MILAN — United States Vice President JD Vance is back at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena to cheer on the U.S. women’s national hockey team. This time, he was joined by YouTube-star-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
Vance and Paul sat side-by-side at Team USA’s preliminary matchup against Finland on Saturday. The two arrived separately. Vance and his family found their seats shortly before the first period ended, while Paul joined the Second Family after the second period began.
Vance’s daughter, 4-year-old Mirabel, sat on his lap as he chatted closely with Paul. When five-time Olympian Hilary Knight scored to give the Americans a 4-0 lead over Finland at the 29:17 mark, Vance and Paul both stood to their feet and applauded along with the crowd. Vance’s wife Usha and sons — 8-year-old Ewan and 5-year-old Vivek— were also in attendance and seated next to the pair.
It’s not surprising to see Paul in Milan at the 2026 Winter Olympics. His fiancé is Jutta Leerdam, a Dutch speed skater. Leerdam is making her second Olympic appearance and is a medal contender in both long and short distances. She won silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in the 1000 meters and finished fifth in the 500m.
Paul and Leerdam went Instagram official in April 2023, with Paul revealing their relationship by captioning several photos of the couple holding hands, ‘Im Dutch now.’ The couple announced their engagement in March 2025.
Paul is a vocal supporter of the Trump administration. He sat with President Donald Trump at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Miami last month and shared several photos from the outing with his 28 million Instagram followers.
Vance has attended several events at the Winter Olympics in Milan while in town for the opening ceremony, where he was booed by a crowd of over 70,000 spectators as Team USA entered the parade of nations. Vance took in the team figure skating event on Friday and watched U.S. women’s hockey defeat Czechia 5-1 on Thursday after meeting with U.S. Olympians and wishing them well earlier in the day.
‘The whole country — Democrat, Republican, Independent. We’re all rooting for you and cheering for you and know you are all going to make us proud,’ Vance said on Thursday. ‘Thank you all and hope you guys have fun.’
Vance didn’t meet with the U.S. women’s hockey team before or after its win on Thursday. Many players said they weren’t aware that Vance was even in attendance until they were informed by media afterwards. Vance did privately meet with the U.S. men’s national hockey team at their hotel on Saturday morning before visiting Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper mural painting, the White House announced.
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