Who’s the Shadow President?
Paper Trail
This episode investigates the influential role of Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in President Trump's second
Key takeaways
- Russ Vought acts as a 'shadow president' by leveraging OMB power to control the flow of federal money.
- Vought's strategy includes withholding approved funds, such as Ukraine security aid, to force political compliance.
Main topics
- Russ Vought's influence
- OMB budgetary power
Notable quotes
We need to run the government in such a way that we're going to traumatize the people who work for it.
Conclusion
The episode provides a deep dive into how budgetary leverage can be us
Transcript preview
Speaker 2 (0:02) ProPublica. Investigative journalism in the public interest. Speaker 2 (0:10) We're almost halfway through President Donald Trump's second term. And no matter where you stand on the president, it's clear that round two has been very, very different than the first. You Speaker 1 (0:22) don't have to think hard to remember how chaotic and soap opera-like the first Trump administration was. Speaker 2 (0:30) This is my colleague Andy Kroll. He reports on the federal government. Speaker 1 (0:35) You know, just every single day, some new crazy thing was happening, and it seemed like... nothing really was getting done out of the White House. Compare that to the last 18 months of Trump 2.0. It's night and day. There is a plan. Speaker 2 (0:55) In more ways than I can keep track of, the federal government has changed dramatically. The White House has ignored Congress, carried out its agenda both at home and around the world without much regard for the norms of checks and balances. Agencies like USAID have been dismantled. Others like ICE have grown explosively. And Andy says at the center of it all is one man. Speaker 8 (1:21) America Speaker 2 (1:22) is respected. No, actually, not that one. Chainsaw for bureaucracy. Not him either. The War Department is going to fight decisively. Nope. Speaker 1 (1:33) If you want to understand the difference between Trump 1 and Trump 2 and why this time feels so different and so much more consequential, I think you've got to look toward this guy, Russ Vogt. Speaker 2 (1:45) I'm sorry, Russ who? Speaker 1 (1:47) Russ Vogt. By staying under the radar, by not getting out in front of the president, he has more influence. It's part of his superpower, for lack of a better way to put it. Speaker 2 (1:59) Vote. That's V-O-U-G-H-T. He'd worked for the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term. Not exactly high profile. But a lot of the things we do know about him, we know because of Andy. I've Speaker 1 (2:14) been directly reporting on him since the summer of 2024, when we got this first really juicy tip about him. Speaker 2 (2:24) The summer of 2024 was the ramp up to the November presidential election, pitting Kamala Harris against Trump. A contact of Andy's reached out to him and said, hey. We Speaker 1 (2:35) have some videos of speeches given by Russ Vogt. He's speaking to his allies, his friends at a closed door gala kind of event. Hasn't been reported on. You know, you should take a look and tell us what you think. Speaker 2 (2:52) Were these speeches ever supposed to land in the hands of a reporter like you? Never. At first glance, vote was pretty unassuming. Speaker 5 (3:02) When we started this organization, people were very kind to us. He's Speaker 1 (3:06) balding, tortoiseshell glasses, chinos. He looks like a high school history professor, frankly. You look at him, you do not think architect of a president's all-encompassing plan to change the shape of the American government in the course of American history. You just don't. But then you listen to what he says. Speaker 5 (3:30) The stark reality in America is that we are in the late stages of a complete Marxist takeover of the country. Speaker 1 (3:39) And you go, whoa, okay, this is for real. Speaker 3 (3:44) How can we possibly be in the midst of tyranny? That's the question of this morning. Speaker 4 (3:50) He believes that the American government is no longer a democracy, that it has been quietly taken over by these unelected bureaucrats. A new Speaker 5 (4:02) regime, if you will, that pays only Speaker 4 (4:04) lip Speaker 5 (4:04) service to Speaker 4 (4:05) the Constitution. The so-called deep state. They run the show, and that what we need is a president who is a quote-unquote radical constitutionalist to come in and put things right. And guess what? Speaker 5 (4:20) We have in Donald Trump a man who is so uniquely positioned to serve this Speaker 3 (4:24) role. But then you hear him say, We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work. Speaker 1 (4:35) This particular comment hit me like a bag of bricks. We need to run the government in such a way that we're going to traumatize the people who work for it. They're going to be so beaten down, demoralized, that they won't want to get out of bed in the Speaker 4 (4:49) morning and go to work. He believes himself to be on this mission, this righteous cause. To dismantle and Speaker 5 (4:59) deconstruct and defund this post-constitutional regime. Speaker 1 (5:06) At the time, I thought, this is someone who is not only much more important than I thought, but someone who is going to be an absolutely critical player in a second Trump administration if Trump were to get reelected. And of course, that is exactly what's happened. Speaker 2 (5:28) As soon as Trump was elected, he brought Russ Vogt back into the administration, to the Office of Management and Budget. Maybe that sounds like a straightforward accounting job, but that's not the way Vogt sees it. He treats it like the true seat of power. If you control the flow of money, you can effectively control the budget. If you control the budget, that's everything. Speaker 2 (5:55) Andy has spent the last two years following how RussVote operates and how he's reshaping the federal government in ways that will last long beyond this presidency. He's been combing through private speeches nobody outside Vote Circle was supposed to hear, some of which we're going to play for the first time. Vogt's official title is director of the Office of Management and Budget. But Andy says there's an easier way to think about him. The shadow president. Speaker 2 (6:27) I'm Jessica Lessenhop, and this is Paper Trail. Speaker 1 (6:37) In the... movie version of the Russ Vogt story that I have casted and directed and played in my mind more times than I'd care to admit. There is one moment that sets us on the course that we find ourselves on right now. Speaker 6 (6:56) Chaos on Capitol Hill tonight. Thousands of pro-Trump protesters clashed with police, halting the joint session to certify the Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden. Speaker 1 (7:08) It's January of 2021. The January 6th insurrection has just happened. People who had been loyal to the president, who were working in his own White House at the time, head for the exits. Speaker 7 (7:21) Breaking news, and I want to get your take on it. This is the first cabinet member level resignation. Secretary of Transportation. Speaker 1 (7:30) Elaine Chao, wife of. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker 8 (7:33) Betsy DeVos, who had Speaker 1 (7:37) been there the whole first term until that point, says, Speaker 4 (7:39) I'm out of here. She Speaker 8 (7:40) is now the ninth member of the administration to leave her post. Now, Lindsey Graham, who has been perhaps the most stalwart supporter of the president, is golfing buddy, golf whisperer, taken to the Senate floor. Speaker 6 (7:51) Today, all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough. Speaker 4 (7:58) Trump's stock could not be lower. He's been left for dead. Speaker 1 (8:02) And what does Russ Vogt do? He pays a visit to Trump in the Oval Office. He tells Trump, I am with you. I support you. We are going to get through this. Speaker 7 (8:14) And Speaker 1 (8:15) I'm going to work day and night to get you back here in the White House in four years. Speaker 2 (8:20) In the buddy comedy version of this movie, I'm really touched. They Speaker 1 (8:24) really had each Speaker 2 (8:26) other's back. Speaker 1 (8:27) The Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly version. That's right. Speaker 2 (8:29) This dynamic duo of Russ Vogt and Donald J. Trump, it's a pretty unlikely pairing. Speaker 1 (8:37) Russ Vogt could not be more different from the commander-in-chief, from Donald Trump. For Speaker 2 (8:43) starters, Russ Vogt grew up as an evangelical Christian. Speaker 4 (8:47) He comes from... Very modest means. There was this tragedy when he was very young where a half-sister was killed in a car accident. This death seems to spark a religious awakening for his family. They become devout Christians. Speaker 5 (9:05) Let's talk about this. I'm a Christian. I am