Ben Sasse, JD Vance clash over how to handle Afghan refugees

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Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance and Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., are currently in a war of words that underscores intraparty tensions over how best to handle Afghan refugees.

While appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Sasse was asked about Vance and others criticizing President Biden's move to bring refugees to the U.S. 

Sasse argued, however, that the U.S. had an obligation to those to who helped the country. 

"A great nation is a nation that keeps its word," Sasse said. He added that the refugees were "men and women who risked their lives to protect Americans. They fought hand-in-hand with our troops and we made promises to them."

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Vance responded by criticizing Sasse in a video posted to Twitter and while appearing on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." 

Sasse, he said, was serving up a "ridiculous platitude" in arguing that America should keep its word. 

"Of course, nobody disagrees with that … the question is not whether we honor our word," Vance said. 

"The question is who we made promises to, who do we owe an obligation toward? And to any leader of this country, the obvious answer should be American citizens. So, let's focus first on getting them out of Afghanistan before we say another word about the Afghan refugees."

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While appearing on "Tucker Carlson Tonight," Vance similarly said: "[Sasse] says that we gave our word. Well, who did we give our word to? Where is this contract that says we have to take tens of thousands of poorly vetted Afghan refugees at the height of chaos. The person who made that contract … would be a terrible negotiator. I know that Donald Trump didn't do it … we should be putting the interests of our own citizens first."

National Review reported earlier on Monday that Sasse's communications director appeared to take aim at Vance for criticizing and later supporting former President Trump. 

"J.D. Vance version 6.0 is lying to get attention and Ben’s trying to save Americans and our allies. Everybody has their priorities," said communications director James Wegmann.

Wegmann and a spokesperson for Vance declined to provide additional comment.

Vance, who's been seen as furthering Trump's populist vision for the GOP, said earlier this year that he regretted criticizing the former president. 

"Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016," he told Fox News in July. "And I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy." 

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Trump, in 2019, offered a surprising endorsement of Sasse after the senator had become one of his most prominent critics within the Republican Party. At the time, The New York Times published a story with the headline: "Senator Ben Sasse, Vocal Trump Critic, Goes Mum After President’s Endorsement." He had declined to comment on the endorsement, although Wegmann reportedly said it was unsolicited. Sasse said the same last August. 

"Ben’s grateful for the president’s kind words," Wegmann said, according to the Times. "They don’t always see eye to eye, but they’ve built a relationship where they work together when they agree and they wrestle hard when they don’t."