JD Vance takes a proactive stance to support Trump during a crucial time

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is going all out for former President Donald Trump at a pivotal time in a way that could jolt the Ohio senator’s name to the top of the contenders list for vice president.

As the prosecution winds down its case this week in Trump’s hush money criminal trial in New York, Vance is going full throttle in defense of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on the airwaves and at the courthouse, in addition to headlining a Trump fundraiser in Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Vance insisted he was simply bolstering a friend.

“I’m here for the simple reason to show support for a friend,” Vance told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday during a trial break.

The case against Trump centers on falsifying business records by allegedly paying off porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to shield an extramarital affair.

“This trial is absolutely ridiculous,” Vance said. “I think it’s a sham prosecution.”

Vance is among the array of Trump loyalists who have traded Mar-a-Lago for a pilgrimage to the Manhattan courtroom to curry favor with the former president. He has also been joined by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).

Other possible vice presidential candidates in attendance included former GOP presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Doug Burgum, who is governor of North Dakota.

In a CNN appearance over the weekend, Vance vehemently defended Trump on multiple fronts. He walked back criticism of Trump from the 2016 election in which he suggested the then-candidate was unfit for office in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape.

“I was wrong about him,” Vance said. “I didn’t think he was going to be a good president, and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to get him elected.”

Vance also defended recent remarks from Trump that Jews who voted for President Joe Biden “should be ashamed of themselves” over the administration’s handling of Israel.

Trump’s Wednesday fundraiser in Ohio bills Vance as a “special guest” for a lunch discussion, fetching ticket prices from $50,000 to $125,000 per person, and is expected to be followed later that day by a public campaign event.

Those close to Vance downplayed that his recent stumping for Trump was a form of vice presidential jockeying. One source blamed media for making “too much of the insider parlor games.”

“J.D. would be defending Trump on TV and raising him money even if his name wasn’t in the mix for VP,” another source told the Washington Examiner. “He has grown very close to President Trump over the past several years and feels an intense amount of loyalty towards him for having his back in his Senate race last cycle.”

Vance is considered among the top choices for Trump’s running mate. Other possible picks include Burgum, Ramaswamy, Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

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Vance would bring an added bonus to Trump’s ticket of hailing from a key state in clinching the presidency that has trended increasingly red in recent national elections. Ohio’s other senator, Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, also faces a tough reelection in the Buckeye State.

“To all the American voters and American people who are watching this,” Vance said outside the Manhattan courthouse, “the one opportunity you get to speak up against this sham prosecution and to say, ‘The American people elect their president, not corrupt DNC prosecutors,’ is to vote for Donald Trump in November.”

David Sivak contributed to this report.