Jimmy Kimmel Has a Theory Why Donald Trump Took JD Vance Off Iran Negotiations
After President Donald Trump diverted Vice President JD Vance’s attention from Iran negotiations to alleged corruption in blue areas of the United States, Jimmy Kimmel weighed in on both of the veep’s assignments on Thursday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The late-night emcee started by commenting on Vance’s reported role in Iran negotiations after, a day prior, The Wall Street Journal cited sources including U.S. and Middle East officials and reported Vance was “emerging as a lead negotiator” in the Iran conflict. Several days before that, Axios reported Vance had spent two weeks “personally involved in indirect talks” with Iran, hopes of reaching a ceasefire and resuming nuclear negotiations.
“That’s right. The guy who had trouble negotiating the purchase of a doughnut was going to meet with the Iranians and settle this war,” Kimmel said on Thursday, referencing Vance’s much-mocked 2024 campaign stop at a doughnut shop.
On Thursday morning, however, Trump said in a Truth Social post he had asked Vance “to focus his complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.”
Kimmel then offered a translation of that post: “Trump realized, he went, ‘Oh, no. If Vance is successful, he will get the credit for ending this war.’ And that’s Trump’s nightmare,” Kimmel said.
Furthermore, Vance’s new assignment is “so ridiculous for so many reasons,” Kimmel said. “One of them being Trump telling you to root out corruption is like Colonel Sanders telling you to root out cholesterol. His mantra is corruption.”
Kimmel noted that Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, was allegedly recorded accepting a bag with $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents in September 2024, as The New York Times reported.
“And Trump hired him after that,” Kimmel said. “And by way, JD, while you’re sniffing around for this corruption, that happened in Texas, which is now a blue state. So get in there and investigate. That’s a hot lead. While you’re at it, Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia [are] all blue states. Pretty soon you might be headed to Alaska. Who knows?”
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host also conjectured Vance was “pissed” to lose the Iran negotiation assignment, adding, “I mean, he almost had a real job to do. He was so close.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Weeknights, 11:35/10:35c, ABC
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