Report: Vance offered advice to Clinton campaign in 2016

Vice President JD Vance privately contacted a senior Hillary Clinton adviser in 2016 and offered political advice aimed at preventing Donald Trump from winning the presidency, according to a new report. The account, published in Vanity Fair, details a previously unreported episode from Vance's period as an outspoken Trump critic. The report states that Vance, then known as the author of Hillbilly Elegy, sought an introduction to Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser to Clinton's campaign. An intermediary who said they connected Vance with Sullivan recalled Vance expressing strong opposition to both major-party candidates but viewing Trump as the greater threat. "I hate Hillary. But I hate Trump more. Trump can't win," the intermediary quoted Vance as saying. According to the intermediary, Vance urged the Clinton campaign to focus more on working-class voters in Midwestern battleground states, specifically naming Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. He reportedly argued that Clinton should travel to the region and address resentment over her 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq War.