J.D. Vance to join Trump for Ohio fundraiser amid VP speculation

By Alayna Treene and Rashard Rose, CNN

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump is hosting a fundraiser alongside Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, according to an invitation obtained by CNN.

The May 15 Cincinnati event is advertised as a lunch discussion with Vance listed as a “special guest.”

Host committee members are requested to donate or raise $250,000. Attendees are asked for $100,000 per couple or $50,000 per person, according to the invite. NBC News was first to report on the fundraiser.

Vance, who is a contender to be Trump’s 2024 running mate, previously earned the former president’s endorsement during his Senate race and is one of Trump’s biggest supporters on Capitol Hill.

In recent conversations about his vice-presidential pick, Trump has appeared fixated on Vance, CNN has reported.

The Republican senator told “Fox News Sunday” in a recent interview that he has “never spoken” to Trump about serving as his running mate. “I talk to President Trump a lot. We’re very close. I’ve never spoken to him about being vice president. So, I assume that a lot of this is media speculation,” he said. But Vance said if Trump asked him to run, he would “think seriously about it.”

Vance repeatedly defended Trump on a range of topics in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Wednesday.

Asked if he has any pause to be Trump’s running mate given the presumptive Republican nominee’s treatment of former Vice President Mike Pence, Vance said he was “extremely skeptical” that Pence’s life was in danger on January 6, 2021.

“I’m extremely skeptical that Mike Pence’s life was ever in danger. I think in politics, people like to really exaggerate things from time to time,” he said on “The Source.”

“The idea that Donald Trump endangered anyone’s lives when he told them to protest peacefully, it’s just absurd,” Vance told Collins.

The Ohio Republican also sided with Trump’s claims of absolute immunity that are currently before the Supreme Court.

Asked about the former president’s recent downplaying of the deadly 2017 Charlottesville rally as a “peanut” compared to ongoing college protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza, Vance said, “He condemned the protest in Charlottesville to the extent that it got violent. He also noted, honestly, that there were peaceful protesters in Charlottesville too. He’s also condemned the protests that have broken out across our college campuses.”

Vance also told Collins that he hasn’t spoken to Trump about becoming vice president.

Trump has indicated privately that he will announce a vice presidential pick in the early summer before the Republican convention, three sources told CNN.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.

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