Donald Trump VP Candidate’s Venmo Exposes Deep Ties to Right-Wing Extremists and Elites

While selecting his vice presidential candidate, Donald Trump made his Venmo account public. The account reveals he has tight contacts with numerous people on the far right, including one behind Project 2025.

Senator J.D. Vance's public Venmo account sheds light on his long-standing connections with right-wing Nazis, secretive elites, and federal officials, as stated in a new investigation published by WIRED. This account casts a light into the numerous corners of the inner circle of the Republican vice presidential contender.

Someone who works in law enforcement and researches extremism made the initial discovery of Vance's public account on Venmo, a mobile payment app. This individual requested to remain anonymous. WIRED was able to confirm that the account in question belonged to Vance.

The fact that the Venmo app allows users to sync their phone contacts into their friends list should be brought to your attention when creating an account with the app. It is possible that some of the individuals featured on the list of Vance's Venmo pals were automatically added to the list when he created his account in 2016. It is also possible that these individuals have never traded with the senator or been in touch with him in recent times.

Despite this, the list contains a treasure trove of influential voices from the right wing, as well as some names that may come as a surprise. These individuals may be sharing meals and vacations with the Republicans from Ohio.

Among the more than two hundred accounts that are included on Vance's list of pals on Venmo is the account of Amelia Halikias, who is the government relations director at the Heritage Foundation, which is the conservative think group that is responsible for Project 2025.

Donald Trump and Paul Dans, the leader of the project, have endeavored to create the illusion that the previous president is not associated with the fascist plot to expel government servants and replace them with Trump sycophants. However, they cannot outrun all of the evidence demonstrating that Trump had personal involvement in every endeavor.

Vance has long-standing public connections to the Heritage Foundation, and the organization's president has stated that he had been pushing for Vance to obtain the vice presidential selection. This is despite all of the posturing that has been done. Halikias also acknowledged Vance on Monday by retweeting Elon Musk's comment about Trump's "excellent" choice of running mate. Vance was a participant in the tweet.

Gladden Pappin, a conservative political thinker currently president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, is another individual who may be found on Vance's enumeration of friends. Pappin is a member of the same "new right" vanguard as Vance, which has looked to Hungary's authoritarian populist rule for ideas about how to implement Christian nationalist policies nationally.

In addition, Pappin co-founded an online newspaper called the Journal of American Greatness. This publication attempted to construct academic arguments based on Trump's talking points, but it discontinued its operations prior to the 2016 election. Pappin then co-founded American Affairs, a magazine that is still in existence, together with his associate Julius Krein. American Affairs is a Trumpist publication.

He had many connections with attorneys from costly law schools, including (predictably) his alma mater, Yale. Vance, who graduated from Yale, has previously blasted prestigious institutions as "expensive day care centers for coddled children." However, he had plenty of connections with attorneys from these schools.

Several of these attorneys are employed by the Department of Justice, which makes them foes of Trump's so-called "deep state." One of my friends worked as an assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which was the agency that initially opened an inquiry into Michael Cohen's allegations regarding the financial activities of the Trump Organization years ago.

Vance also has connections to outspoken opponents of Donald Trump, such as the former governor of Arizona, Jeff Flake, and Lanny Davis, who had previously represented Michael Cohen. Davis refuted the claim that he was Vance's friend on Venmo.

Other individuals on Vance's list include the intellectual dark web doyenne Bari Weiss, the clueless conservative news pundit Tucker Carlson, and lobbyists from conservative think tanks such as the Hoover Institution and the American Enterprise Institute. None of these individuals responded to WIRED's requests for comment.

Even though Vance's Venmo provides a glimpse into his private life, it also poses a security risk because it makes his contacts available to others interested in exerting influence over a potentially influential individual.

“What you guys need to realize is that Vance is influenceable. We have plenty of people in his orbit. Plenty of our guys can be put into positions of power because he’s there. Our focus should be on pulling him as far right as possible by 2028. Long game. Honey, not vinegar," Andrew Torba, a right-wing social media CEO who has promoted antisemitic content, penned in a post on X.