In a new interview with NBC News, Ohio Sen. JD Vance finally weighed in on his painfully awkward encounter at a donut shop in Valdosta, Georgia last week. The video from the campaign stop featured Vance attempting to make friendly small talk with the clerk, who appeared to have no interest in being seen on camera with him. In his NBC interview, however, Vance chalked the awkwardness up to the clerk being nervous.
“I just felt terrible for that woman,” Vance said. “We walked in, and there’s 20 Secret Service agents, and there’s 15 cameras, and she clearly had not been properly warned, and she was terrified, right? I just felt awful for her.”
Vance added that he told his staff to change their strategy a bit after the incident. “I like to get out there and talk to people, and we want to make sure we’re doing it, but definitely make sure that people are at least OK with being on camera, or we’re going to walk in and you’re going to have a person who has, practically, a panic attack because she’s got 15 cameras in her face,” he said.
