ATLANTA, Ga. — JD Vance revealed what Donald Trump told him over the phone just minutes after the ex-president became the target of a second assassination attempt on Sunday.
“He says, ‘JD, you’re not going to believe this, but they tried to do it again,’” Vance said Trump told him on a phone call 10 minutes after Secret Service agents spotted the barrel of an AK-47-style rifle peeking into the former president’s West Palm Beach golf course.
Vance was home in Cincinnati with his kids Sunday when his phone rang — “and it’s Donald J Trump,” he told the crowd at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Georgia.
“I said, ‘No, you’re joshing me. But, what’s going on here sir?’” the VP contender said he told his running mate.
Trump then informed him that a gunman — later identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, of Hawaii — planned to take him out in the second attempt on his life in roughly three months.
“I was playing golf and the Secret Service found somebody who was trying to shoot me,” Vance said Trump told him.
“I said, ‘Oh my Lord sir, I’m so glad you’re okay,’” he recounted.
Vance said that the former president told him he was fine but was “pissed off” that he wasn’t permitted to finish his birdie putt.
Secret Service agents one hole ahead of Trump spotted the gunman sticking his rifle through the course’s chainlink fence at around 2 p.m. and opened fire on him — causing the suspect to flee.
Routh, 58, was allegedly 300 to 500 yards from Trump but did not pull the trigger before he came under fire.
He ran to his car and drove some 40 miles north before he was pulled over and arrested on I-95 a short time later.
He was hit with federal gun charges Monday morning. Additional charges could be filed against him as the investigation continues.
In July, a bullet grazed Trump’s ear during an assassination attempt at a campaign event. The suspect in that attempt, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by agents on the scene — but not before an attendee was killed and two others were seriously wounded.
