A close member of Vice President JD Vance’s family has publically attacked him for his views on Ukraine.
Vance is being attacked by his own cousin, who fought on the front lines in Ukraine, over what he says are insults to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Nate Vance, a Texas native who volunteered for Ukraine and fought on the front lines against Russia for three years, told French newspaper Le Figaro that Donald Trump and Vance are turning the U.S. into “Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots.”
“JD is a good guy, intelligent,” Nate Vance said.
“When he criticized aid to Ukraine, I told myself that it was because he had to please a certain electorate and that it was a political game. But what they did to Zelensky was an ambush of absolute bad faith.”
According to reports, Nate and JD are first cousins.
JD’s mother is the sister of Nate’s father.
Nate, a Marine veteran like JD, traveled to Ukraine in 2022, fighting in some of its deadliest battles, according to the interview with the publication.
“You’re family but that doesn’t mean I’m going to accept the fact that you’re getting my comrades killed,” Vance said.
He believes that the U.S. has benefited from aiding Ukraine, and that U.S. equipment has been used effectively in the war, and was incensed after watching Trump and Vance disrespect Zelenskiy in the Oval Office two weeks ago.
“I was disappointed. When JD justified his distrust of Zelensky by the ‘reports’ he had seen, I thought I was going to choke,” Vance said.
“His own cousin was on the frontline. I could have told him the truth, plain and simple, without any personal agenda. He never tried to find out more.”
Nate Vance left the Ukrainian war in January after his cousin was sworn in as vice president, having kept his relationship to JD under wraps until then, due to the risk of being captured because of his famous relative.