JD Vance ‘obsessed' with UFOs, says he plans to get ‘to the bottom' of mystery sightings
Vice President JD Vance made it known that he is 'obsessed' with and 'particularly focused' on UFOs — announcing on a recent podcast that he will spend time in the next weeks looking into the subject matter.
'Like I'm obsessed with the whole UFO thing. 'What's actually going on?' 'What were those videos all about?' 'What's actually happening?'' the veep stated in unprompted comments on the Ruthless Podcast episode released Friday.
3 Vice President JD Vance with Ruthless Podcast cohost Josh Holmes.
Disclosure Diaries, /X
'I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet but we're only six months in, we've been very busy,' Vance said with a chuckle.
'The August recess is in part me gonna try to dive to the bottom of the whole UFO thing from last year.'
It is unclear whether the Ohio native was referring to the New Jersey drone phenomenon that began on Nov. 13 last year with sightings of unidentified aircraft reportedly the size of cars hovering over a Picatinny Arsenal.
3 Vance stated he would 'dive to the bottom' of the UFO issue during congress' August recess.
ktsdesign – stock.adobe.com
The Trump administration cited the Federal Aviation Administration in a report earlier this year that stated the agency had no record of any anomalous sightings during the period of heightened public attention.
Ruthless Podcast cohost Michael Duncan then opened up about his own interest in the once-taboo subject matter.
'I've been to Roswell,' Duncan confessed. 'I've done the tours. I've done the whole thing.'
'Did you see any aliens?' Vance asked.
'No. I saw the hangar where they were,' Duncan responded sincerely.
3 The casual conversation brought out laughs, especially here, where Duncan claimed alien bodies were stored at a hangar in Area 51.
Disclosure Diaries, /X
'Once I get to the bottom of it, if there's anything there, I'll make sure you're the first to know,' Vance replied.
It is unclear the extent to which Vance was joking in the casual conversation.
Another member of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, takes UFOs very seriously.
Then-senator Rubio claimed top US officials have 'first-hand knowledge' of a secret Pentagon crash retrieval program back in a 2023 interview with NewsNation.
Rubio sat down for an interview for upcoming documentary 'Age of Disclosure' which has been much ballyhooed by disclosure advocates.
The VP's office did not respond to The Post's request for comment.
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San Francisco Chronicle
7 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump wields influence over GOP and keeps potential successors vying for his favor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Although President Donald Trump has not directly said he thinks JD Vance should be the heir to his 'Make America Great Again' base of support, he acknowledged this week that his vice president is probably the favorite to succeed him "at this point." But even as he promoted Vance, Trump also made sure to mention Secretary of State Marco Rubio, telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that his administration's top diplomat is 'somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form' on a future political ticket. The remarks reflect the massive influence the Republican president currently has over his party. They also serve to promote two of Trump's top advisers without telegraphing the president's singular preference for a successor. Not definitively anointing Vance, or any other Republican, keeps those hoping to succeed Trump vying for his favor, both inside his administration and in the wider Republican field of possible contenders. Speaking with reporters following an executive order signing at the White House, Trump was asked if Vance were the 'heir apparent to MAGA.' 'I think most likely, in all fairness, he's the vice president," Trump said. "I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form. ... It's too early obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he's doing a great job and he would be, probably favorite at this point.' When Trump selected the then-39-year-old Vance over other more established Republicans — including Rubio — as his running mate last year, many theorized that Trump was planning for the future of his political movement, angling for a vice president who could carry MAGA forward. Vance has embraced the role at every turn, doing the president's bidding on everything from his relationship with Ukraine to the fight over records related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal. Trump, meanwhile, has not hesitated to give Vance high-visibility assignments. As the White House promotes mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas — and acknowledges it would like the notion to expand to other states — Vance is expected Thursday to discuss redrawing district lines with Gov. Mike Braun during a trip to Indiana. While there, Vance will also headline a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, which he serves as treasurer. In June he traveled to Los Angeles trip to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center amid clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting following immigration raids across Southern California. And earlier this year, Vance was in swing congressional districts in his role as lead cheerleader for Trump's signature tax cut and spending law, an assortment of conservative priorities that Republicans dubbed the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill.' He also lobbied senators on Capitol Hill, working to swing GOP holdouts to support the legislation, and in July cast a tie-breaking vote to get the measure passed in the Senate. He's also taken on a robust role related to foreign policy, holding meetings of his own with world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a trip to New Delhi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Rubio, who has described Vance as among his closest friends in politics, said on Fox News Channel on Sunday that he felt Vance "would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that.' Other Republicans mentioned as possible 2028 contenders are already making the rounds of early-voting states. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at a GOP fundraiser in South Carolina this weekend, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders headlines an event in that state later this month. Both have taken pains to stay in the president's good graces. Not every Republican contender has gone that route. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who lost the 2016 nomination to Trump, has been visiting early-voting states, too, but he voted against the president's signature legislative measure. And Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — who has long harbored ambitions to run for president but has a complicated history with Trump — recently said he was sitting out of a Senate race in his state, a decision telegraphed by some as an indication Kemp might be eyeing the 2028 White House race.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Meet the Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky who could be the next JD Vance
Nate Morris grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, with a single mother, an absent father and grandparents who schooled him in Appalachian culture and the ways of the working class. After an elite education that included a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and an MBA from Oxford, he built an innovative waste management company that attracted money from big-name investors and comparisons to Uber. Now Morris is positioning himself as the outsider in a Republican Senate primary that will determine whom the party nominates next year to succeed Mitch McConnell. Since launching his campaign in June, Morris has relentlessly attacked McConnell, whose name graces the state GOP's headquarters, while characterizing his two rivals, Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, as squishy extensions of McConnell's legacy. Morris' biography and anti-establishment pitch, tailored to President Donald Trump's right-wing populist base, is reminiscent of the formula that sent JD Vance from the private sector to the Senate — and, most recently, to the vice presidency. 'Nate's life story is strikingly similar' to Vance's, Charlie Kirk, an influential figure in Trump's MAGA movement who has campaigned with Morris, wrote last month in a post on X. Vance, a Yale Law graduate, chronicled his own turbulent childhood — a single mother who struggled with addiction, a 'revolving door of father figures' and grandparents who shouldered a heavy load in raising him — in his 2016 memoir, 'Hillbilly Elegy.' He grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and frequently visited family in Jackson, Kentucky. Morris' family descends from nearby Morgan County. At 44 and 41, respectively, Morris and Vance are also close in age. They struck up a friendship several years ago, when Morris was running Rubicon, the high-tech trash and recycling company he founded, and Vance was working in Silicon Valley venture capital. 'I sent him an email and I said, 'Hey, I see you've got Kentucky roots, I'd love to connect,'' Morris recalled in an interview this week with NBC News. 'He wrote me back pretty quickly.' They soon learned they had more in common than their bios. 'We connected on everything from politics to technology and, of course, junk food,' Morris said. 'I knew he was a real hillbilly when we started talking about what we like to eat. He said, 'You know, I'm having a hard time finding some of the things I like out here, out West.'' Morris promptly shipped a couple of cases of Big Red, a regionally popular soda, to Vance in California. 'It's what we call a trailer treat in Kentucky,' Morris said. 'It's a staple in the hillbilly palate.' Morris was among the notable names at a fundraiser Vance put together for Trump last year in Ohio. And Vance encouraged Morris to take a look at the Kentucky Senate race, a source familiar with the conversation said. 'JD is a friend, and I've been very inspired by his success and what he's been able to do as a senator and vice president,' Morris said. 'He represents the American dream.' A childhood of challenges Morris talks frequently of his mother, recalling how she worked multiple jobs and relied on food stamps to raise him. In his interview with NBC News, he also described 'typical deadbeat dad issues' — his estranged father's gambling addiction and delinquent child support. 'My mother had personal struggles and challenges … and she had to deal with a lot of things that a lot of Kentuckians have to deal with, and that really took its toll,' Morris said. 'But, you know, we stayed really tight as a family unit between my mom and my grandparents.' By Morris' count, 19 of his family members worked at the Ford Motor Co. plant in Louisville. His maternal grandfather served as the local United Auto Workers president and often took Morris with him to the union hall. Those experiences in the 1990s — particularly fallout from the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Vance has cited as a formative moment of his youth — helped shape his politics. 'It was members of my family that, when NAFTA came through, lost their jobs because they went to Mexico,' Morris said. His grandparents, he added, 'were Reagan Democrats, but they were very conservative people who always felt that the American workers should be put first.' Morris wanted to 'get away from a lot of the challenges' of his childhood and channeled his energy into high school football. When a severe neck injury sidelined him, he gravitated toward the debate team and Boys Nation, an American Legion program that took him to Washington, D.C., where he met then-President Bill Clinton. After returning to Washington for college, he landed internships with a local congresswoman and, later, with McConnell. It's that latter piece of Morris' biography that his critics wield against him, arguing he's not the outsider he proclaims to be. Morris' Washington connections also led him to a fundraising role with then-President George W. Bush's re-election bid. At 23, he raised more than $50,000, earning him status as one of the campaign's youngest 'Bush Mavericks.' Among those impressed was McConnell, who, in a 2004 profile of Morris by the Lexington Herald-Leader, remarked that he was 'the kind of kid you remember because he seems to be so sincere and so dedicated to the cause.' Morris rated further profile treatment a decade later, when he emerged as a key adviser to Kentucky's other Republican senator, Rand Paul, who was preparing to run for president and whose vision for the future of the Republican Party appeared to be ascendant at the time. Many thought then that Morris himself would one day run for office in Kentucky. His Senate campaign is no surprise, but his decision to critically center McConnell in it has been notable. A statement from Cameron's campaign described Morris' McConnell-bashing as 'completely fake' while emphasizing his past work for the senator and charging that he has an 'authenticity problem.' Morris, in his interview, countered that he came to view his work for McConnell as a lesson in how not to lead. 'I know that seems advantageous for me to say that now, but it's the truth,' Morris said. The culture around McConnell 'was just around power,' he added. 'We all have desires to want to be more and get more. That's the human component. But there was no element of service. There was no higher purpose. There was no, 'Let's make this about Kentucky.'' A trash-talking 'disrupter' Addressing a breakfast crowd before last weekend's annual Fancy Farm picnic, a major political event in western Kentucky, McConnell winked at Morris' candidacy, wondering 'how you'd want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history.' Morris arrived at the picnic in a garbage truck — a nod to his business career and to his campaign pledge to 'trash' McConnell, Barr and Cameron. On stage, he alluded to all three. 'I thought this was Fancy Farm,' he said. 'I didn't realize this was Bring Your Boys to Work day.' Loud boos were audible throughout Morris' remarks. 'The main thing that stood out about his speech was that it was angry and trashy, not that of a statesman at all,' said a Republican operative who was at the event and is not affiliated with anyone in the race. Barr's campaign seized on the reaction, issuing a statement for this article asserting that 'Andy Barr dominated Fancy Farm.' 'Meanwhile,' the campaign added, 'Nate Morris was booed worse than the lone Democrat speaker at Fancy Farm — his performance widely panned as one of the worst ever by a Republican.' In Morris' mind, the criticism misses the mark. Why would anyone expect him to change his message because he was at an event stacked with McConnell-aligned GOP insiders? 'When you're a disrupter, that's what you've got to do,' Morris said in his interview. 'You've got to take the fight right to the establishment.' Morris' campaign is already outpacing his rivals on the Kentucky airwaves, with nearly $1.6 million spent on ads through Wednesday, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. A Barr-aligned group has spent $596,000. Cameron's campaign has spent less than $3,000. Nevertheless, Barr, Cameron and their allies have registered Morris as a threat. Both quickly attacked Morris when he entered the race, scrutinizing his past business practices and charging that he has not demonstrated sufficient loyalty to Trump. Cameron's campaign, for example, has called attention to a contribution that Morris made to a Nikki Haley PAC in 2021. The donation came after Haley had vowed not to challenge Trump in 2024, though she eventually did. Whoever wins the GOP nomination will be heavily favored to win the Senate seat. Kentucky has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since awarding Wendell Ford a fourth and final term in 1992. The primary dynamics are not unlike Vance's 2022 Senate race in Ohio, where he was initially dismissed as too much of a neophyte. Vance's opponents also questioned his allegiance to Trump, noting how critical he had been of him years earlier. Other Republicans, including a former state treasurer and former state party chair, commanded more support from local grassroots activists and Washington insiders. Then-Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., was the first member of Congress to back Vance. And Vance's friendly relationships with Donald Trump Jr. and Kirk, the MAGA influencer, placed him in good standing in Trump world. Trump himself endorsed Vance weeks before the primary. Ohio's 2024 Senate primary played out similarly, with businessman Bernie Moreno riding Trump and Vance endorsements to the GOP nomination over a state senator backed by establishment-friendly Gov. Mike DeWine. Moreno, like Vance, went on to win the general election. There are common denominators between those winning campaigns and Morris' bid. He declared his candidacy on Trump Jr.'s podcast and held his first major event with Kirk. Key Vance and Moreno advisers, including strategist Andy Surabian and pollster Tony Fabrizio, are now working with him. Banks and Moreno were the first two senators to endorse him. If and when Trump and Vance will join them remains unclear. In the meantime, Kentucky observers are curious to see if Morris' Vance-like story and anti-McConnell message can work. 'I think it's a mixed bag, because I think there's frustration with McConnell for things he's done the last maybe five to eight years among the base, but he's got, he's in a very long career, and he's done a lot for not just the state, but for the Republican Party in Kentucky,' said Tres Watson, a former communications director for the Kentucky GOP. Watson, who is not affiliated with any of the Senate campaigns, hesitated only slightly when asked who he believes is more popular in Kentucky these days: Vance or McConnell. 'I mean, probably JD Vance,' he said.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Former Georgia lieutenant governor joins Democratic Party
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has joined the Democratic Party after falling out with the GOP, saying the switch has been coming for a while. Duncan, in an op-ed published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday, said his journey to becoming a Democrat began well before President Trump tried to 'steal' the 2020 presidential election, an effort that Duncan denounced him for at the time. 'There's no date on a calendar or line in the sand that points to the exact moment in time my political heart changed, but it has,' he said. 'My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican.' Duncan outlined various policy issues that contributed to his decision to make the switch, attacking Republicans for their handling of health care, Medicaid, support for poor people, gun control and immigration. The former lieutenant governor said his time serving in elected office taught him that the best way to 'love my neighbor' is through public policy. He added that Republicans have argued for decades that the solution to not having health insurance is to get a job, but most uninsured Georgians live in working households but don't have insurance because of issues with affordability or eligibility. 'So, the reality is they have a job, just the wrong job,' Duncan wrote. 'One that doesn't offer health insurance or generate enough spare money each month to afford their own health insurance plan.' He said Trump's ' big, beautiful bill ' will leave Medicaid funding 'in shambles' with hundreds of billions of dollars slashed from the program. He also criticized the legislation's cuts to funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps. and the effect it will have on preventing children from being hungry at school. Duncan cited polls showing widespread support for gun control measures like universal background checks and red flag laws and slammed the Trump administration's immigration policies that he said, 'have turned into a lesson on how not to love your neighbor.' He also argued that immigration policy should focus on securing the border, deporting those in the country illegally who have committed felonies and creating a path to citizenship for the others. Duncan's decision comes months after the Georgia Republican Party expelled him from the party following his endorsement of former Vice President Harris during the 2024 presidential election. He also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August in support of Harris. The former Georgia State lawmaker has been a sharp critic of Trump and the GOP more broadly particularly since the president's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. He chose not to run for reelection as lieutenant governor in 2022. 'The list of reasons why I'm now a Democrat continues to grow,' Duncan concluded. 'Most importantly, my decision puts me in the best possible position each day to love my neighbor.' He is just one of a few former officials who have switched from Republican to Democrat in recent months, including former Reps. Joe Walsh (Ill.) and David Jolly (Fla.).
