Deloitte takes fire from Trump-Vance allies over leaked employee messages

Deloitte has come under fire from close allies of former President Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) after one of its employees shared private conversations with Vance from 2020 in which the vice presidential candidate criticized Trump. 

Donald Trump Jr., who identified the individual as Deloitte employee Kevin Gallagher, suggested that Republicans reevaluate the government’s nearly $3 billion in contracts with the consulting firm. 

“An executive at @Deloitte named Kevin Gallagher decided to interfere in the election & leak private convos with JD Vance to help Kamala Harris,” the former president’s son wrote in a post on social platform X, first reported by The Washington Post. 

“Maybe it’s time for the GOP to end Deloitte’s taxpayer funded gravy train?” he added in the late September post, tagging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). 

Trump Jr.’s comments were shared on X by Vance’s communications director William Martin. Trump adviser Jason Miller also reposted the comments with his own message, “Kevin Gallagher FAFO,” an acronym for the phrase “f‑‑‑ around and find out.” 

The revelation that the leaked conversations had come from a Deloitte employee also drew concern from at least one member of Congress. 

“This is outrageous and @Deloitte should immediately and publicly respond to this scandal,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) wrote on X. 

Deloitte noted in a statement that it is a nonpartisan firm and that Gallagher “shared private personal messages on his own volition without the knowledge of Deloitte.” 

“Deloitte is deeply committed to supporting our government and commercial clients and we have a long track record of doing so across parties and administrations,” the company added. 

The saga began shortly after the Post published Vance’s direct messages from 2020 in which he criticized his now running mate. The newspaper did not reveal Gallagher’s identity in the piece. 

“Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism (excepting a disjointed China policy),” Vance wrote in one message in February 2020. 

In another message in June 2020, Vance predicted that Trump would lose the upcoming election. The Ohio Republican has since refused to say whether the former president lost the 2020 election. 

Vance’s private comments suggest his change of heart about the former president occurred later than previously understood. Prior to running for the Senate, Vance was particularly critical of Trump, at one point describing him as “America’s Hitler.” 

He has since walked back his criticism of the former president and become one of Trump’s most prominent supporters in Congress. 

“I was wrong about him. I didn’t think he was going to be a good president … and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to get him elected,” Vance said in May, amid rumors he was in contention to be Trump’s running mate. 

However, Vance’s private messages from 2020 show he continued to criticize the former president throughout the last year of his presidency.  

Vance reached out to Gallagher on X, then known as Twitter, in October 2019 to praise an essay he had written, leading to a series of messages between the two over a stretch of 11 months, the Post reported after Gallagher’s identity had been revealed. 

Gallagher said he was a consultant working with investment managers during the nearly yearlong conversation with Vance but did not mention Deloitte, according to the Post. 

Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, said it is “clear” a government contractor like Deloitte would not lose a government contract under the circumstances. 

“It’s possible that those who are bringing this clearly realize that there are no legal grounds for it, but they’re just trying to discourage anyone from making comments because they think their job might be in jeopardy,” Payne told The Hill.