JD Vance said he received the call when his son was being noisy in the background. The former president told him: "We've gotta go save this country."
GAELEN MORSE, Reuters
JD Vance has described the conversation he had with former President Donald Trump when he was picked as his vice-presidential nominee.
Trump announced on Monday that he had chosen the 39-year-old Ohioan as his running mate. Vance was considered the most MAGA-friendly candidate for the role.
Speaking to Fox News's Sean Hannity in an interview at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Vance said that he was told by the former president: "We've gotta go save this country."
Vance went on to describe the conversation, calling Trump "the president" in the process.
"I hope I'm not betraying too many confidences here, but when the president called me today to actually formally offer me to become the vice presidential nominee — which just sounds crazy — my son, my seven-year-old son, was sort of making noise in the background. I was getting so embarrassed," he said.
But, he said, Trump "actually has me put my seven-year-old son on the phone."
He marveled at Trump taking the time to do this after "everything that's happened," and said: "It's a moment I'll never forget."
Trump survived a shocking assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
At the RNC, he wore a bandage on his right ear, the result of a bullet clipping his ear.
Vance paraphrased his conversation with Trump further, telling Hannity that Trump had said Vance would be helpful in Midwestern states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
He also reminded Vance of his endorsement of the Ohioan's Senate bid back in 2022, Vance said.
"I would not have won that race without Donald Trump's endorsement," Vance added.
In the interview, Hannity questioned Vance on his evolution from never-Trumper to MAGA heir apparent.
Two years ago, days after Trump endorsed Vance for the Senate, a 2016 message that Vance had sent to an old college friend emerged, where he said that Trump could end up being "America's Hitler."
The message also entertained the possibility that Trump was "a cynical asshole like Nixon."
Since then, Vance has become a staunch Trump ally, backing some of the most extreme consequences of the Trump presidency — such as curtailing abortion rights, and casting unevidenced doubts on the outcome of the 2020 election.
Speaking to Hannity, Vance said that he doesn't hide from his past comments.
"I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president and he changed my mind," Vance said, adding that he had "bought into the media's lies and distortions."
