Vice President JD Vance appeared on Fox News’ The Will Cain Show Wednesday and told the nerve-racking story of what it was like to be at the White House Correspondents’ dinner Saturday night when gunshots broke out.
He described the first tense moments when he realized something bad was happening — but he didn’t know exactly what:
I want to say it was tougher for my wife, who was at home with the kids and started hearing things through, you know, text messages and social media, than it was for me.
I really didn't know what was going on. Just to give you my perspective, I'm sitting up there on the dais with some journalists, and obviously with the President of the United States, a few seats to my right, and there's a lot of commotion, you kind of hear some loud noises. I had no idea what it was.
And before I had any idea what was going on, I started seeing people sort of duck under their tables or respond to what was going on, far in the back of the ballroom, and then an agent comes and whispers in my ear, basically says, "Sir, we have to leave," and you can kind of, you see the video, Will, where the agent sort of lifts me to my feet, and then I walk off stage and then go to my hold room and kind of wait and see what's going on.
Watch:
"What an amazing job the agents of the Secret Service do," says @VP on the White House Correspondents' Dinner attack.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 29, 2026
"I just feel very grateful to them... and frankly, grateful to God that that agent who was shot was not seriously hurt." pic.twitter.com/0vgBosAJuB
Based on the early information that was coming out during the chaos, he thought an agent had been killed:
So, you know, the first thing that happened that actually freaked me out a little bit, Will, is that we heard that an agent had been shot, and in the fog of war, I thought, you know, Oh, my God, this guy's actually seriously injured, or maybe worse. And then we found out later, of course, that he was uninjured or not seriously injured.
MORE: Vance Nails Tim Walz but Good After He Tries to Take Credit for Fraud Investigation
Journalist Explains Why Vance Was Escorted From WHCD First, and It Says a Lot About Trump
Amid the assassinations, assassination attempts, and ramped-up political violence plaguing the country, Vance said it’s time for the Left to look deep inside themselves and realize that their inflammatory rhetoric is a major cause of the bloodshed:
.@VP: "Political violence right now is coming not exclusively, but largely from one side of the aisle... If you're part of the left wing in this country, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, 'Why is it that so many of the people who are firing guns at their political… https://t.co/Vj2KdKxqPm pic.twitter.com/maxjlbW1r5
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 29, 2026
.@VP: "Political violence right now is coming not exclusively, but largely from one side of the aisle... If you're part of the left wing in this country, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, 'Why is it that so many of the people who are firing guns at their political opponents agree with my perspective and listen to the same sources of information that I listen to?'"
Vance spoke powerfully about how many leftists and media outlets shaped the narrative that it was OK to kill TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk because he said things that they didn’t believe in. That’s not the American way:
So I think, really, it's incumbent upon everybody, but particularly those who are driving some of the narratives that Donald Trump, you know, that Donald Trump has somehow invited this violence upon himself, that killing your political opponents is somehow justified.
If you're engaged in that kind of rhetoric, you need to check yourself. You need to look yourself in the mirror, and say that political disagreement is fine, but inviting violence upon your political opponents makes you part of the problem.
Unfortunately, despite Vance’s moving entreaties, the Left does not appear to be slowing down with their hate speech in the slightest, and has learned nothing from three assassination attempts on the president, the cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione, or the endless calls to go to war with the federal government.
It’s far past time for the Left to look in the mirror — but there’s no sign that they’re doing it. Shameful.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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