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2024 Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) reportedly keeps close company with far-right activists according to a new report, and they may soon find themselves embedded high up in the federal government if former President Donald Trump returns to power this fall.

On Thursday, tech publication Wired reported on the details of Vance's Venmo account, which is a popular platform used for online payments. Because Venmo automatically sets accounts to be publicly viewable, Wired was able to comb through the profiles of the several hundred people listed as "friends" on the Ohio senator's Venmo.

Many of those are controversial figures tied to the same academic and political establishment Vance has constantly railed against in his public speeches. But others are major figures in extremist political circles.

According to Wired, names in the 2024 VP hopeful's contacts include Stop The Steal organizer Ali Alexander, conservative provocateur James O'Keefe and pro-Trump social media personality Laura Loomer. His profile also lists former Michael Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis, who also represents international mafioso Dmitry Firtash — a high-ranking member of the Russian mob.

This appears to be his actual personal contacts," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington vice president Jordan Libowitz told Wired. "[T]he more personal data that is public about someone the more points of pressure or influence there are on that person."

Earlier this week, Andrew Torba — the CEO of far-right social media app Gab — tweeted that Vance was "influenceable" given the people he's surrounded himself with. Gab was thrust into the national spotlight after reports confirmed that the perpetrator of the 2017 Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting was active on the platform and frequently posted anti-Semitic content.

"We have plenty of people in his orbit. Plenty of our guys can be put into positions of power because he’s there," Torba wrote. "Our focus should be on pulling him as far right as possible by 2028. Long game. Honey, not vinegar."

Torba's comments are particularly revealing, even though he didn't mention any particular names. After his nomination was announced, screenshots emerged of Vance in a Twitter group chat with several teenage "groypers" (the name associated with followers of white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes).

"Yo Akron Caleb is thirsty," Vance wrote in response to a former George Santos staffer asking for Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt to follow him back. "Just practicing my cool kid lingo with the simps chat."

Vance's Venmo also shows other "friends" in his contacts including a lobbyist for the Heritage Foundation (the chief organization pushing Project 2025), billionaire Todd Ricketts and Michael Flynn Jr.

*Click here to read Wired's report in its entirety.

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uS senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican and former US president Donald Trump’s pick for vice president, has a public Venmo account that gives an unfiltered glimpse into his extensive network of connections with establishment GOP heavyweights, wealthy financiers, technology executives, the prestige press, and fellow graduates of Yale Law School—precisely the elites he rails against.

A WIRED analysis of the account, the people listed as Vance’s friends, and, in turn, the people listed as their friends highlights sometimes bizarre and surprising connections. Experts, meanwhile, worry that the information revealed by the peer-to-peer payment app raises the potential for stalking, trolling, and impersonation.

More than 200 people appear on Vance’s Venmo “friends” list. Among them is Amalia Halikias, government relations director at the Heritage Foundation—the conservative think tank coordinating the controversial Project 2025. So is an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, among many other lawyers for the Department of Justice, frequently decried by Trump loyalists as enemies and part of the “deep state.”

So are Jeff Flake, the famously anti-Trump former Arizona senator and current ambassador to Turkey; lobbyists from organizations like the Government Strategies Group; people affiliated with other conservative think tanks like the Hoover Institution and the American Enterprise Institute; journalists and media personalities like Bari Weiss and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson; and tech executives from Anthropic and AOL. (None of these people responded to requests for comment.)

Lanny Davis, a well-known political operative and former lawyer for Trump antagonist Michael Cohen, is among those who denied being Venmo friends with Vance despite seemingly appearing in Vance's contacts. (The account in question, which Davis declined to confirm or deny was his, was also linked to someone named Michael Cohen.) This points to one important caveat—being friends on Venmo does not mean two people have transacted together, or even know the payment app has designated them as friends.

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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 policy roadmap aiming to purge the federal government and reshape the executive branch and turn the US into what critics characterize as a Christian nationalist autocratic state—Vance’s Venmo network reveals his ties not just to Halikias but to others associated with a maximalist interpretation of MAGA. Gladden Pappin, for instance—president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and a figure with close ties to the intellectual wing of the far right—shows up as one of Vance’s friends.

Senator Vance’s office declined to comment on the record for this story. In an interview with Newsmax earlier this month, he said that the Project 2025 document has good ideas in it, 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 fully public.

Vance’s friends have an average of 277 friends each. This wider network of associates shows an extended web of accounts who 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 guys need to realize is that Vance is influenceable,” wrote Andrew Torba on X. Torba is the founder of Gab, a social network popular with conspiracy theorists and Christian nationalists. He has long promoted antisemitic content on his social media accounts. “We have plenty of people in his orbit. Plenty of our guys can be put into positions of power because he’s there.”

“This appears to be his actual personal contacts," says Jordan Libowitz, the vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. He notes that the data found on Venmo is much more personal than what campaigns typically share through official channels, warning that “the more personal data that is 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, like a payment to a staff member for doughnuts in January. WIRED also uncovered the Venmo account of his former Senate campaign manager, Jordan Wiggins, which shows a more extensive and occasionally eyebrow-raising transaction history, including more than 50 payments from as early as 2015, some labeled for things like “Back waxing & Happy Ending," and "adult 🎥". While these descriptions are likely jokes between friends, Wiggins didn’t 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 that the visibility of Vance’s account could create problems for the high-profile individuals connected to it. “Access to anyone’s social connections can reveal sensitive private information and expose them to security risks,” Jennifer Lynch, general counsel at civil liberties nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tells WIRED. High-profile politicians like Vance, Lynch argues, may be especially prone to social engineering attacks and impersonation. “If someone who is a candidate for vice president hasn’t changed his privacy settings, I don't know how a company can expect the rest of us to stay on top of this.”