Vanity Fair feature profiles the political development of JD Vance at Yale

NPR's Leila Fadel talks with journalist Chris Whipple about his new Vanity Fair feature with revealing details about the political development of JD Vance.

LEILA FADEL, HOST: A new feature out today in Vanity Fair looks at Vice President Vance's time at Yale Law School for clues about his political future. It also reveals details about discussions he had with Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Chris Whipple reported that story and joins us now. Good morning, Chris. Thanks for being on the program. CHRIS WHIPPLE: Good to be with you. FADEL: So let's start with that interaction with the Clinton campaign just after Vance graduated Yale. What happened? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, the story of JD Vance and Hillary Clinton in 2016 is amazing, given what Vance said at the time. He said in no uncertain terms that he was opposed to both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He was voting for a third-party candidate, but it turns out that he was privately trying to get Hillary elected. Now, he told an intermediary to the Clinton campaign, I hate Hillary, but I hate Trump more. He can't be elected - and also that Hillary is going to lose, but she doesn't have to. And she - he was advising this intermediary, get Hillary to the blue wall Midwestern states. Stop hanging out with Beyonce in Miami. Later, he was in direct contact with Jake Sullivan, one of Clinton's top aides, shortly after she had made her infamous remark about the deplorables - followers of Trump - and said, you've got - she's got to fix this deplorables thing. She's got to get her act together. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: I mean, especially given where Vance is now. I mean, he's President Trump's vice president. Does this episode, this reporting in Vance's time at Yale tell you something about who Vance is as a politician? WHIPPLE: Yeah. It's fascinating because he spent his formative years at Yale Law School as a hillbilly from Appalachia and a Marine just out of Iraq. And it was there that he met someone who would profoundly shape his life. Her name was Amy Chua. I speak to her for my Vanity Fair piece. She's better known as the Tiger Mother for a book she wrote on tough-love parenting. But she immediately pegged Vance as someone who was going places. She helped him really create "Hillbilly Elegy," turn a bunch of musings into a book. And she befriended the star of that class at Yale Law, whose name was Usha Chilukuri, Vance's future wife. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: What have you heard from either Vance or the White House about your reporting? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, we did reach out to Vance's office. Vance did something like 33 interviews for "Communion." He declined to sit down with me for the Vanity Fair piece. You know, he denies that he was in any way trying to help Hillary win, but the reporting speaks for itself. FADEL: You also talked to Tucker Carlson for this piece, who's potentially a presidential rival for Vance in 2028, although he says he's not running. What did he tell you about Vance and Trump's response to the release of the Epstein files? WHIPPLE: Well, it's interesting and all on the record. And Carlson told me that he thought that Vance was in favor of transparency. He wanted the files released. Trump, on the other hand, according to Carlson, ordered the cover-up. Carlson's words, not mine. I asked him again, what are you saying? He said that Trump ordered the cover-up. He asked - he, Carlson, asked Trump why, and the response was, it's just Russiagate, Russiagate, Russiagate, meaning, presumably, Trump thought it was all just a Democratic hoax. FADEL: Chris Whipple's latest article is "God And Vance At Yale." It's in Vanity Fair. (SOUNDBITE OF MAMMAL HANDS' "WRINGER") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

LEILA FADEL, HOST: A new feature out today in Vanity Fair looks at Vice President Vance's time at Yale Law School for clues about his political future. It also reveals details about discussions he had with Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Chris Whipple reported that story and joins us now. Good morning, Chris. Thanks for being on the program. CHRIS WHIPPLE: Good to be with you. FADEL: So let's start with that interaction with the Clinton campaign just after Vance graduated Yale. What happened? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, the story of JD Vance and Hillary Clinton in 2016 is amazing, given what Vance said at the time. He said in no uncertain terms that he was opposed to both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He was voting for a third-party candidate, but it turns out that he was privately trying to get Hillary elected. Now, he told an intermediary to the Clinton campaign, I hate Hillary, but I hate Trump more. He can't be elected - and also that Hillary is going to lose, but she doesn't have to. And she - he was advising this intermediary, get Hillary to the blue wall Midwestern states. Stop hanging out with Beyonce in Miami. Later, he was in direct contact with Jake Sullivan, one of Clinton's top aides, shortly after she had made her infamous remark about the deplorables - followers of Trump - and said, you've got - she's got to fix this deplorables thing. She's got to get her act together. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: I mean, especially given where Vance is now. I mean, he's President Trump's vice president. Does this episode, this reporting in Vance's time at Yale tell you something about who Vance is as a politician? WHIPPLE: Yeah. It's fascinating because he spent his formative years at Yale Law School as a hillbilly from Appalachia and a Marine just out of Iraq. And it was there that he met someone who would profoundly shape his life. Her name was Amy Chua. I speak to her for my Vanity Fair piece. She's better known as the Tiger Mother for a book she wrote on tough-love parenting. But she immediately pegged Vance as someone who was going places. She helped him really create "Hillbilly Elegy," turn a bunch of musings into a book. And she befriended the star of that class at Yale Law, whose name was Usha Chilukuri, Vance's future wife. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: What have you heard from either Vance or the White House about your reporting? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, we did reach out to Vance's office. Vance did something like 33 interviews for "Communion." He declined to sit down with me for the Vanity Fair piece. You know, he denies that he was in any way trying to help Hillary win, but the reporting speaks for itself. FADEL: You also talked to Tucker Carlson for this piece, who's potentially a presidential rival for Vance in 2028, although he says he's not running. What did he tell you about Vance and Trump's response to the release of the Epstein files? WHIPPLE: Well, it's interesting and all on the record. And Carlson told me that he thought that Vance was in favor of transparency. He wanted the files released. Trump, on the other hand, according to Carlson, ordered the cover-up. Carlson's words, not mine. I asked him again, what are you saying? He said that Trump ordered the cover-up. He asked - he, Carlson, asked Trump why, and the response was, it's just Russiagate, Russiagate, Russiagate, meaning, presumably, Trump thought it was all just a Democratic hoax. FADEL: Chris Whipple's latest article is "God And Vance At Yale." It's in Vanity Fair. (SOUNDBITE OF MAMMAL HANDS' "WRINGER") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

A new feature out today in Vanity Fair looks at Vice President Vance's time at Yale Law School for clues about his political future. It also reveals details about discussions he had with Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Chris Whipple reported that story and joins us now. Good morning, Chris. Thanks for being on the program. CHRIS WHIPPLE: Good to be with you. FADEL: So let's start with that interaction with the Clinton campaign just after Vance graduated Yale. What happened? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, the story of JD Vance and Hillary Clinton in 2016 is amazing, given what Vance said at the time. He said in no uncertain terms that he was opposed to both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He was voting for a third-party candidate, but it turns out that he was privately trying to get Hillary elected. Now, he told an intermediary to the Clinton campaign, I hate Hillary, but I hate Trump more. He can't be elected - and also that Hillary is going to lose, but she doesn't have to. And she - he was advising this intermediary, get Hillary to the blue wall Midwestern states. Stop hanging out with Beyonce in Miami. Later, he was in direct contact with Jake Sullivan, one of Clinton's top aides, shortly after she had made her infamous remark about the deplorables - followers of Trump - and said, you've got - she's got to fix this deplorables thing. She's got to get her act together. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: I mean, especially given where Vance is now. I mean, he's President Trump's vice president. Does this episode, this reporting in Vance's time at Yale tell you something about who Vance is as a politician? WHIPPLE: Yeah. It's fascinating because he spent his formative years at Yale Law School as a hillbilly from Appalachia and a Marine just out of Iraq. And it was there that he met someone who would profoundly shape his life. Her name was Amy Chua. I speak to her for my Vanity Fair piece. She's better known as the Tiger Mother for a book she wrote on tough-love parenting. But she immediately pegged Vance as someone who was going places. She helped him really create "Hillbilly Elegy," turn a bunch of musings into a book. And she befriended the star of that class at Yale Law, whose name was Usha Chilukuri, Vance's future wife. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: What have you heard from either Vance or the White House about your reporting? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, we did reach out to Vance's office. Vance did something like 33 interviews for "Communion." He declined to sit down with me for the Vanity Fair piece. You know, he denies that he was in any way trying to help Hillary win, but the reporting speaks for itself. FADEL: You also talked to Tucker Carlson for this piece, who's potentially a presidential rival for Vance in 2028, although he says he's not running. What did he tell you about Vance and Trump's response to the release of the Epstein files? WHIPPLE: Well, it's interesting and all on the record. And Carlson told me that he thought that Vance was in favor of transparency. He wanted the files released. Trump, on the other hand, according to Carlson, ordered the cover-up. Carlson's words, not mine. I asked him again, what are you saying? He said that Trump ordered the cover-up. He asked - he, Carlson, asked Trump why, and the response was, it's just Russiagate, Russiagate, Russiagate, meaning, presumably, Trump thought it was all just a Democratic hoax. FADEL: Chris Whipple's latest article is "God And Vance At Yale." It's in Vanity Fair. (SOUNDBITE OF MAMMAL HANDS' "WRINGER") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

A new feature out today in Vanity Fair looks at Vice President Vance's time at Yale Law School for clues about his political future. It also reveals details about discussions he had with Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Chris Whipple reported that story and joins us now. Good morning, Chris. Thanks for being on the program. CHRIS WHIPPLE: Good to be with you. FADEL: So let's start with that interaction with the Clinton campaign just after Vance graduated Yale. What happened? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, the story of JD Vance and Hillary Clinton in 2016 is amazing, given what Vance said at the time. He said in no uncertain terms that he was opposed to both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He was voting for a third-party candidate, but it turns out that he was privately trying to get Hillary elected. Now, he told an intermediary to the Clinton campaign, I hate Hillary, but I hate Trump more. He can't be elected - and also that Hillary is going to lose, but she doesn't have to. And she - he was advising this intermediary, get Hillary to the blue wall Midwestern states. Stop hanging out with Beyonce in Miami. Later, he was in direct contact with Jake Sullivan, one of Clinton's top aides, shortly after she had made her infamous remark about the deplorables - followers of Trump - and said, you've got - she's got to fix this deplorables thing. She's got to get her act together. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: I mean, especially given where Vance is now. I mean, he's President Trump's vice president. Does this episode, this reporting in Vance's time at Yale tell you something about who Vance is as a politician? WHIPPLE: Yeah. It's fascinating because he spent his formative years at Yale Law School as a hillbilly from Appalachia and a Marine just out of Iraq. And it was there that he met someone who would profoundly shape his life. Her name was Amy Chua. I speak to her for my Vanity Fair piece. She's better known as the Tiger Mother for a book she wrote on tough-love parenting. But she immediately pegged Vance as someone who was going places. She helped him really create "Hillbilly Elegy," turn a bunch of musings into a book. And she befriended the star of that class at Yale Law, whose name was Usha Chilukuri, Vance's future wife. So it's a pretty amazing story. FADEL: What have you heard from either Vance or the White House about your reporting? WHIPPLE: Well, you know, we did reach out to Vance's office. Vance did something like 33 interviews for "Communion." He declined to sit down with me for the Vanity Fair piece. You know, he denies that he was in any way trying to help Hillary win, but the reporting speaks for itself. FADEL: You also talked to Tucker Carlson for this piece, who's potentially a presidential rival for Vance in 2028, although he says he's not running. What did he tell you about Vance a