Vice-President J.D Vance broke with Donald Trump and questioned the president’s actions in a secret signal war chat regarding a military strike in Yemen.
On Monday, The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a report after national security officials in the Trump administration accidentally added him to a group text chat about strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
In addition to Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were also present in the chat.
In the secret chat, Vance advised against the strikes and wondered whether Trump had thought about the fallout.
“Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake,” he said. “3 percent of US trade runs through the suez [canal]. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.”
Vance’s expressed concerns about the timing of the attack and warned about oil prices rising as a result.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” he wrote. “There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices.”
Still, Vance said he will fall in line in public while keeping his concerns to himself.
“I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself,” he said. “But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
Hegseth told Vance he understands his concerns but argued for immediate action.
“Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus,” Hegseth said, adding, “we are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should.”
In a statement, Vance’s communications director William Martin said the vice president was aligned with Trump and just wanted to make sure he was properly briefed.
“The Vice President’s first priority is always making sure that the President’s advisers are adequately briefing him on the substance of their internal deliberations,” Martin said.
“Vice President Vance unequivocally supports this administration’s foreign policy,” he continued. “The President and the Vice President have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement.”
