‘everyone Just Needs To Copy What I Say’: Trump Vented Anger With Vance Over Iran Messaging

President Donald Trump was angry with Vice President JD Vance last summer after he failed to parrot Trump’s declaration that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was “totally obliterated,” according to a new book.

“Trump vented to others that Vance hadn’t repeated his own new phrase that Iran’s nuclear program had been ‘totally obliterated,’” Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan write in their upcoming book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” obtained by POLITICO.

“Trump told one associate, ‘Everyone needs to say fucking “obliterated.” … That’s the word. Everyone just needs to copy what I say. Obliterated. Obliterated.’”

Asked hours after the strikes by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl if Tehran’s nuclear facilities had indeed been “obliterated,” Vance told him, “Well, Jon, severely damaged versus obliterated, I’m not exactly sure what the difference is. What we know is we set their nuclear program back substantially.”

Vance also said in the same interview that “we’ve set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially.”

The vice president was quick to get the message from his boss. The day after Vance’s ABC News interview that Trump didn’t like, the vice president repeatedly used the word “obliterated” in an appearance on Fox News.

Early intelligence that leaked to the media indicated the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities didn’t line up with what Trump had touted and Vance had used more cautious language when he appeared on ABC News. The vice president also said in that same ABC interview that the Trump administration’s intention was to not embark on regime change, only to have Trump say the opposite hours later.

The book’s publication comes as Vance is expected to travel to Switzerland in the coming days to start talks with the Iranians on forging a permanent deal with Iran over the thorniest issues left unresolved by the memorandum of understanding signed by Trump Wednesday in France. The vice president also spoke to reporters at length Thursday at the White House, defending the administration’s deal with the Islamic Republic and chastising the agreement’s critics, both foreign and domestic.

POLITICO Playbook reported Thursday morning that, given how unpopular the months-long war with Iran has been with the American public, Vance allies are comfortable with the vice president’s position at the forefront of promoting the peace agreement.

The night after Operation Midnight Hammer, Haberman and Swan also write that Vance, an Iraq war veteran and longtime critic of foreign interventions, appeared “anxious” and some aides thought that was because he was worried the attack could lead to a longer conflict. The book recounts that Trump snapped at Vance “I know what I’m doing” when the vice president suggested that he soften some of a speech he was making about the strikes.

“Seemingly irritated by Vance’s second-guessing, Trump turned his back on the vice president without saying any more,” the two write.

“Vice President Vance has always been an incredibly trusted and talented member of President Trump’s national security team,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The president frequently seeks his counsel on a variety of foreign policy matters, including on Iran, where he led negotiations for an MOU that ended the conflict and met all of the United States’ redlines. His loyalty to the president and simultaneous commitment to the America First agenda has been unwavering.”

A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added: “You’d think they would have checked their sources before putting false claims like these on paper.” The official denied that Trump ever turned his back on Vance and said that the reporting of the “obliterated” incident was a complete mischaracterization of the events.

The book also details how Trump is genuinely impressed by Vance’s intellect and personal story. The authors also report that Trump often remarks to associates that it was quite a feat for Vance to have been admitted to Yale even though he lacked a wealthy dad and that he was in a class of his own arguing on CNN against aggressive anchors.