A Look at Records American Oversight Previously Uncovered About Trump OMB Nominee Vought

This week, the Senate has held a number of confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, including Wednesday afternoon’s hearing for Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget.

Vought is a familiar name for those who followed Trump’s first administration, having served then as OMB director. His nomination to once again head the White House’s budget office has spotlighted major concerns about the threats that his extreme policy agenda pose for our democratic institutions: Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, has reportedly crafted plans to defund the EPA and to deploy the military against protesters, and he has also claimed that the president can cut spending programs without Congress’ approval and should take more control over the Justice Department, an agency Trump routinely attempted to politicize during his first term. 

American Oversight previously obtained and published a number of public records related to Vought:

• In 2022, we reported on emails that show Vought suggested that Arizona use “war powers” to allow National Guard units to detain undocumented immigrants.
• Last year, we amended our ongoing lawsuit for records related to Trump’s 2020 “Schedule F” executive order aimed at turning the federal workforce into a bureaucracy of loyalists to include records from OMB. We previously obtained records from the month after Trump’s executive order, showing Vought’s plans for Schedule F conversions.
• Our investigation of Trump’s corrupt withholding or aid for Ukraine in 2019 also unearthed emails from Vought and Michael Duffey, then OMB’s associate director for national security. Both officials were key players in the aid withholding.