The Ohio State Highway Patrol is providing security for U.S. Senator and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt on his life on Saturday.
Gov. Mike DeWine “approved” the request for protection at 6:40 p.m. Saturday, according to the governor’s spokesman, Dan Tierney. Vance lives in the Cincinnati area, so officers are monitoring his home.
When asked who had requested the details, Tierney said he could not comment further. OSHP also could not provide any clarification.
“For security reasons, the Patrol does not discuss specifics related to security operations,” said Lt. Ray Santiago.
The 39-year-old Republican businessman and author is one of the favorites to win the coveted position of running mate to Trump.
Trump was shot in the ear but said he was fine during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. One person in the crowd was killed and two others were in critical condition, according to the Butler County district attorney.
The violence occurred just one day before the Republican National Convention began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our Scripps News political team is in Milwaukee reporting that security has been tightened at the Fiserv Forum, the downtown Milwaukee arena where the RNC is scheduled to take place.
Authorities say 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was responsible for the attack. The Associated Press reported that law enforcement found bomb-making materials in the suspect’s vehicle and home, located in a suburb of Pittsburgh about an hour’s drive from the rally.
Vance accused President Joe Biden of attempted assassination, writing on X:
“Today is not just an isolated incident. A central tenet 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 the attempted assassination of President Trump.”
This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ stories, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
