The Shadow President by Andy Kroll Co-published with The New Yorker

The Shadow President From the wholesale gutting of federal agencies to the ongoing government shutdown, Russell Vought has drawn the road map for Trump’s second term. Vought has consolidated power to an extent that insiders say they feel like “he is the commander in chief.” by Andy Kroll Co-published with The New Yorker https://www.propublica.org/article/russ-vought-trump-shadow-president-omb?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=secondary How Russell Vought Became Trump’s Shadow President In today’s feature story, Lisa Song writes about a proposed White House rule that would hand political appointees control over scientific funding and international collaboration, which could leave U.S. scientists out of important discoveries. The proposal comes from the Office of Management and Budget, which told us that the “proposed rule will ensure spending is aligned with current law, Executive Orders, and agency priorities.” That office is run by Russell Vought. As director of OMB, Vought has frozen vast sums of federal spending, terminated tens of thousands of federal workers and, in a few cases, brought entire agencies to a standstill. To do this, he has relied on an expansive theory of presidential power. Last year, we reported on how Vought consolidated power to such an extent that one senior agency official who regularly deals with the OMB said they felt like “he is the commander in chief.” Vought declined to be interviewed for the story.