Vice President J.D. Vance has been named as the anonymous "senior administration official" quoted in a June Politico story that the White House later cited when banning Politico from its grounds. The comments — including an 80–85% estimate on the odds of a preliminary Iran deal — were made during a sanctioned White House press call that reporters agreed would be on background. The White House nonetheless referenced Politico's reporting in a court filing arguing the outlet published information that threatened national security; Politico, CNN and MSNBC have sued to restore access.
Report: VP J.D. Vance Identified As Anonymous Source Behind Politico Story Cited In White House Ban
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Vice President J.D. Vance has been identified as the anonymous "senior administration official" whose comments were quoted in a June Politico story that the White House later cited when revoking Politico's access to the grounds, according to reporting first published by Oliver Darcy's Status and confirmed by The Washington Post.
What Happened
The White House, in a Tuesday court filing defending its decision to remove Politico from White House grounds alongside CNN and MSNBC, pointed to several Politico articles it said either threatened national security or spread falsehoods. One highlighted piece quoted an unnamed "senior administration official" who estimated the odds of reaching a preliminary agreement to end the conflict with Iran at roughly 80–85 percent.
The Source And The Press Call
The Post reports that those comments were not the result of an unauthorized leak but were made on a sanctioned White House press call. On that call, a White House aide told reporters the discussion would be "on background, attributable to a senior administration official," and said that by remaining on the line, reporters agreed to the terms. Status identified the official on that call as Vice President J.D. Vance.
"Good afternoon, and thank you for joining this press call. The contents of this call are on background, attributable to a senior administration official. By remaining on the line, you agree to those terms. There is no embargo for the contents of the call." — White House aide
On the call, Vance said: "I think the second thing is we do expect to be signing this agreement over the next few days. I can't give you an exact date. And if I were to give you a confidence that we were going to be finding this agreement, I maybe would have said 75 percent this morning. It's probably more like 80, 85 percent now, but it's not 100 percent."
Why The White House Cited The Story
Despite the comments being given on background, the White House quoted Politico's reporting in its filing, arguing that publication of sensitive or false national security information diverts government resources and undermines the President's ability to safeguard national security. The filing singled out Politico pieces it said fit that description.
Other Outlets And Legal Fight
The Washington Post noted that multiple mainstream outlets, including The Associated Press, Bloomberg and CNBC, also covered the same sanctioned briefing. Those organizations were not included in the White House ban. Politico, CNN and MSNBC have sued to restore their press access; the White House letter was filed in court as part of that defense. Politico reportedly has until Friday at 5 p.m. to respond to the court filing.
Responses
A White House spokesperson declined to comment to Status and The Washington Post. Politico had not immediately responded to requests for comment at the time of the reporting.
Why it matters: The revelation that the quoted official was a vice president and that the comments were made on a sanctioned, on-background call complicates the administration's argument that Politico published unauthorized or harmful national security information. The dispute now forms part of a court fight over press access to the White House.
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