Sen. J.D. Vance, who is under consideration to be former President Trump’s running mate on the 2024 Republican ticket, accused the Biden campaign of inciting violence against Trump.
The Ohio senator wrote in a social media post that the attempt on Trump’s life at a rally in Butler, Penn., on Saturday was “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 posted on X.
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Vance speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
He continued, “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Vance is considered a front-runner in the race to become Trump’s vice-president — alongside North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
The Ohio senator was once a strong critic of Trump, but has become an avowed Trump loyalist since the former president’s first term.
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Former President Trump gestures with a bloodied face after multiple shots rang out during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
Republican Party strategists have asserted that choosing Vance as a running mate would send a message of confidence to Trump’s core supporters and double-down on his platform.
Another potential Trump vice presidential candidate, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, likewise, said rhetoric from the left was to blame for the shooting.
“Let’s be clear: This was an assassination attempt aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling Trump a threat to democracy, fascists, or worse,” he wrote on social media following the shooting.
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Biden speaks in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, addressing news that gunshots rang out at former President Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from western Pennsylvania, as the person behind the attempted assassination.
Federal authorities are investigating the assassination attempt and have not yet revealed a potential motive.