Media’s Latest Vance Hit Piece Crashes And Burns

A hit piece alleging that Vice President J.D. Vance went to extraordinary lengths for a family vacation fell flat when the U.S. Secret Service revealed it was all part of standard operating tradecraft.

The Guardian this week reported an “exclusive” scoop that Vance demanded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take the unusual step of reversing the outflow of water on an Ohio river to better accommodate a boating trip he was set to take with his family. The demand, the outlet wrote, “raises questions of exploitation of public services.”

The mainstream media dutifully zinged the allegation across the internet in a matter of hours, all without bothering to ask the Secret Service about its involvement.

As it turns out, Vance’s security team partnered with the Army Corps to change the water levels on Caesar Creek Lake in order to allow for maritime protection of the vice president’s family. The Guardian has since updated its story with their comment.

But the U.K.-based paper stood by its assertion from a source that the lake was raised to create “ideal kayaking conditions.” To its credit, the paper admitted being unable to independently verify the claim.

Gene Pawlik, a spokesman for the Army Corps’ Louisville division, said the agency had received “a request to temporarily increase outflows from Caesar Creek Lake to support safe navigation of US Secret Service personnel.”

The Secret Service said in a statement that it closely coordinated with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps to conduct planning to ensure motorized watercraft and emergency personnel could operate safely during a recent visit. No further specifics about the Secret Service’s operational planning were shared.

Pawlik said the Secret Service’s request “met the operational criteria outlined in the Water Control Manual for Caesar Creek Lake and did not require a deviation from normal procedures.”

He added, “It was determined that the operations would not adversely affect downstream or upstream water levels. Downstream stakeholders were notified in advance of the slight outflow increase, which occurred on August 1, 2025.”

Much of the outlet’s story contrasts the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending with the notion that the vice president would abuse public resources for personal gain. Reporters quoted aides to former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who provided pearl-clutching anecdotes about the importance of ethical behavior in government.

“When I was President Obama’s ethics czar in the White House, I got a lot of unusual requests, but I never got one to increase the outflow of a waterway as part of a government official going kayaking,” replied Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform.