Vice President JD Vance downplayed the notion of a rivalry between himself and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a potential 2028 competitor.
Vance: Mike Waltz reassignment not a firing
Vice President JD Vance told Fox News’s Bret Baier that Mike Waltz’s recent job reassignment was not a firing.
- “Marco’s probably my best friend in the administration,” Vance told Fox News.
- President Trump named both Vance and Rubio as possible inheritors of the MAGA Republican movement.
WASHINGTON − A rivalry between potential 2028 competitors Marco Rubio and JD Vance? The vice president says it doesn’t exist.
In an interview in Fox News, Vance laughed off reports President Donald Trump is stoking tension between them.
“Not all,” Vance said. “Marco’s probably my best friend in the administration. We hang out and talk all the time. He’s doing a really good job.”
Trump is term limited and has named both men as potential successors. Vance edged out Rubio for vice president, but Trump gave Rubio a spot in his Cabinet as secretary of state.
Trump recently handed Rubio more responsibility, making him interim national security adviser after the ouster of Michael Waltz. The appointment showed a growing trust in the former Florida senator, who ran against Trump for president in 2016.
In interviews since he resumed office, Trump has declined to put his thumb on the scale for Vance, a former Ohio senator who served alongside Rubio for two years on Capitol Hill before Trump’s 2024 victory and Rubio’s ascention to the cabinet.
In an NBC interview that aired on May 4, the president namechecked them both as he spoke about the future of MAGA.
“You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic,” Trump said. “I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here.”
Vance brushed off the comments in the Fox interview, as he’s done in the past when Trump’s non-endorsement has come up.
“The president’s not going to name a successor 110 days into his administration, nor should he,” Vance said.
He added: “I can see myself doing a really good job for the next 1,100 days, and then the American people can figure it out from there.”