Trump Claims Democrats Are Stealing Billions Every Month and Hands Vice President JD Vance the Job of Proving It

Trump pulled Vice President JD Vance off the Vance Iran talks on Thursday and told him to spend his time chasing what Trump called massive corruption in Democrat run cities and states, a charge Trump made without laying out evidence.

Trump announced the change in a post on Truth Social. “I have asked Vice President Vance to focus his complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.,” he wrote. He claimed billions of dollars are being stolen every month and that the federal budget could be “quickly BALANCED” by fixing it. “CORRUPTION is in the Democrat Leadership’s blood!” he added.

The post did not name a city, a state or a case. News outlets covering it described the corruption as alleged. Vance already has a related job. He has led the administration’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud since it was created in March.

In the same post, Trump said he is done looking for a diplomatic way out with Iran. “We don’t need a deal with Iran,” he wrote. “Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!” The strait he is talking about is the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway off Iran’s coast that a large share of the world’s oil passes through. Iran’s refusal to reopen it has been one of the main sticking points in the war.

Vance had been the administration’s lead negotiator with Iran, working alongside Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. In April he flew to Islamabad, Pakistan, for direct talks with Iranian officials, with Pakistan acting as the go between. Those talks produced a 14 point framework meant to pause the fighting and open a 60 day window for a peace deal. It fell apart in July. In recent days, Vance had publicly backed the idea of face to face talks with Iran again, and Trump had reportedly told senior officials he was open to letting Vance restart them.

Then came the midterms. Democrats swept the November 3 elections, and Vance pointed the finger at the war. “The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote after the election. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay.”

That was a sitting vice president publicly saying his own administration’s war cost the party the Senate. Trump told reporters he was fine with Vance’s post and said in a 60 Minutes interview that he did not disagree with the assessment. A little over a week later, Vance was off the Iran file.

The White House has not called it a demotion. Trump did not say the US is ending indirect talks with Iran, meaning the messages American and Iranian officials still pass back and forth through other countries. An administration official said Vance is still involved in Iran policy and could return to negotiations if an opening comes up.

The move also takes Vance off the one assignment that could have built his resume for a possible 2028 presidential run. A peace deal with Iran would have been the biggest diplomatic win of his career. His new job is to back up Trump’s claim that Democrats are stealing billions of dollars a month.

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Dee Dee Henderson

Dee Dee Henderson is a Poli Alert journalist covering national politics, elections and the policies that hit closest to home for Black communities, from voting rights and the economy to the courts. She reports the facts first and isn't afraid to say what they mean, and her commentary pieces are clearly labeled as opinion. Her midterm coverage breaks down deadlines, ballot measures and the races that will decide who holds power in Washington.

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