Republican lawmakers have accused Vice President JD Vance of trying to obstruct President Donald Trump’s foreign policy after leaked chat messages showed him questioning the wisdom of Trump’s decision to bomb Yemen.
Nearly a week after The Atlantic published a shocking report about top administration officials coordinating military plans in an unsecured group chat, Republicans on Capitol Hill “still have their jaws on the floor with how actively the VP worked to try and undo a Trump decision,” a senior official told NBC News.
The purpose of the chat—which took place on the commercial messaging app Signal and included Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but not Trump—was to discuss potential strikes targeting the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group wreaking havoc on shipping traffic in the Suez Canal.
Vance argued the strikes were a “mistake” given that just 3 percent of trade runs through the Suez Canal compared to 40 percent of European trade, and said officials should delay the attack.
“It’s one thing to have a healthy interagency debate before a decision is made. It’s another to try and undo a Commander-in-Chief decision once Trump gives the execute order,” the official told NBC, calling Vance’s statements a form of obstructionism.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The day after Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz created the group, Vance wrote, “Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake.”
“The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message,” he added. “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month.”
Hegseth wrote that he “fully support[ed]” Vance raising his concerns with Trump, though he said he thought the messaging would be “tough no matter what” because “nobody knows who the Houthis are.” Delaying the operation would risk their plans being leaked, he added.
“If you think we should do it, let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,” Vance replied.
A few minutes later, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who was also in the chat, shut down the debate, writing, “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light.”
The same Republican official who accused Vance of obstruction told NBC, “Thank goodness Miller stepped in and put [Vance] in his place.”
Another said it was “ridiculous” for Vance to question Trump’s understanding of his own messaging and policies.
“He is the commander in chief,” the official told NBC.
But others worried that Trump—who ran on a platform of quickly ending the wars in Gaza and Ukraine—appears on the verge of entering into a protracted military campaign against the Houthis.
The Pentagon has moved a second aircraft carrier strike group into the region and has quietly brought C-17 cargo jets, KC-135 refueling tankers, and B-2 bombers—which can carry the biggest bombs in the U.S. arsenal—to a staging site in the Indian Ocean called Diego Garcia.
Hegseth has further authorized at least two Patriot missile defense batteries to be moved from Asia to the Middle East, and defense officials have agreed to relocate a larger missile system called a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.
Transporting the THAAD in particular is a complex effort that implies a longer mission in the Middle East, according to NBC. The president might be surprised to learn how risky it is to later change course, experts said.
Officials told NBC they were less worried about Vance’s stated goal of consistent messaging on Europe and more worried the president was getting himself into another Iraq War-style military quagmire.
