U.S. Vice President JD Vance attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
CNN’s Jamie Gangel suggested on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s own son may be among those encouraging Vice President JD Vance to distance himself from his father following the Republicans’ disastrous midterm election losses.
During a CNN discussion about Vance’s increasingly uncertain political future, Gangel floated the possibility that Donald Trump Jr. and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson were privately encouraging the vice president to break with Trump.
“I also think there are JD Vance allies in his ear, maybe Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr., who got in his ear very quickly and said, 'You have got to break.'"
The eyebrow-raising suggestion surprised even CNN’s Brianna Keilar, prompting the anchor to seek clarification.
“You said that you thought some people have gotten in JD Vance's ear and said, 'You've got to break with him,’ including Donald Trump Jr.?” she asked.
Gangel pointed to Trump Jr.’s longstanding support for Vance.
“One of the reasons we've been told reporting that JD Vance was picked as vice president was because Donald Trump Jr. is a big fan of his,” she explained Thursday.
“People become very flexible when you want to stay in power, when you want your allies to stay in power,” Gangel added.
“That’s some kind of flexibility,” Keiler responded.
Gangel also questioned Trump's continued grip over the Republican Party in general.
"I think Republicans have to be asking themselves this morning is this the moment we break? It's no longer in our self-interest," she said.
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