Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol have reportedly been directed to provide security to U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) following the failed assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday.
Black Chevrolet Suburbans with government-issued license plates were seen at Vance’s Cincinnati home each day since the assassination attempt on Trump.
Ohio Governor approved the request for extra security just hours after the assassination attempt of the former president, according to News 5 Cleveland.
When asked who requested the security, a spokesman for DeWine and the Ohio State Highway Patrol did not comment further, the outlet noted.
Vance is reportedly one of three top vice presidential candidates – along with Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum – for Trump, who is reportedly expected to announce his running mate on Monday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Trump landed in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention as scheduled on Sunday less than 24 hours after surviving the assassination attempt.
The former president’s arrival in Milwaukee came the day after he was grazed by a single bullet in his upper right ear in what is being investigated as a failed assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Minutes after Trump took the stage in Butler at approximately 6:13 p.m. on Saturday, a suspected shooter – who has since been identified as 20-year old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania – fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the venue.
Crooks, who shot and killed one spectator and injured three others including the former president, was fatally shot by Secret Service personnel.
Ohio’s Vance made headlines for his reaction to the assassination attempt, blaming the incident on “rhetoric” from the Biden campaign.
Today is not just some isolated incident.
The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs.
That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination.
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) July 14, 2024
“Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance said in an X post following the shooting.
“That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination,” Vance added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Sen. JD Vance” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
