James Donald Vance Jr. was sentenced to 2 years in prison for publishing threats against the president, vice president and other officials in the US
The United States Court sentenced on Monday (17.Nov.2025) James Donald Vance Jr., 67 years old, to 2 years in prison for publishing death threats against the President of the United States, (Republican Party), the Vice President, , and the businessman .
The case gained repercussion due to the fact that the accused had the same name and initials as the vice president, which led to confusion on social media. JD Vance, however, has no relationship with the defendant.
According to documents filed with the Federal Court in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the defendant used the Bluesky app in March and April to claim that he would kill the president, vice president and Musk if they visited his city, Grand Rapids. He also threatened Donald Trump Jr., after a post speculated about a possible presidential candidacy of the president’s eldest son. The information is from the newspaper .
In one of the messages, he wrote: “If Trump, Vance or Musk come back to my city, they will leave it in a body bag.”. The Secret Service arrested James Donald Vance Jr. in June after tracking the posts.
Public defender Helen C. Nieuwenhuis requested probation, claiming the suspect is “first offender with serious physical and mental problems”. He further said that the threats were “rhetoric” and that he took no concrete action to try to execute them.
Prosecutors asked for a minimum sentence of 30 months, citing the defendant’s history of threats since 2018, when he had already been investigated for verbal attacks on Trump on Facebook.
