Vice President JD Vance is sorry — but not that sorry — for any disruptions his July family trip to Disneyland in California may have caused.
“We had the island to ourselves which was very cool. I had never been to Disneyland. I thought it was awesome,” Vance said during an episode of the Katie Miller Podcast that aired on Monday.
Speaking with Miller, a former Trump White House official who is married to current deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Vance apologized to those impacted by the security preparations for his visit.
“Sorry to all the people who were at Disneyland for the longer lines, but we had a very good time,” the vice president said with a smile, holding up his hands in mock defense.
But Vance’s visit to the Anaheim park was met with more than just lengthy lines.
Hundreds protested his presence at Disneyland, which came as Trump administration immigration officials and federal troops were helping conduct and secure deportation raids across the Los Angeles area.
It’s not the only recent Vance visit that has ruffled local feathers.
Earlier this month The Guardian was first to report that authorities traveling with Vance requested the water levels be raised in an Ohio river to accommodate a kayaking trip for the VP’s 41st birthday.
Vance’s office said the Secret Service requested the change in flow into the Little Miami River without his knowledge.
A source familiar with the request told The Independent at the time that the ask was made for security reasons after a boat ran aground during an advance scouting trip.
“The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
Vance is currently in the U.K., where he has mixed another vacation with diplomacy.
He spent the weekend with foreign secretary David Lammy at his official country estate in Chevening, Kent, and is currently vacationing at a holiday retreat in the Cotswolds.
The vice president’s presence in the countryside has reportedly caused what locals called a “circus” of security preparations including road closures, police door knocks, and official vehicles driving on crammed back streets.
An Oxfordshire resident told The Observer locals were “used to seeing police around” in the scenic part of the country — which has played host to U.S. celebrities such as Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Taylor Swift — but there has been “nothing like this.”
