Russell Vought: The Shadow President

Video Description

Russell Vought is one of the most powerful people in the Trump administration. For almost three decades, he worked in Congress and held prominent roles at conservative think tanks. But he was little known outside of political circles. He’s now the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and the chief architect of President Donald Trump’s campaign to radically reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy. In this video, ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll tells the story of Vought’s rise from a young staffer for Texas Sen. Phil Gramm to his role as the driving force behind Trump’s plan to dismantle the so-called “administrative state.” Vought declined to be interviewed. Kroll’s account is drawn from dozens of interviews, thousands of pages of documents and hours of videos and recordings of Vought’s briefings to supporters, including one where Vought says he wanted to put federal workers “in trauma.” Read Kroll’s profile of Vought, co-published with The New Yorker: https://propub.li/497DlMk - ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. + Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/propublica.org + Follow us on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/propublica + Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/propublica/ + Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@propublica + Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/propublica + Follow us on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@propublica + Follow us on Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@ProPublica + Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/propublica/ + Donate to support our work: https://propub.li/3WE9AMv + Sign up for our weekly newsletter: http://propub.li/2oyN8DY + Submit a tip: https://www.propublica.org/tips/