(NewsNation) — Sen. JD Vance’s past comment about “childless cat ladies” has caused controversy in recent days but former President Donald Trump defended his running mate Wednesday, saying he believes Vance’s comments meant that he’s “strongly family oriented.”

Trump participated in a conversation with journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago when he was asked about Vance’s comments. 

“My interpretation is that he is strongly family-oriented but that doesn’t mean if you don’t have a family, there’s something wrong,” Trump said in an attempt to walk back Vance’s earlier comments. 

“What he’s saying is that he thinks the family experiences a very important thing. It’s a very good thing” he said adding it’s not a bad thing if an individual doesn’t “meet somebody that would be wonderful to meet.” 

In a resurfaced 2021 interview with former Fox News, Vance said that the U.S. was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Vance drew widespread criticism over his words, but stood behind it this week calling it a “sarcastic comment.”

But while Trump defended Vance, he also played down his importance saying “the choice of a vice president makes no difference” and has “virtually no impact” in an election.

Trump said he picked his running mate “because he’s a very strong believer in work as the working man and woman, and especially the working man and woman who have been treated very unfairly.”

He also touted Vance’s admission to Yale Law School despite coming from a “difficult family situation.”

But the former president also took credit for Vance being elected as Ohio’s senator saying it happened because Trump endorsed him.

Trump also addressed a viral clip on social media where Vance proposed that people with children be given more voting power than people without kids.

When asked if he shares the position at Wednesday’s event he replied “Well, no, but it’s not something I’ve ever heard before.”