JD Vance’s ex-Marine cousin revealed that he was “surprised” to see how the vice president treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a now-notorious White House meeting last month, adding that there are “much, much better ways” to handle diplomatic negotiations.
While appearing on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront Monday night, Nate Vance—who spent summers with the VP as a child and identifies himself as a “Republican-leaning independent”—disclosed that what surprised him the most about his cousin’s interaction with Zelensky is how “regardless of the situation, there’s a certain level of decorum that should be reached.”
“And you know, I’m not naive enough to think that, you know, national leaders don’t debate behind closed doors,” he continued.
“But 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. For me, I disagreed with that tact,” the 45-year-old added, seemingly referring to the vice president hounding Zelensky for what he believed was a lack of gratitude and thank you’s toward America’s military support.
“Now there’s a much more diplomatic way to say, ‘wait, I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here. Maybe we can kind of, you know, readdress what our positions are' and things like that. There’s much, much better ways to handle that,” the former Marine concluded.
The cousins share the same grandparents; JD’s mother and Nate’s father are siblings.
Nate, a Texan, says he volunteered on the front lines against Russia for three years since it launched its invasion on Ukraine in 2022. According to CNN, Vance was part of the elite Da Vinci Wolves Battalion which saw some of the war’s bloodiest battles.
“My experience in Ukraine has given me a unique perspective that most Americans don’t have,” Nate told CNN.
“If you try to deal with Russia through an American lens it will come back to bite you, they don’t necessarily think like we think,” he added.
“These people as a policy will eat their own, so they will not hesitate to eat an American president or American vice president, they don’t care what we think.”
In an interview with Le Figaro published Sunday, Nate described the vice president’s treatment of Zelensky and the Ukrainian conflict in general as an “ambush of absolute dishonesty.”
“Being your family doesn’t mean I’m going to accept you killing my comrades,” he added.
In a separate interview with the BBC Monday, Nate similarly disclosed that although he’s “pretty Republican” he still believes “this one issue we’re doing wrong.”
“And if it’s wrong, I should say something,” he continued.
Asked on CNN what he would say to Vance now, Nate argued that his cousin should consider the human, emotional elements to support Ukraine, but also consider the United States' longterm benefit.
“The concept of an imperialistic, aggressive, modernized military Russia who has learned their lessons about modern combat is problematic for our future,” he added.
During a late February visit to the White House, a meeting between President Donald Trump, Zelensky, and Vance swiftly erupted into a sparring match. The vice president was particularly heated and clapped back at Zelensky with a question that has since gone viral: “Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?”
The president has since halted military aid to Ukraine, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Tuesday that that might be lifted depending on how a scheduled negotiation meeting in Saudi Arabia goes this week.
“My hope is we’ll have a really good meeting tomorrow and be in a different place,” Rubio told reporters according to The Washington Post.
