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By Aila Slisco
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Ohio Senator JD Vance shared details of former President Donald Trump's phone call asking him to join his 2024 ticket as the Republican vice presidential nominee.
Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday, only two days after surviving an assassination attempt and shortly before the former president was to be formally nominated at this week's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Vance, who once called himself a "never Trumper" and compared Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler before becoming a staunch ally, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Trump spoke to his young son when he was offered the job over the phone shortly before the public announcement on Monday.
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"I hope I'm not betraying too many confidences here, but when the president called me today to actually formally offer me to become, you know the vice presidential nominee—which sounds crazy—my son, my 7-year-old son, was sort of making noise in the background," Vance said.
"I'm getting so embarrassed. Then he has me actually put my 7-year-old son on the phone. Think about this, everything that's happened, the guy just got shot at a couple days ago and he takes the time to talk to my 7-year-old. It's a moment I'll never forget."
Vance went on to describe Trump telling him that the Republican ticket would "save the country" during the call, while noting that the two men had developed a "very close" relationship in recent years.
"He just said, look, I think we've gotta go save this country, I think you're the guy who could help me in the best way," said Vance. "You can help me govern, you could help me win. You could help me in some of these Midwestern states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and so forth."
"He said, rightfully, we have been very, very close for a long time," he continued. "But especially since I endorsed you in 2022. And I would not have won that race without Donald Trump's endorsement. And the president's trust since then, and his partnership since then, has been something I value a great deal."
In 2016, Vance told an associate on Facebook that he was going "back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a**hole like Nixon who wouldn't be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he's America's Hitler," according to Reuters.
Last month, Vance told The New York Times that he "first met Trump in 2021" and changed his opinions on the former president soon after, becoming close around the time that he decided to launch his political career and his Senate campaign.
During his interview with Hannity on Monday, Vance blamed "the media's lies and distortions" for his past views on Trump, explaining that he was "certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016" but was later impressed by his presidency.
"If you go back to what I thought in 2016, another thing that was going on, Sean, was that I bought into the media's lies and distortions," said Vance. "President Trump did a really good job. And I actually think it's a really good thing when you see somebody, you were wrong about them, you ought to admit the mistake and admit you were wrong."
Update 7/15, 10:17 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional context and information.
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