Vice Presidential Pool Reports of August 20, 2025

VP Pool Report 1

Good morning. I will be your print pooler today for Vice President Vance's press pool today. The pool has gathered for an OTR with the VP.

VP Pool Report 2

The vp arrived at Union Station for an OTR at 12:21 pm et

VP Pool Report 3

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller entered Union Station with Vice President Vance. Vance said he would gaggle afterwards in response to a shouted question. Vance, Hegseth, and Miller are currently meeting with national guardsmen and women in Shake Shack. Pro-Palestinian protesters can be heard  inside Union Station.

VP Pool Report 4

The event lasted about 18 minutes, 12 of which Vance spoke to the press and took questions along with Miller and Hegseth. Vance thanked the National Guard saying "you guys bust your ass all day and we give you hamburgers-not a fair trade but we're grateful for everything you do." 

DC crime was the central topic of discussion. Miller said the White House would "add thousands more resources" to the DC crime crackdown. He also called protesters "stupid white hippies" and "communists."

Asked if the White House would extend the federalization of the MPD past 30 days, Vance said "if the president of the United States thinks that he has to extend this order to ensure that people have access to public safety, that's exactly what he'll do."

Vance said crime statistics "all over the country" have been "massively underreported." Asked what evidence he had that MPD crime statistics had been manipulated, the VP said DOJ and FBI statistics "back it up." 

"It's kind of bizarre that we have a bunch of old primarily white people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they've never felt danger in their entire lives."

He said he was "highly skeptical" of recent polling showing that a majority of DC residents do not support the Guard or federalization of the MPD and said maybe they were "the same polls that said Kamala Harris would win the popular vote by 10 points." 

Asked about media coverage of the president handling of the war in Ukraine, Vance said "it's kind of disgraceful that the American media is attacking the president for trying to bring peace to the world."We were ushered out at 12:50. We were told it was carried live. Please check quotes against live stream as it was quite loud with protests. Here is the otter link 

https://otter.ai/u/XjznDU0tzPDDNwp8Lw22OkQOGIs

We did not see the VP leave. We began rolling back to the White House at 1:07 pm et

Special thanks to Irie of Politico for his assistance with quotes.

VP Pool Report 5

Vance, Hegseth, and Miller remained at Shake Shack for lunch with the national guardsmen and women after your pooler was ushered out. The pool arrived back at the White House at 1:12 pm, marking a lid for the day.