Vance Brings White House Backup to Indiana

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Aug 07, 2025

*JUNE 20: Vice President JD Vance. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)*

Vice President JD Vance brought an entourage of White House officials with him to Indiana today for his meeting with Republican state officials there, whom he attempted to pressure to follow Texas’ lead and do the Trump administration’s bidding when it comes to the state’s congressional maps.

Alongside Vance were White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, White House Counsel Dave Warrington and Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Alex Meyer, according to new reporting in Politico. The three reportedly took personal days from their jobs at the White House in order to accompany Vance on his trip — a Trump administration summit seemingly meant to strong arm Indiana Republicans into redrawing the two congressional districts currently held by Democrats in the Hoosier state. The three reportedly participated in their “personal capacity,” in Politico’s words.

The pilgrimage to Indiana on Thursday was, of course, one prong of a broader Trump administration effort to try to force red states to engage in midcycle redistricting and redraw congressional maps to flip seats from Democrat to Republican. They’re doing this because they are worried that Democrats are going to take back the House in the 2026 midterms, presumably due to polling on the unpopularity of Trump’s mass deportation agenda, Medicaid cuts and constitutional norm shattering, among other things. As things currently stand, Democrats would have to pick up just three seats in order to take back the House, which would not just end Trump’s trifecta in Washington, but also open the Trump administration up to a wave of investigations as Democrats would then hold subpoena power.

The fact that Vance brought backup with him suggests the degree of importance the White House has placed on winning the gerrymandering war it started, and could signal how desperate the administration is to pick up more Republican seats.

Obviously, Republicans in Texas were easily persuaded to take on Trump’s dirty task. But it’s not quite clear how enthusiastic Indiana Republican officials will be to engage in gerrymandering ahead of the midterms. As I noted yesterday, Democrats only hold two of Indiana’s nine seats in the U.S. House.

Reports from Indiana about the meeting did not exactly describe a ringing endorsement of the Trump administration’s ratfuckery. While a source in the meeting room told Politico that Vance “made a compelling case for what needs to be done,” Republican Gov. Mike Braun told reporters after the meeting that they talked about “a wide array of topics.”

“We listened,” Braun told a reporter when he was asked if they’d reached an agreement on redistricting.

Both the top Republicans in the Indiana state legislature who participated in the meeting released statements afterwards. Neither of them mentioned the alleged main topic of conversation.

State House Speaker Todd Huston:

“I appreciate the opportunity to meet with Vice President Vance today and share many of the successes we’re experiencing in Indiana. We’ve been proud to work alongside the Trump Administration on several issues to strengthen our state and nation. We had a meaningful discussion, heard the vice president’s perspective on a number of topics, and will continue conversations as we work to advance Indiana and deliver results for Hoosiers.”

Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray:

“It was an honor to have Vice President Vance at the Statehouse today. We had a productive meeting and discussed several topics that are important to Indiana. I appreciated the opportunity to hear from the Vice President on a variety of issues, which we will continue to talk through in the days ahead.”

DOJ Official Urged Jan 6 Rioters to ‘Kill’ Police

NPR has a new exclusive out today, surfacing footage of a current Trump administration Justice Department official and former Jan. 6 defendant urging those storming the Capitol that day to “kill” members of law enforcement. Per NPR:

NPR has obtained police bodycam footage from multiple angles of the former defendant and current administration official, Jared Wise, berating officers and calling them “Nazi” and “Gestapo.” … NPR also obtained the transcript of Wise’s testimony, in which he acknowledged that he repeatedly yelled “kill ’em” as officers were being attacked and tried to explain his actions. Wise was not convicted of any crimes related to Jan. 6, due to President Trump’s order to end all Capitol riot prosecutions.

Senate GOP Appropriators Don’t Want Another Rescissions Package

Some Senate Appropriations Committee Republicans are saying they don’t want the White House to send over another rescissions package to claw back funding previously approved by Congress, saying it will make it harder to fund the government for the next fiscal year.

“Another rescissions package at this point in time or in the future … really makes any kind of bipartisan effort on any legislation, including appropriations, much more difficult,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) told Politico.

The Trump White House and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought have indicated on several occasions that another rescissions package is being considered, including an attempt at pocket rescissions — which are illegal.

Another request may come amid efforts to fund the government —which requires a filibuster — and avoid a shutdown before October.

“It takes 60 votes to pass bills, and rescissions really would just damage our relationship to work together,” Moran said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) told reporters he’d want any request for rescissions to “come back to the Appropriations Committee so we can incorporate that into the process.”

“Things would work better, and if they were truly items where it was waste, fraud and abuse, I would love to put Democrats on record and have them vote against [those items],” Rounds said. “At the same time, if it’s not going to be identifiable that way, then maybe there’s a reason why we voted for that funding in the first place.”

— Emine Yücel