A prominent Evangelical Christian Zionist leader is publicly calling on President Trump to reject Vice President JD Vance's recent statements about Israel and alleged Jewish influence in American politics, a rare breach from a key constituency in Trump's base.
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), released a statement Monday demanding that Trump publicly separate himself from Vance's comments and that Vance apologize. Her criticism centers on remarks the vice president made during a recent appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast and at a June White House briefing with Israeli officials.
Cardoza-Moore accused Vance of trafficking in rhetoric that echoes centuries-old antisemitic tropes, and warned that his words risk fracturing the alliance between Israel and the tens of millions of American Evangelical Christians who support it.
The flashpoint is a cluster of statements Vance made across two recent settings. On Rogan's podcast, the vice president described a "very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign" that had attempted to derail US negotiations with Iran. He said some members of the Israeli government opposed the agreement and referenced reports of an Israeli government-funded effort involving conservative influencers. Vance also claimed that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had connections to senior figures in both American and Israeli intelligence.
No evidence has established that Epstein worked for Israeli intelligence. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has publicly rejected allegations that Epstein operated for Israel or the Mossad.
At a separate June White House briefing, The Jerusalem Post reported, Vance warned Israeli officials against criticizing Trump over the administration's proposed agreement with Iran. He said Trump was "the only head of state in the entire world" sympathetic to Israel and noted that much of Israel's defensive weaponry had been supplied with US support.
Vance also rejected the broader argument that foreign interests determine Washington's Iran policy, stating: "We want our allies to be like Israel, strong, independent, and capable of defending their own interests so we don't have to."
Those remarks came against a backdrop of real casualties. Last week, Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks struck US forces in Jordan. US Central Command reported two American service members killed, one missing, and four others wounded, a grim reminder that the stakes of Iran policy extend well beyond political messaging.
Cardoza-Moore, who also hosts the Christian television program "Focus on Israel," did not hold back. In her statement, she framed Vance's comments as dangerous to both the US-Israel relationship and to Jewish communities in America.
"As one of the millions of Evangelical Christians who stand with Israel and our Jewish brethren, I call upon President Trump to immediately distance himself from the vice president's recent statements on Israel and the Jews."
She went further, drawing a direct line between Vance's language and the arguments made by Israel's adversaries.
"It is interesting to note that many of the accusations, hurled at Israel by JD Vance, are the same as those hurled at Israel by enemies at home and abroad. Is this a coincidence? I think not."
Cardoza-Moore specifically targeted Vance's suggestion that Israel wields outsized power over the US government and his invocation of the Epstein files in connection with Israeli intelligence. She called those claims echoes of antisemitic conspiracy theories that have persisted for centuries.
"Suggesting that Israel wields disproportionate power over our government or clinging onto bizarre conspiracy theories around the Epstein files reeks of age-old medieval Jew-hatred."
Vance has faced questions about his political standing inside the administration for months. His chief of staff, Jacob Reses, is set to step down by summer's end, adding to a sense of transition around the vice president's office.
Cardoza-Moore also suggested Vance may be deliberately courting figures on the isolationist and conspiratorial fringes of the American right, naming commentator Tucker Carlson and white nationalist Nick Fuentes by name.
"Some have suggested that Vance is attempting to appeal to the likes of Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes with these antisemitic dog whistles, but that only makes it worse. Our Republic's future and the make-up of our government cannot be paved on the backs of our Jewish Brethren."
Cardoza-Moore has a track record on this front. She previously resigned from the Heritage Foundation's National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism after the organization defended Carlson following his interview with Fuentes. At the time, she called Carlson "a threat to Jewish communities."
Her latest statement went so far as to question whether the initials "JD" now stand for "Jew Defamer", a pointed accusation that underscores how deeply some Evangelical leaders view Vance's rhetoric as a betrayal of the pro-Israel consensus within the Republican coalition.
The vice president's recent Rogan appearance has already generated controversy on multiple fronts. During the same podcast, Vance warned that a full-scale war with Iran would unleash a refugee flood and terrorism across the West, a position that put him at odds with hawks in both parties who favor a more aggressive posture toward Tehran.
Cardoza-Moore's criticism was not limited to Vance's language. She argued the administration should have supported a more decisive campaign against Iran's leadership and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), rather than pursuing negotiations that she views as inadequate.
That position places her squarely within the hawkish wing of the Evangelical pro-Israel movement, a bloc that has been one of the most reliable pillars of Republican electoral support. Her willingness to publicly break with the vice president signals that Vance's Iran-skeptic posture is creating friction not just with foreign policy professionals but with grassroots constituencies that Republican leaders cannot afford to lose.
Cardoza-Moore closed her statement with a call that left no ambiguity about what she expects.
"As the global plague of Jew-hatred continues to grow on our shores, we must be extremely careful, as people of influence, to measure our words very carefully. Now is the time for the president to publicly distance himself from JD's words and for Vance to apologize and switch gears."
The episode also comes amid broader questions about Vance's standing inside the West Wing, where staff departures and policy disagreements have raised questions about the vice president's influence on the administration's direction.
Neither President Trump nor Vice President Vance has publicly responded to Cardoza-Moore's statement. Whether the White House treats this as a minor flare-up from a single advocacy leader or as a warning sign from a critical voter bloc remains to be seen.
But the underlying tension is real. Vance's willingness to question Israeli influence, float Epstein conspiracy theories, and warn Israeli officials against criticizing the president has opened a fault line between the administration's diplomatic posture and one of the Republican Party's most devoted constituencies.
Vance has also drawn scrutiny for conceding on Rogan's podcast that the administration botched the Epstein files rollout, an admission that added to the impression of a vice president willing to freelance on sensitive topics without clear coordination with the White House.
American Jewish Republicans and some officials have said Vance's approach undermined confidence in his support for the US-Israel relationship, a concern that Cardoza-Moore's statement now amplifies from the Evangelical side of the pro-Israel coalition.
When tens of millions of Evangelical voters who helped put this administration in office start asking the president to publicly rebuke his own vice president, the smart move is to listen, or at least to stop giving them reasons to ask.