U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on a recent podcast appearance that President Donald Trump "nearly took a bullet" at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The moment on Theo Von's podcast is notable because it stokes conspiracy theories online that Trump wasn't actually struck by a bullet during the assassination attempt, with some saying he was possibly hit by some glass instead or that the entire event was perhaps staged.
Vance made the comments in the same interview where he issued a warning to Elon Musk over his feud with Trump, calling Musk "emotional" and saying the CEO made a "huge mistake."
Referring to Trump, Vance said, "I mean, think about it. It’s a guy who, not even a year ago nearly took a bullet in the process of campaigning. Went back on the horse the next day."
He continued:
"And if you look, obviously I’m biased, but you look at what we’ve done on the border, you look at what we’ve done with trade, fighting back against a generation of theft of the American Dream, which is what the president’s trade policies are starting to do. I just think you’ve gotta have some respect for him and say, ‘Look, we don’t have to agree on every issue.’ I’m talking about if you’re Elon Musk. We don’t have to agree on every issue. But is this war actually in the interest of the country? I don’t think so."
The moment was flagged by Patriot Takes, which is "dedicated research monitoring and exposing right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy."
"JD Vance said Trump 'nearly took a bullet' at his Butler rally," the group wrote Saturday.
A liberal influencer identified as @GCDCBB17 wrote, "Whoa."
"The admission that he was not hit by a bullet," they added.