Former employee: JD Vance “has trouble with Donald Trump”

A former White House communications director said he believes Ohio Senator JD Vance is having “difficulties” with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Anthony Scaramucci, who served in the role for only 11 days in July 2017, said he believed the former president was unhappy with the attention his running mate was receiving.

“I still think JD Vance has trouble with Donald Trump,” Scaramucci, who has become a frequent critic of Trump, told journalist Katty Kay in the podcast The rest is politics: USA.

He said Trump “wanted [Vance] fade into the background. And there's one thing that people in the media do that drives Trump crazy about JD Vance – they praise him.

“He came off the Sunday shows and they said, 'Well, JD Vance has got his message and is saying the right things on the issues and JD Vance is leading the campaign.' You can't do that to JD Vance because then he'll get blown up.”

Katty Kay interrupted her and said, “He can't be the principal. Like Tim Walz, he has to be content with being second.”

Scaramucci agreed “100 percent” and went on to tell the story of a Cabinet official who “remained a very good friend” and who said staff knew they were in trouble when Trump called them “president” or said, “You're going to be more famous than me.”

“Now you're in trouble because he thinks you're getting too much attention,” Scaramucci said. “You're too big for your money.”

Kay said: “I spent some time with some people in the Trump world this week and my understanding was that Trump was unhappy about the catlady comments and the amount of negative attention Vance was getting.

“He seems to be happier lately because he feels that Vance is coming across as a very good defender of Trump. And maybe Vance is learning that lesson and realizing that when he goes on TV, he just has to talk about Donald Trump. And he's doing that a little better.”

“So the official line of the campaign is that Trump is happy with Vance. Let's see if he can actually hold on.”

Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesman, said Newsweek: “Nobody is going to listen to someone who lasted little longer as White House communications director than an expired ham sandwich.”

Newsweek has emailed Vance for comment.

There have been numerous rumors about whether Trump is happy with Vance, and even some speculation about whether the former president should replace him.

Vance has come under fire for his past comments about women, abortion and calling Democratic women “childless cat ladies.” Vance has accused the media of twisting his words and tried to clarify what he meant in an interview with. Fox News' Sean Hannity last month.

However, Trump and his team have frequently responded to suggestions that he regrets choosing Vance by saying he was “thrilled” with his election.