Vice President JD Vance will reportedly pick a veteran of both Trump administrations to be his new chief of staff.
Nick Luna, who currently serves as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Implementation, is set to replace Jacob Reses, who has served as Vance’s top aide since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term starting in August, according to Punchbowl News. The 39-year-old previously served in various positions during Trump’s first administration including a stint as Director of Oval Office Operations from April 2020 to January 2021 — a tenure overlapping with much of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Luna has a “sharp political mind” and his appointment might signal that the vice president is preparing to run to succeed Trump in 2028, Punchbowl News reported citing anonymous sources.
Vance’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Reses plans to depart Vance’s office and the Trump administration by the end of summer 2026, NBC News first reported Thursday. However, Vance had reportedly known of his chief of staff’s plans for months. Reses married in January and his wife is currently pregnant with their first child.
Former Trump administration White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel Taylor Budowich congratulated Luna following reports of his new position writing in a Tuesday X post, “YUGE. Congrats, Nick!” Senate Leadership Fund executive director Alex Latcham, a former Trump campaign staffer, called Luna “the ultimate professional” and a “fantastic pick,” in an X post.
When naming Luna as his deputy chief of staff in January, Trump called the aide a “highly respected White House veteran and a Trump-Vance campaign warrior.” He added that Luna in his then-new capacity would “oversee Presidential scheduling, and ensure that external White House messaging, outreach, and operations are aligned with the administration’s short- and long-term objectives.”
Politico described Luna as Trump’s “body man” in a 2019 story. He was serving as a personal aide to the president at the time. and had been photographed carrying newspapers for Trump to read. The New York Times (NYT) also referred to Luna by this informal title the
Between Trump’s two terms Luna had briefly served as one of the directors of CIC Ventures. He told the NYT in 2022 that the new company was in part established to oversee Trump’s paid speeches during the break in the president’s White House tenure. The company was owned fully by The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust as of late 2024. Luna also used to consult for FIFA, the international soccer governing body that organizes the World Cup.
In 2022, Luna testified in front of the heavily-scrutinized House Select Committee on Jan. 6 telling the mostly Democratic panel that he had saw Trump “tearing” up documents, CBS News reported at the time. However, he could not remember any of the details in them. Luna had been subpoenaed by the committee as he was with Trump in the White House’s West Wing during the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.
Luna is married to Cassidy Dumbauld, who he began dating and wed in 2020. During Trump’s first term, Luna’s now-wife served as an assistant to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law who was at the time his senior advisor.
Earlier in 2026, a trio of top aides to Vance all left the administration to join prominent Washington D.C. lobbying firms. Politico reported in April that the three departures might serve to better position the vice president for a possible 2028 run.
(DCNF)
