US second lady tapped to lead presidential delegation at Special Olympics

U.S. second lady Usha Vance has been selected to lead the presidential delegation to Italy for the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games, the Office of President Donald Trump announced Thursday.

Vance will lead the delegation to Turin, Italy, the host city for this year’s Games. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Friday.

Usha is a lawyer married to Vice President JD Vance since 2014. They have three children.

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JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio and a 2024 Republican vice presidential candidate, and wife Usha Vance stand on stage on the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee July 18, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

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Usha sat next to former high school volleyball player Payton McNabb during Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. McNabb told Fox News Digital she was “heartbroken” when she learned Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes’ participation in women’s and girls sports was not codified into law by the Senate.

Payton McNabb, left, claps as second lady Usha Vance watches during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington Tuesday, March 4, 2025.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“Last night, just overall, the Democrat Party was so disrespectful,” McNabb said in reference to members of the party who were wearing pink during the joint session of Congress.

“And they didn’t stand up for any of the guests. They didn’t stand up for DJ Daniel, who is the young boy who survived brain cancer. They didn’t stand up for Laken Riley’s family, whose daughter literally suffered a traumatic death that should have never happened. And every other guest that was there had some sort of powerful story, and they didn’t clap for any of that.”

Second lady Usha Vance attends President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“So, it was heartbreaking, and honestly I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m not,” she concluded. 

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Other members of the presidential delegation, according to The White House, are: 

Shawn Crowley, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., U.S. Embassy to Italy and San Marino; T.H. Trent Michael Morse, deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of presidential personnel; Riley M. Barnes, senior bureau official of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State; Douglass Benning, consul general, U.S. Consulate Milan, Italy; Rachel Campos-Duffy, “Fox & Friends Weekend” host and wife of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy; Boris Epshteyn, senior counsel and senior advisor to President Donald Trump; and Richard Walters, partner at FGS Global.

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