WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� After several weeks working mostly behind closed doors, Vice President-elect returned to Capitol Hill this week in a new, more visible role: Helping try to get his most contentious Cabinet picks to confirmation in the Senate, where Vance has served for the last two years.
Vance arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday with former Rep. Matt Gaetz and spent the morning sitting in on meetings between Trump鈥檚 choice for attorney general and key Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The effort was for naught: amid scrutiny over sex trafficking allegations and the reality that he was unlikely to be confirmed.
Thursday morning Vance was back, this time accompanying Pete Hegseth, the 鈥淔ox & Friends Weekend鈥� host whom Trump has tapped to be the next secretary of defense. Hegseth also has faced allegations of sexual assault that he denies.
Vance is expected to accompany other nominees for meetings in coming weeks as he tries to leverage the two years he has spent in the Senate to help push through Trump's picks.
Vance is taking on an atypical role as Senate guide for Trump nominees
The role of introducing nominees around Capitol Hill is an unusual one for a vice president-elect. Usually the job goes to a former senator who has close relationships on the Hill, or a more junior aide.
But this time the role fits Vance, said Marc Short, who served as Trump鈥檚 first director of legislative affairs as well as chief of staff to Trump鈥檚 first vice president, Mike Pence, who spent more than a decade in Congress and led the former president鈥檚 transition ahead of his first term.
鈥滼D probably has a lot of current allies in the Senate and so it makes sense to have him utilized in that capacity,鈥� Short said.
Unlike the first Trump transition, which played out before cameras at Trump Tower in New York and at the president-elect's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, this one has largely happened behind closed doors in Palm Beach, Florida.
There, a small group of officials and aides meet daily at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to run through possible contenders and interview job candidates. The group includes Elon Musk, the billionaire who has spent so much time at the club that Trump has joked he can鈥檛 get rid of him.
Vance has been a constant presence, even as he鈥檚 kept a lower profile. The Ohio senator has spent much of the last two weeks in Palm Beach, according to people familiar with his plans, playing an active role in the transition, on which he serves as honorary chair.
Mar-a-Lago scene is a far cry from Vance's hardscrabble upbringing
Vance has been staying at a cottage on the property of the gilded club, where rooms are adorned with cherubs, oriental rugs and intricate golden inlays. It's a world away from the famously hardscrabble upbringing that Vance documented in the memoir that made him famous, 鈥淗illbilly Elegy.鈥�
His young children have also joined him at Mar-a-Lago, at times. Vance was photographed in shorts and a polo shirt playing with his kids on the seawall of the property with a large palm frond, a U.S. Secret Service robotic security dog in the distance.
On the rare days when he is not in Palm Beach, Vance has been joining the sessions remotely via Zoom.
Though he has taken a break from TV interviews after months of constant appearances, Vance has been active in the meetings, which began immediately after the election and include interviews and as well as presentations on candidates鈥� pluses and minuses.
Among those interviewed: Contenders , as Vance wrote in a since-deleted social media post.
Defending himself from criticism that he鈥檇 missed a Senate vote in which one of President Joe Biden鈥檚 judicial nominees was confirmed, Vance wrote that he was meeting at the time "with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.鈥�
鈥淚 tend to think it鈥檚 more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,鈥� Vance added on X. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 just me.鈥�
Vance is making his voice heard as Trump stocks his Cabinet
While Vance did not come in to the transition with a list of people he wanted to see in specific roles, he and his friend, Trump鈥檚 eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also a member of the transition team, were eager to see former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. find roles in the administration.
Trump ended up , a powerful position that sits atop the nation鈥檚 spy agencies and acts as the president鈥檚 top intelligence adviser. And he chose Kennedy to , a massive agency that oversees everything from drug and food safety to Medicare and Medicaid.
Vance was also a big booster of Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
In another sign of Vance's influence, James Braid, a top aide to the senator, is expected to serve as Trump鈥檚 legislative affairs director.
Allies say it鈥檚 too early to discuss what portfolio Vance might take on in the White House. While he gravitates to issues like trade, immigration and tech policy, Vance sees his role as doing whatever Trump needs.
Vance was spotted days after the election giving his son鈥檚 Boy Scout troop a tour of the Capitol and was there the day of leadership elections. He returned in earnest this week, first with Gaetz 鈥� arguably Trump鈥檚 most divisive pick 鈥� and then Hegseth, of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017, according to an investigative report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing.
Vance hosted Hegseth in his Senate office as GOP senators, including those who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, filtered in to meet with the nominee for defense secretary.
While a president鈥檚 nominees usually visit individual senators鈥� offices, meeting them on their own turf, the freshman senator 鈥� who is accompanied everywhere by a large Secret Service detail that makes moving around more unwieldy 鈥� instead brought Gaetz to a room in the Capitol on Wednesday and Hegseth to his office on Thursday. Senators came to them.
Vance made it to votes Wednesday and Thursday, but missed others on Thursday afternoon.
Vance will draw on his Senate background going forward
Vance is expected to continue to leverage his relationships in the Senate after Trump takes office. But many Republicans there have longer relationships with Trump himself.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, said that Trump was often the first person to call him back when he was trying to reach high-level White House officials during Trump's first term.
鈥淗e has the most active Rolodex of just about anybody I鈥檝e ever known,鈥� Cramer said, adding that Vance would make a good addition.
鈥淭hey鈥檒l divide names up by who has the most persuasion here,鈥� Cramer said, but added, 鈥淲hoever his liaison is will not work as hard at it as he will.鈥�
Cramer was complimentary of the Ohio senator, saying he was 鈥減leasant鈥� and 鈥� interesting鈥� to be around.
鈥矵e doesn鈥檛 have the long relationships," he said. "But we all like people that have done what we鈥檝e done. I mean, that鈥檚 sort of a natural kinship, just probably not as personally tied.鈥�
Under the Constitution, Vance will also have a role presiding over the Senate and breaking tie votes. But he's not likely to be needed for that as often as was Kamala Harris, who since Republicans will have a bigger cushion in the chamber next year.
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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Jill Colvin And Stephen Groves, The Associated Press
