Yale-educated Second Lady Usha Vance took a role during a key diplomatic moment in the Trump-Vance administration earlier this year, according to a new book.
Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America, is the latest book from author Jonathan Karl, who is also the ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent.
In his latest work, Karl claims that Usha, wife of Vice President JD Vance, was consulted on a high-stakes minerals deal that was in the works with Ukraine in February of this year.
During the discussion of the deal between Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump, questions were raised about whether or not the proposal had gone through proper legal vetting.
Karl writes that JD noted, ‘I can have Usha take a look at it,’ per Politico, which reviewed excerpts of the book. The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the second lady’s team for comment.
Karl adds of the minerals deal scene, ‘And with that, the vice president asked the Second Lady of the United States—who, like Steve Bannon, had no role whatsoever on the National Security Council—to come over to the West Wing and review a bilateral agreement that was supposed to be signed the next day.’
The Vances met as law students at Yale University, and Usha worked as an associate attorney in private practice and as a law clerk for both the U.S Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.
Eventually, the mineral deal did not come to fruition after a disastrous visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Oval Office, during which he sparred with the Vice President.
Usha Vance stands for a ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery on January 19, 2025, in Virginia
Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance are pictured in the Rose Garden of the White House
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Brazil’s President on October 26, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Vance publicly dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not being respectful enough to President Donald Trump during a dramatic Oval Office meeting at the White House back in February.
At the time, the vice president launched into attack mode after he felt Trump was being disrespected by the Ukrainian president.
‘Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,’ Vance said after Zelensky repeatedly interrupted and disputed statements made by Trump.
A source familiar with the meeting at the White House told the Daily Mail at the time that Zelensky’s demeanor was surprising to American officials in the room.
‘No one expected the meeting to play out as it did, because nobody expected [him] to act that way,’ the source said.
Vance noted that Biden stood up for four years and ‘talked tough’ while ‘thumping his chest’ but Putin invaded Ukraine anyway.
‘The path to peace and the path to prosperity is maybe engaging in diplomacy,’ he said back in February.
