President Donald Trump gestures past Vice President JD Vance during a FIFA task force meeting on the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein).
A 67-year-old Michigan man who threatened to assassinate President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance if they ever returned to his city will be going to prison over the graphic threats he posted to social media.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney on Monday ordered James Donald Vance Jr. — not to be confused with the current vice president, James David "JD" Vance — to spend two years in a federal correctional facility, authorities announced.
James Vance in July formally pleaded guilty to one count of threatening to kill or injure the president and vice president of the United States and one of sending an interstate threatening communication. He entered an open plea, meaning there was no agreement in place with prosecutors regarding James Vance's sentence.
"The advent of the internet gives us all an opportunity to engage in the healthy exchange of ideas that are so important to a democracy," United States Attorney Timothy VerHey said in a statement. "But some would rather use this tool to threaten and intimidate, conduct that causes fear and damages our democratic ideals. When Vance said he planned to kill our President and the Vice President simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished."
As previously reported by Law&Crime, James Vance posted the threat online using the social media platform Bluesky.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
An indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan stated that James Vance "knowingly and willfully" threatened to "take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President and Vice President of the United States."
James Vance made the incriminating post on April 1, under the username "Diaperjdv," writing:
"If tRump, Vance, or Musk ever come to my city again, they will leave it in a body bag. I will either be shot by a secret service sniper or spend the rest of my life in prison. I've only got about 10 years of life left anyway so I don't f—ing care either way."
The charge of threatening to kill the president carries a maximum penalty of five years in a federal prison as well as a fine of up to $250,000.
The threatening communication charge in connection with that post states that in writing the comment on Bluesky, James Vance was "consciously disregarding a substantial risk that his communication would be viewed as threatening violence against other persons."
The second threatening communication charge stems from a March 7 post in which James Vance allegedly threatened the president in response to another user's post that was titled "Donald Trump Jr. Considering a Run for President in 2028."
In response, James Vance wrote, "I will murder that stupid f—er before he gets secret service protection," according to the indictment.
James Vance's sentence makes him the second defendant in the last two months to be imprisoned in Western Michigan over threats to kill Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering on Oct. 20 sentenced Richard James Spring to 18 months in prison and fined him $2,000 after he pleaded guilty to one count of making threats to kill and injure the president.
"i promise I will make SURE he is assassinated before his first f—ing year," Spring wrote in one of the social media posts that led to his arrest, according to a sentencing memo filed last month.
Follow Law&Crime:
