What Did Trump Tell Vance During Bishop Budde’s Plea? What’s Known and What Isn’t

Clips from a prayer service in January 2025 are getting a second life online, with viewers asking what President Trump said to Vice President JD Vance right after a bishop pleaded with him for mercy. Here is what is documented, and what is not.

The service took place on Jan. 21, 2025, not this week. It is being revisited from that date.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington gave the sermon at the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral. Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vance and second lady Usha Vance were among those attending, according to CBS News and Episcopal News Service.

Speaking directly to Trump, Budde said: “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” She continued: “I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.” CBS News reported that she also spoke about gay, lesbian and transgender children who fear for their lives.

Asked about the service afterward, Trump told reporters: “Did you like it? You find it exciting? Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service,” CBS News reported. In a Truth Social post early the next morning, he wrote that Budde was “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart” and “She and her church owe the public an apology!” according to CBS News. Episcopal News Service reported that he also called her a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” and a “so-called bishop.”

Budde declined to apologize. “I regret that it was something that has caused the kind of response that it has,” she said. “But, no, I won’t apologize for what I said.” She also said she wanted to make clear that “there is room for mercy,” according to Episcopal News Service.

Video from the service appears to show Trump leaning toward Vance after Budde’s plea. What he said has not been confirmed. Neither Trump, Vance nor the White House has publicly said, in the coverage reviewed for this article, and CBS News’s account of the service does not describe any exchange between them.

The best-known claim came the next day from Tyla, which quoted a lip reader named Jeremy Freeman. He said Trump told Vance, “Can you believe it? … Vile,” while acknowledging he was unsure of the last word. Tyla presented it as Freeman’s belief and said it had contacted the White House for comment. It is one person’s interpretation of a video clip, not a confirmed quote.