President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have refashioned the United States into “Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots,” the VP’s cousin alleged in the wake of the Trump administration’s recent abandonment of military and intelligence support for Ukraine.
Nate Vance, a Texan who said he volunteered for three years fighting on the front lines against Russia’s Putin-ordered invasion of its neighbor, told Le Figaro in an interview published Sunday that he is “disappointed” in his “good” and “intelligent” cousin over the administration’s sudden and abrasive turn away from supporting America’s war-torn ally.
JD Vance was widely seen as the instigator of a blowup with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office earlier this month during which he and Trump berated their counterpart for allegedly not thanking them enough for U.S. military support.
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In the days following the shocking exchange, Trump suspended military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv. The vice president’s cousin blasted the decision.
“When [JD Vance] criticized aid to Ukraine, I thought it was because he needed to appeal to his electorate, that it was part of the political game,” Nate Vance told Le Figaro. “But what they did to Zelensky was an ambush of absolute dishonesty.”
A former U.S. Marine, he said he volunteered for Ukraine’s Da Vinci Wolves First Motorized Battalion from 2022 to January of this year.
He and his politician cousin share grandparents, and he said the two of them have vacationed together. Nate Vance added that he has tried to contact JD, but hasn’t received a response.
“Being your family doesn’t mean I’m going to accept you killing my comrades,” he added to Le Figaro.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has opened lines of communication to Putin—whose decision to invade Ukraine three years ago violated international law, according to experts and the UN.
Trump has also made overtures to the ruthless autocrat, stating on Friday that the U.S. is “doing very well with Russia” and that he is finding it “more difficult to deal with Ukraine.”
Trump recently spread several blatant falsehoods about Zelensky, accusing of him being a “dictator” and offering up fake approval ratings to wrongly suggest support for the Ukrainian leader was dismal at home.
The Kremlin delighted in his remarks and touted them in state media.
“Donald Trump and my cousin clearly think they can placate Vladimir Putin,” Nate Vance told Le Figaro. “They are wrong. The Russians are not about to forget our support for Ukraine. We are Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
