VP Vance's Munich speech praised as 'Churchillian' moment as CBS host faces criticism for response

Turley praised VP Vance's Munich Security Conference address, criticizing European free speech laws: 'You can't claim to be defending democracy when you eviscerate the very right that defines us'.

JONATHAN TURLEY: It was a historic speech by Vice President Vance. In 1963, John F. Kennedy went to Berlin to say, I'm a Berliner, to say that he was going to stand with the rights of free speech and other rights of those behind the Iron Curtain. Vance went, in this case, to Munich and said, I am an American, and as an American, I will fight for free speech. He confronted our allies and saying, you can't claim to be defending democracy when you are eviscerating the very right that defines us. I wrote a book called ‘The Indispensable Right’ and it talks about Germany, the United Kingdom and our other allies where free speech is in free fall, and so this was a very welcome speech for the free speech community, not just the United States, but in Europe. And I'm hearing from a lot of my colleagues in Europe saying that this was a true Churchillian moment for the free speech community.  This article was written by Fox News staff.

Vance called out the organizers of the Munich conference, who he said had "banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations."

Vance said the continent's recent censorship activities were a bigger threat to its existence than Russia, "The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China. It's not any other external actor," he said in an address at the Munich Security Conference. "What I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America."