An attack was reported at US Vice President JD Vance’s residence in Ohio on Monday, with one person reportedly taken into custody. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident. Images circulating on social media and shared by local news outlets show damaged and smashed windows at the property. However, officials have not yet confirmed the exact sequence of events or the motive behind the incident.
According to officials quoted in multiple media reports, the Vance family was not at home when the incident occurred. Investigators are examining whether the act was a targeted attack against JD Vance or his family.
JD Vance responds
Responding to the incident, Vance took to social media platform X and wrote, "I appreciate everyone's well wishes about the attack at our home. As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows. I'm grateful to the Secret Service and the Cincinnati police for responding quickly. We weren't even home as we had returned already to DC. One request to the media: we try to protect our kids as much as possible from the realities of this life of public service. In that light, I am skeptical of the news value of plastering images of our home with holes in the windows."
US captures Venezuelan President
This comes days after United States (US) captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from the capital city of Caracas and he was taken to New York, where President Donald Trump said he would face trial. Vance defended the military action, arguing that the South American nation has played a significant role in drug trafficking and has long used expropriated oil assets to fund what he described as "narcoterrorist activities".
Responding to criticism that Venezuela has little connection to the global drug trade, JD Vance, in a post on X, said that such claims were misleading, stressing that cocaine trafficking remains central to the finances of Latin American drug cartels.
"You see a lot of claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. First off, fentanyl isn't the only drug in the world, and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela, or at least there was," he said in a post.
"Second, cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it), you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!," he added.
Addressing concerns over fentanyl flows from Mexico, the Vice-President said the issue remained a key focus of US policy."A lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico. That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one," he said.
