JD Vance responds to cousin who called him and Trump ‘Putin’s useful idiots’

Vice President JD Vance has responded to the criticism levied by his cousin Nate Vance, who volunteered in Ukraine and called the VP and President Donald Trump Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiots.”

“I love my cousin Nate, and never spoke publicly about his service in Ukraine because I didn’t want to endanger his life more than it already was,” Vance said in a statement, according to The Daily Beast.

“As far as his criticisms, I have no interest in arguing with him in public, but I do feel the need to address one issue in particular: his failed effort to contact me,” the vice president said in his statement, noting that his cousin could have contacted his mother, father, or sister, adding that they’re “regularly” in touch.

“I always considered Nate the toughest guy I knew, and no matter what he says about me, my affection for him remains. I’m always happy to talk to him,” said Vance.

Nate Vance spent three years on the front lines fighting for Ukraine against the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

In an interview with The Independent, Nate Vance accused his cousin and Trump of pressuring Zelensky because they know they can’t bully Putin.

“There was a campaign promise made to end the war quickly and when those two [Trump and Vance] are looking at ‘who can we bully into stopping’ they see that Ukraine is in a position of weakness. It was a simple calculation on their part that ‘we can’t really push Putin around necessarily so we’ll push Zelensky around,’” he said.

In his Sunday interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Nate Vance said he had tried to get in touch with the vice president through his office to share his views following the Oval Office blow-up between the VP, Trump, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Nate Vance called the meeting an “ambush of absolute dishonesty.”

Nate Vance subsequently told CNN on Monday that he was unsure whether JD Vance had received his message at all.

“But I did reach out,” Nate Vance told CNN. “Regardless of whether or not I reached out or not, I mean, he definitely knew I was there and at no point tried to make contact, and there were ways to do that.”

The Texan also told the BBC he views himself as “pretty Republican.” He criticized his cousin in numerous interviews this week.

“Regardless of the situation, there’s a certain level of decorum that should be reached,” Nate Vance told CNN on Monday.

“When you do that and you publicly, you know, kind of ridicule someone in public that they have to almost defend themselves, it was just really disappointing to see it,” he added, seemingly in reference to the Oval Office meeting where the vice president insisted to Zelensky that he show more gratitude for U.S. aid to Ukraine. “For me, I disagreed with that tact.”

During the now-infamous Oval Office meeting, the VP harshly criticized Zelensky in front of the TV cameras, calling him ungrateful and disrespectful.

Nate Vance told Le Figaro the vice president is “intelligent” and a “good guy,” but that he’s playing politics when it comes to aid to Ukraine.

The vice president has long been critical of U.S. aid to Ukraine, even during his short stint as an Ohio senator.

“When he criticized aid to Ukraine, I told myself that it was because he had to please a certain electorate, that it was the game of politics,” Nate Vance told Le Figaro. “But what they did to Zelensky was an ambush of absolute bad faith.”

“Donald Trump and my cousin clearly believe they can placate Vladimir Putin,” he added. “They are wrong. The Russians are not about to forget our support for Ukraine. We are Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots.”

He added that he was “disappointed” by the Oval Office showdown.

“I was disappointed. When JD justifies his distrust of Zelensky by the ‘reports’ he has seen, I thought I was going to choke,” said Nate Vance.

“His own cousin was on the front lines,” he added. “I could have told him the truth, without pretense, without personal interest. He never tried to find out more.”

Nate Vance returned home to the U.S. in January, not long before his cousin and Trump took office, noting that he couldn’t risk being captured. The Texan and former U.S. Marine said he volunteered for the Da Vinci Wolves First Motorized Battalion from 2022 until January.

“Being your family doesn’t mean I’m going to accept you killing my comrades,” he told the French paper.

This comes as Ukraine has agreed to a U.S. proposal for an immediate ceasefire, which will go into effect for 30 days if Russia agrees to the terms, a joint statement between the U.S. and Ukrainian governments revealed. The proposal followed eight hours of negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between U.S. and Ukrainian delegations.

Zelensky wrote on X that the deal includes “a 30-day full interim ceasefire, not only stopping missile, drone, and bomb attacks, not only in the Black Sea, but also along the entire front line. Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal — we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it. Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same.”