Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s attempt to downplay an explosive two-part Vanity Fair article that rocked the Trump administration this week drew a quip from Vice President J.D. Vance.
On Wednesday, Rubio updated his profile picture on X to a controversial photo from the article taken by Christopher Anderson, which showed him in profile.
POLITICS: CNN anchor receives text message from ‘Trump World’ live complaining about her coverage
Moments later, Vance responded to Rubio’s serve with a dunk.
“I think I owe that guy $1,000,” he wrote.
Vance’s comments alluded to a joke he had with Anderson last month during a White House photo shoot.
“If you make everyone look really bad compared to me, I’ll give you $100,” he told Anderson, according to The New York Times. “If it’s Marco, $1,000.”
Anderson photographed seven members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle for Vanity Fair. In addition to Rubio and Vance, attendees included White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt, chief of staff Suzy Wiles and deputy chiefs of staff James Blair, Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino.
LIFE: Trump’s latest complaints and ‘excessive attention’ to his photo may reveal one thing, experts say
The photos, some of which Anderson shot in extreme close-up, drew fierce criticism from conservatives after Vanity Fair published them online this week. Many Republican officials, including Wiles, also sought to challenge the content of the magazine’s two-part article written by Chris Whipple.
Most of the attention has been focused on a photo of Levitt, in which the visible traces of her lip filler injections can be seen. In an earlier post by X, Rubio accused Vanity Fair of “deliberately manipulating” the images to make White House officials “look bad.”
Seven White House officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance (left) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were featured in an explosive Vanity Fair article about the Trump administration. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Anderson stands by his work, however, noting that close-up images are a signature feature of his political portraits, as seen in his 2014 book The Stump.
“It’s part of the way I think about portraiture in many ways: intimate, intimate, revelatory,” he told The Washington Post in an interview published Wednesday. “I photograph all political leanings this way. You’ll find pictures in my book of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and beloved figures on the left, all shot the same way.”
POLITICAL: Lawrence O’Donnell highlights one of the reasons Susie Wiles is ‘the worst White House chief of staff ever’
Anderson, who previously featured Trump himself for a New York Times Magazine cover in 2017, also defended himself in a lengthy post on Instagram.
“It appalls me that the world expects reality to be removed from photos. My intention was not to ridicule or cheap shots,” he wrote on Thursday. “I guess I’m a deadpan but critical observer.”
He went on to point out: “Celebrity photos are celebrity photos. Politicians are not celebrities. Let’s not mix things up.”
Related…
Read the original article on The Huffington Post