Vance's TikTok fixer to depart Trump administration for the private sector

Source: NBC News

Feb. 5, 2026, 10:30 AM EST


The top lawyer in Vice President JD Vance’s office is departing for the private sector after a year when he was a key player in the White House deal to save TikTok and other initiatives. Sean Cooksey will leave his post as counsel to the vice president to join BGR Group, a lobbying and public affairs firm, a person familiar with the move told NBC News.

Cooksey, a longtime GOP lawyer and former Federal Election Commission chair, was an original hire for Vance’s office and had planned to stay in the job for only about a year. He also has held senior roles with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

“Sean Cooksey has been a force to be reckoned with in our office and I’m grateful for the tireless work ethic he brought to the job every day,” Vance said in a statement. “We put a number of seriously challenging problems on Sean’s desk, but he was undaunted by anything we asked him to do. We wish him nothing but the best.”

Cooksey was Vance’s behind-the-scenes point person after President Donald Trump put Vance in charge of finding an agreement to keep TikTok online in the U.S. Cooksey’s efforts helped land a deal that placed the popular short-form video platform under the control of a joint venture backed by American investors and aimed at ending years of scrutiny over TikTok’s Chinese ownership.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jd-vance/vp-tiktok-fixer-sean-cooksey-depart-trump-admin-private-sector-bgr-rcna257336