HELICOPTER BOSS

Trump Phones Friends for Secret Performance Review of Vance

JD Vance may want to watch his back.

Vice President JD Vance has found himself on a short leash with his boss.

President Donald Trump has been quietly canvassing confidants for their views on Vance’s performance as the vice president tries to negotiate a deal with Iran, three people familiar with the conversations told CNN.

Trump, 79, kept close tabs on Vance, 41, as he traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend for peace talks with Iran. The president spoke with Vance as many as a dozen times during the 21 hours of negotiations, and asked friends and advisers how they would rate the vice president’s performance, according to CNN.

He also raised with them the question of how Vance compares to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who successfully negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Thursday. Rubio and Vance are seen as rivals for the 2028 presidential nomination.

Vance’s talks with Iran ultimately fell apart over the weekend, though both sides are still seeking a deal, with the vice president at the ready to return to Pakistan to resume negotiations.

Despite the collapse of the first round of talks, Trump seems to have full confidence in Vance’s negotiating abilities for now, sources familiar with the talks told CNN.

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But Trump’s ultimate verdict on Vance may depend on the deal the vice president brings home, as Trump suggested during an Easter lunch earlier this month.

“If it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” the president quipped. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”

The White House referred the Daily Beast to Vance’s office when reached for comment. The Daily Beast has requested comment from Vance’s office.

Trump’s reported close monitoring of Vance comes amid a schism between the two men over the war, a rift Trump has publicly described as Vance being “philosophically a little bit different than me.”

A bombshell New York Times report revealed that Vance was the loudest—and only—voice of opposition within the White House against launching a full-scale attack against Iran, calling it “a huge distraction of resources” and “massively expensive.”

In the first weeks after Trump launched the war on Feb. 28, Vance receded from view and did not go to bat for the conflict on social media or network news as fervently as he has for other MAGA issues.

Last month, White House sources told Zeteo that Trump has been making “snide, annoyed comments” about Vance and fellow isolationist Tulsi Gabbard, “knocking them for not being as enthusiastic” about the war.

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But now, as Trump’s chief negotiator, Vance has had to publicly defend the conflict, despite surging gas prices and MAGA discontent at home.

He appears to have difficulty replicating his boss’s chest-thumping, no-regrets tone on the war.

“I recognize that young voters do not love the policy we have in the Middle East, OK?” Vance said at a poorly attended Turning Point USA event on Tuesday. “I understand that.”

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