Vance staffs VP office with his allies — and no Trump objections

Vice President JD Vance has earned a unique privilege inside the White House — free rein to hire whom he wants, with no interference from President Donald Trump or his top aides.

The dynamic, as five people in or close to the administration explained it to NBC News, reflects the trust that the term-limited Trump has in Vance, his 40-year-old understudy who is widely expected to run for president himself in 2028.

All but two of the first 11 senior staffers Vance hired as vice president worked on his 2022 campaign for the Senate in Ohio, in his Senate office after he won that race or both.

“The Trump team is an A-team in every sense of the word,” Jai Chabria, Vance’s longest-serving political adviser, said in an interview. “They had every opportunity to push people around or shove people around. They didn’t. They decided to build a team with JD’s team … and in the process, they got a loyal bunch that’s ready to go through the wall for the president.” 

Jacob Reses, who was Vance’s chief of staff in the Senate, now holds that position in the vice president’s office. Bryan Gray, who held senior roles on Vance’s Senate campaign and staff, is in place as Reses’ deputy. Vance also installed his long-running communications team of William Martin, Luke Schroeder and Taylor Van Kirk in similar positions in his new office.

Other Vance veterans who have followed him from his 2022 campaign or his Senate office include national security adviser Andy Baker, domestic policy director Ben Moss, operations director Abby Delahoyde and Patrick McAllister, his longtime personal aide.

“I think that’s something that says a lot about JD and the people who work with JD,” said a Republican strategist who has worked closely with Trump and Vance and was granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics. “It’s unique to have someone who retains staff the way JD has retained staff the last few years. I think JD at his core is a loyal guy, and that’s a lot of it. But he also has a very talented staff.”

Also on staff are former Federal Election Commission Chair Sean Cooksey, as counsel to Vance, and Shannon Fisher, a former Republican National Committee aide who will be second lady Usha Vance’s chief of staff after having assisted her during the presidential campaign. Buckley Carlson, announced this week as Vance’s deputy press secretary, has no history with him. His father, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, is a Vance ally who pushed for Trump to select him as his running mate last summer.

Vance’s core trio of political strategists — Chabria, Andy Surabian and Luke Thompson — are not on the vice presidential payroll, but they remain close as outside advisers. All three are expected to be key players in any moves Vance might make toward his own White House bid.

Surabian, a senior adviser to Donald Trump Jr., one of Vance’s leading advocates for the vice presidency, has long been close to Trump world and was the chief strategist on the vice presidential campaign. Trump and Vance also have shared a pollster, Tony Fabrizio, who remains close to both.

Meanwhile, Vance also has a key ally on Trump’s staff. James Braid, who was a deputy chief of staff in his Senate office, directs the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.

“Vice President Vance has assembled a top notch team that works seamlessly with President Trump’s team, and that’s why the Administration has already been so successful,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote in a statement to NBC News. “There is complete synergy and trust on all levels.”

Past presidents and their staffs have a history of micromanaging or undermining vice presidents and theirs. Former President Joe Biden’s advisers, for example, kept away some of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ longtime allies. Trump’s first term featured tensions with then-Vice President Mike Pence, who, unlike Vance, had no previous relationship with Trump. 

Pence brought aides with him from Indiana, where he had been governor, but he also made efforts to cultivate Trump advisers like Corey Lewandowski. Pence’s 2019 hiring of Katie Waldman, who soon afterward married Trump aide Stephen Miller, was viewed partly as a “strategic decision” to grow closer with Miller, a former Pence aide recalled.

“It was a sign of good faith, and there was access there,” said the former aide, who was granted anonymity to share candid observations. “But that comes with its risks: that the Trump people could also learn what we were doing.”

Trump and Pence had an irreconcilable split on Jan. 6, 2021, after Pence refused to interfere with the certification of Trump’s re-election loss to Biden. Rioters, egged on by Trump, chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as they stormed the Capitol.

From the start, Trump’s relationship with Vance has been stronger than what he had with Pence.

They have been close since the 2022 Senate race, which Vance won with Trump’s endorsement, and they bonded further in 2023 during Trump’s visit to the site of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. 

The fact that Vance was able to choose his staff, rather than have one chosen for him, “1,000%” illustrates that Trump and his team see no need to meddle in the vice president’s office, said the political strategist who has worked closely with both men.

“I think a lot of that has to do with some of the interlocking relationships between both sides,” this person said. “The fact that JD and senior people around JD also had relationships with Team Trump and that JD himself built a relationship with Trump and the people around Trump — I think that allowed for them to have that type of trust in JD’s team.”

The no-meddling approach dates to last year’s presidential campaign, which was an audition of sorts for Vance aides. Trump’s team was responsible for only one hire on the vice presidential campaign staff: director of operations Nick Luna, whose role was announced before Trump selected Vance as his running mate. Vance otherwise had wide latitude to bring along his own people, including Reses, Martin, Schroeder and Van Kirk. 

With Surabian at the helm, Chabria and Thompson also frequently traveled with Vance and dialed in for strategy sessions. Chabria directed Vance’s debate preparations, which Trump’s team made no effort to micromanage. Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, participated at the Vance team’s invitation, not at the Trump team’s insistence, two sources familiar with the effort said.

The harmony surprised Chabria, who said he had researched past vice presidential campaigns to prepare himself for any tension points that might arise between the blended Trump and Vance staffs.

“The fact that the senior staff had the trust in us — it was unbelievable to me, because I don’t know that any other campaign would have afforded that,” Chabria said.

The former Pence aide observed that the relationships Vance’s team enjoys with Trump’s “are much deeper” than what Pence and Trump had at the start of their term. Vance, this person noted, also is operating on a different timeline with regard to his own political future, meaning strategists like Surabian have “way more value” outside the administration. Chabria, Surabian and other Vance advisers, for example, are already exercising their political muscles by assisting in Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy’s soon-to-launch campaign for governor in Ohio. 

While Pence had to concentrate on a re-election campaign with Trump before he began to fully entertain thoughts of a White House bid, Vance will most likely need to be ready to launch for 2028 soon after next year’s midterm elections if he plans to run for president. 

“The official office needs to be staffed with the best people that can help him effectuate those Capitol Hill goals and the communications goals,” the former Pence aide said. “And then the people on the outside are going to be important, from a planning and strategic perspective in conjunction with the chief of staff, to make sure Vance is traveling to the right places.”