JD Vance hits out at Trump with 'Apprentice' dig - 'not what you expect from President'

US Vice President JD Vance has jumped at the chance to take a jab at Donald Trump , by way of a joke about the now-US President's time as host on NBC TV programme The Apprentice. When asked during a Washington press conference about Trump polling crowds at a Monday White House dinner about a possible Republican successor, the Vice President replied: "I just don't think it sounds like the President of the United States to have a televised competition for who would succeed him as his apprentice." As chuckles and guffaws rang out crowd-wide, he continued: "I just think that's not at all what you would expect the president to do." Vance had, of course, been referencing Trump's 11-year stint hosting NBC's reality game show and global TV sensation The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice for 11 years. Trump was the centric force to the fan-favourite programme, which ran from 2004 until 2015 when he departed to run for US President. Vance's not-so-subtle dig at the US President comes after Trump conducted an informal straw poll in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, asking visiting law enforcement officials and other allies at the dinner if they preferred either him or Rubio as next in line. Trump told his guests on Monday: “I don't know who's it going to be — Is it going to be JD, is it going to be somebody else? I don't know,” he said. The US president then turned to his guests to hear their views. He asked: “OK, who likes JD Vance?” To tepid applause, Trump then asked: “Who likes Marco Rubio?” Speaking in Washington on Wednesday, alongside Medicare and Medicaid administrator Dr Mehmet Oz at a press conference to detail the administration's latest efforts to combat 'public benefits fraud', Vance was quick to add a caveat, telling reporters that Trump has “always been fascinated by politics”. The Vice President said, therefore, it was only “natural for him to, you know, joke around with us a little bit, to play around with the idea". He also seemed a tad uncomfortable about being played off against Rubio, telling reporters there were 'few topics that I want to talk about less than what office I'm going to run for years down the road' when asked about a possible joint ticket with the now-US Secretary of State two years from now. Vance was also pressed on recent comments made by the US President, who is currently in China to meet with President Xi Jinping. A reporter could be heard asking Vance during the wide-ranging press conference: "When approaching the war with Iran, do you agree with the President's position that Americans' financial situations should not be a consideration in that decision-making process?" Vance replied that Trump's word had been taken out of context. He said: "Well, I don't think the President said that. I think that's a misrepresentation of what the President said." "But, look, I agree with the President that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. We're obviously engaged in a very aggressive and very engaged diplomatic process to try to ensure that doesn't happen," he concluded, adding: "And the President has a lot of options." Trump, however, did say that he doesn't consider the financial woes of the average American when making decisions about the US war with Iran, which has seen fuel prices skyrocket and the cost-of-living spike worldwide as a result. Speaking on the White House South Lawn just before he departed for his diplomatic trip to China, Trump was asked to what extent “Americans’ financial situations” motivated him to strike a deal with Iran. “Not even a little bit,” the US President said. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran: They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing — we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.” A reporter followed up on whether he really wasn’t thinking about the economic impact of the war. “The most important thing by far - including whether our stock market, which, by the way, is at an all-time high - but including whether our stock market goes up or down a little bit, the most important thing by far is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said, before adding: "Every American understands."