When former President Donald Trump had been shot in the ear at the Butler rally in Pennsylvania, J.D. was playing mini-golf with his family in Cincinnati. Vance had not yet been chosen by Trump as his vice presidential candidate at that time.
During his participation in the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience by Joe Rogan, Vance gave details about the former president's terrifying day.
"I thought, 'My God, they just killed him.'"
“In fact, I thought he had been killed because when I saw the video for the first time, he grabbed his ear and then fell,” Vance recalled after watching the video of Trump's rally on July 13th. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, they just killed him’.”
The senator, who lives in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, said he arrived home and loaded his guns: "At first I was very angry, but then I entered a kind of fight or flight mode with my children... We were at a mini-golf course in Cincinnati, Ohio. I grabbed my kids, put them in the car, went home, and loaded all my guns. And basically, I stood like a sentinel at our front door, and that was my reaction," he said.
Even Vance's neighbors told The Enquirer that they noticed there was more security outside their house after the assassination attempt on Trump.
Vance could have been present at the shooting.
Vance recounted that days before the rally, Trump told him he was one of the favorites to be his vice president and suggested they go to Butler together, but Trump ultimately decided not to do it because he needed more time to prepare the announcement. Two days later, the former president announced J.D. Vance as his running mate.
“I am a person of faith, but I believe it’s a true miracle that guy didn’t kill him,” Vance continued. “But how did he get so close? There are many important questions we should be asking.”