Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, who has been chosen as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, revealed that Trump told him that he has to “save this country.”

Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity how Trump asked him to be his running mate on Monday night. Vance is the New York Times bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy, a graduate of Yale Law School, a former Marine, and was recently elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022.

“He just said ‘look, I’ve gotta go save this country. I think you’re the guy who could help me in the best way, you can help me govern. You can help me win, you can help me in some of these Midwestern states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and so forth,'” Vance said.

“Joe Biden is the one who’s tried to throw his political opposition in jail,” Vance said, referring to Trump’s indictment brought on by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Biden’s Cabinet member, Attorney General Merrick Garland.

A Florida judge dismissed the case involving Trump’s handling of classified documents on Monday before the RNC started.

Advertisement

“Joe Biden is the one who’s trying to undermine American law and order. President Trump did a really good job. And I actually think it’s a good thing. When you see somebody you were wrong about, you ought to admit the mistake and admit that you were wrong,” Vance said.

WATCH:

On Monday afternoon, Trump announced Vance as his running mate.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.

Trump emphasized that Vance, on the campaign trail “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”

“But before building his political career, Vance was a successful venture capitalist. Yahoo Finance reported that Vance’s Silicon Valley contacts first helped him bring investor dollars to his home state of Ohio, and then helped fund his campaign for the Senate and have already helped contribute to the Trump campaign,” Fox News noted.

“After graduating from Yale Law school in 2013, Vance moved to San Francisco, where he worked at Mithril Capital, a firm co-founded by former PayPal CEO and Republican donor Peter Thiel. Vance also spent time in his early career near the nation’s capital working for former AOL CEO Steve Case’s venture capital firm, Revolution LLC. There he spearheaded a project to expand capital opportunities to small towns like Middletown, Ohio — where Vance was born,” Fox reported.

Vice President Kamala Harris called Vance and congratulated him after the announcement.

Advertisement

“Vice President Harris reached out to Senator Vance and left a message to congratulate him on his selection, welcome him to the race and express her hope that the two can meet in the vice presidential debate proposed by CBS News,” a Biden campaign official told Fox News.

On the first afternoon of the Republican National Convention, Trump announced Vance as his choice for running mate on Truth Social, following months of hinting at his choice.

On behalf of his prospective running mate, Trump agreed to participate in a vice presidential debate that Fox News would host in May. But the Biden team has only agreed to participate in the debate on CBS.

New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis praised Vance as the VP pick, saying: “JD Vance is a young, dynamic individual who is a great communicator. … He has an amazing personal story. He relates to regular American people all across the country, and I think that he will certainly add to the ticket, Malliotakis told Fox News Digital from the RNC. Not to mention, he comes from a swing state, which is always helpful.”

Advertisement