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Vice President JD Vance offered a lighthearted look inside the Oval Office this week while honoring actor Sylvester Stallone, sharing a humorous moment involving President Donald Trump and a pair of unexpected shoe critiques. Vance told the audience he often gets asked what it is like to serve as vice president.
He said much of the job is what people would expect, but there are also behind-the-scenes moments he will never forget. “So, for example, today, I’m in the Oval Office with the President of the United States and our great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,” Vance said.
“And we’re talking about something really, really important,” he added. The VP then said Trump paused the discussion and shifted the room’s attention. “And the President kind of holds up his hand and says, No, no, hold on a second. There’s something much more important. ‘Shoes.’”
Vance said Trump leaned over the Resolute Desk, looked at Rubio and Vance, and said, “Marco, JD, you guys have s****y shoes.” The remark drew laughter from the crowd.
Vance said Trump then pulled out a shoe catalog and began going through it with them.
“There happens to be another politician in the room. I won’t say who, and you will find out why in a second,” Vance said.
He told the audience that Trump planned to gift him and Rubio four pairs of shoes each. “He’s actually asking our size in the middle of this conversation. He’s asking for our size so that he can make sure that we get the right shoes,” the VP continued.
Vance said Trump also offered shoes to the unnamed lawmaker. “As he says, Marco, what’s your shoe size? And Marco is apparently an 11.5. He says, JD, what’s your shoe size? My shoe size is 13.”
Vance said Trump then asked the unnamed politician for his shoe size. “He says seven,” Vance said.
The vice president then said Trump leaned back and joked, “You know, you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size,” again drawing laughter and applause from the audience.
Standing beside his wife, Usha, he ended the story by saying, “We won’t ask the Second Lady for comment on that particular topic.”
Vance and his wife spent the day before Thanksgiving serving meals to soldiers at Fort Campbell to mark the holiday, CBS News reported. Vance, a Marine veteran, is also delivered remarks to the service members.
Fort Campbell straddles the Kentucky and Tennessee border and is home to more than 30,000 active duty personnel, according to the installation’s website, Off The Press reported.
This was Vance’s second visit to the Tennessee region in recent weeks. He previously participated in a Republican National Committee fundraiser outside Maryville on Nov. 14.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Republican-led challenge to a provision of federal campaign finance law that restricts how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. The case, which raises free speech concerns, involves Vice President Vance, who was an Ohio U.S. Senate candidate when the lawsuit was originally filed.
Vance and two Republican committees brought an appeal to the justices, challenging a lower court ruling that upheld the spending caps. The challengers argue the restrictions infringe on constitutional rights by limiting party expenditures that reflect input from the candidates they support.
The legal battle takes place against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, which struck down limits on independent expenditures by corporations and outside groups, ruling that such restrictions violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
