JD Vance Fumbles Ohio State's Trophy

Vice President JD Vance ended the Ohio State football team's visit to the White House on Monday by fumbling the team's national championship trophy. After laudatory speeches by President Trump, Buckeye coach Ryan Day, and Vance on the South Lawn, the vice president—an Ohio State graduate—tried to hoist aloft the trophy. He didn't count on the trophy's golden top being designed to separate from its black base. After some struggling, the vice president lost his grip on the two pieces, the AP reports. OSU running back TreVeyon Henderson, standing behind Vance, grabbed the football-shaped top of the trophy. But the base fell to the ground, forcing Vance to grasp around as it rolled a short distance.

Some of the players around the vice president winced. The United States Marine Corps Band had to compete with audible gasps from the players and crowd as it played "We Are the Champions." Henderson and Day helped Vance reassemble the trophy, and the vice president later held just the top as he posed for photos, cradling it in his arms while the players around him chuckled. As pictures and videos of Vance's fumble rocketed across the internet, with one commenter joking that JD stands for "just drop it," the vice president tried to explain away the gaffe with self-deprecation: "I didn't want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it," he joked in a post on X.

The Columbus Dispatch notes that the trophy "is not passed from team to team like the Stanley Cup." Before fumbling the trophy, Vance used part of his speech to mention the Buckeyes' biggest rival—singling out an audience member in a Michigan hat. "I don't know who let the guy over in the corner here, in a Michigan hat, into this celebration," Vance said. "But I'm about to tell the Secret Service, 'You've got a dangerous weapon, sir.'" Ohio State beat Notre Dame 34-23 in January for its first playoff title since 2014. Trump credited the team with winning the championship despite "adversity," including the team's upset loss to unranked Michigan 13-10 at home in November. (More JD Vance stories.)