dictatorship. German police have instituted a crackdown this year on internet trolls under these laws, sparking extensive debate about where the limits should be on speech protections.

"Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships," wrote Vance in reply to the clip posted by the right-wing X account End Wokeness. "This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the U.S. must reject this lunacy."

But Murphy saw this as a bit of a rich complaint, given how unconcerned Trump and his own allies are with threatening people over speech and journalism.

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"Now do you guys," he wrote, displaying a screenshot of a recent X post by pro-Trump tech billionaire Elon Musk. Musk, who has also criticized Germany's hate speech law himself, had written, "60 Minutes are the biggest liars in the world! They engaged in deliberate deception to interfere with the last election. They deserve a long prison sentence."

Musk is referring to an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory by President Donald Trump that the CBS program 60 Minutes deceptively edited their interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in last year's election to make her look better (Trump was offered his own competing interview on the program, but declined.) Trump has threatened CBS with the loss of their broadcast license and filed a personal lawsuit against the network.

In recent weeks, Paramount, CBS' parent company, has discussed the possibility of settling the lawsuit, even though experts are adamant it has no merit, in the hope that it will prevent the Trump administration from axing their planned multibillion-dollar merger with entertainment company Skydance. However, some Paramount executives are worried such a deal would create the appearance they bribed the administration to bypass trade regulations, which could open them up to shareholder lawsuits or criminal charges.