White House rocked as influential top staffer bolts: report

Vice President JD Vance is losing his chief of staff, Jacob Reses, whose influence over foreign policy, insiders say, rivaled that of the vice president's own national security adviser.

Reses, Vance's chief of staff since joining him after the 2022 Ohio Senate race, will leave the administration at the end of the summer, people close to the vice president's office said Thursday. He informed Vance of his plans several months ago after his wife became pregnant with their first child.

"On some matters, he was probably as influential, if not more so, than Andy Baker," Reuters White House national security reporter Gram Slattery wrote on X, referring to Vance's national security adviser.

"Jacob's been by my side for my whole career in public life," Vance said in a statement. "I can't imagine having been on this life-changing journey without him."

Reses, a Princeton and Stanford Law graduate who entered college as a registered Democrat, cut his teeth at Heritage Action — the Heritage Foundation's lobbying arm — and in Sen. Josh Hawley's office before latching on with Vance. Modern Orthodox Jewish, he is one of the more distinctive figures in a MAGA world defined by Christian nationalism; his grandfather escaped the Holocaust.

The farewell statements underscored just how deeply Reses had embedded himself across the administration. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff offered perhaps the most vivid send-off.

"'Don't let Jacob fool you — beneath his kind exterior, he's a killer,' Witkoff said. 'Our foreign adventures from Israel to Pakistan have been historic. He commands respect in every room he walks into.'"

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles called him "an important part of our White House leadership team" who handled everything from diplomacy to logistics.

The departure lands amid churning turnover across the administration — four Cabinet-level officials gone, senior staff turnover at 35% per the Brookings Institution. Vance's own top lawyer, Sean Cooksey, departed for lobbying firm BGR in February. A source close to Vance said it wouldn't be a surprise if Reses eventually returns.