Despite his anti-elite stance, Vance’s connections reveal a more complex relationship with establishment figures. At the same time, as the former president distances himself from Project 2025, a right-wing political roadmap that aims to purge the federal government and reshape the executive branch and turn America into what it once was, critics characterize Vance as an autocratic Christian nationalist state: Vance’s Venmo network reveals his ties not only to Halikias but to others associated with a maximalist interpretation of MAGA. Gladden Pappin, for example, president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and a figure with close links toward intellectual wing from the far right—appears as one of Vance’s friends.
Sen. Vance’s office declined to comment on the record for this story. In an interview with Newsmax earlier this monthHe said the Project 2025 document contains good ideas, as well as things he disagrees with. Vance did not elaborate on what exactly those good or bad ideas are. At the time of publication, Vance’s Venmo account remains completely public.
Vance’s friends average 277 friends each. This broader network of associates shows an extended web of accounts that share names with high-profile political figures like Cohen, Nick Ayers, Todd Ricketts and Michael Flynn Jr., as well as far-right activists like Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, Laura Loomer and Ali Alexander.
“What you have to understand is that Vance is easily influenced.” wrote Andrew Torba in XTorba is the founder of Gab, a social network popular among conspiracy theorists and Christian nationalists. Anti-Semitic content promoted for a long time on his social media accounts. “We have a lot of people in his orbit. Many of our boys can reach positions of power because he is there.”
“These appear to be their actual personal contacts,” says Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). He notes that the data found on Venmo is far more personal than what campaigns typically share through official channels and warns that “the more personal data that is made public about someone, the more points of pressure or influence there are on that person.”
Few of Vance’s transactions are public, and those that are seem mundane, such as a payment to a staffer for doughnuts in January. WIRED also uncovered the Venmo account of his former Senate campaign manager Jordan Wiggins, which shows a more extensive and sometimes surprising transaction history, including more than 50 payments since 2015, some labeled “back waxing and happy ending” and “adult 🎥.” While these descriptions are likely banter between friends, Wiggins did not respond to a request for comment.
After WIRED reached out to Vance’s Senate office on Wednesday, Wiggins made his account transactions private.
Experts say the visibility of Vance’s account could create problems for high-profile people linked to it. “Access to anyone’s social connections can reveal sensitive private information and expose them to security risks,” Jennifer Lynch, general counsel at the civil liberties nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, tells WIRED. High-profile politicians like Vance, Lynch argues, may be especially prone to social engineering and phishing attacks. “If someone who is a vice presidential candidate hasn’t changed their privacy settings, I don’t know how a company can expect the rest of us to be aware of this.”