President-elect Donald Trump is considering giving Russell Vought, his previous Office of Management and Budget director, his old job back. If tapped for the role, Vought would lead the powerful office tasked with reviewing federal regulations and developing the president’s budget.
Vought, a prominent contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initiative to draft proposals for a second Trump administration, is among the people being seriously considered for the post, according to three people familiar with the transition effort granted anonymity to discuss the considerations.
Vought has been working for months behind the scenes to prepare Trump’s economic and trade policy agenda alongside Trump campaign policy chair Vince Haley and former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who himself is in contention for a top economic job, according to one of the people with knowledge of the transition.
Vought’s nomination to OMB would solidify a revival for the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration that Democrats attacked repeatedly in an attempt to paint Trump as an extremist. The president-elect repeatedly disavowed the initiative on the campaign trail. And the head of personnel for his transition team, Howard Lutnick, called the Heritage Foundation “radioactive.”
Vought, who authored a chapter on the Executive Office of the President in the Project 2025 document, wouldn’t be Trump’s first hire linked to Project 2025. Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming border czar, also contributed to the project, as did his pick to helm the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.
Vought and the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
But Vought didn’t deny he is being considered for the OMB role in an appearance Monday on Tucker Carlson’s political talk show on X, formerly Twitter.
Carlson noted that Vought is “very likely” to lead the agency again — an assertion Vought did not dispute. And he told Carlson that Trump can use OMB to “tame the administrative state.”
Vought first served as Trump’s deputy OMB director, surviving a tight 50-49 confirmation vote that relied on a tie-breaking vote by then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Vought later worked as Trump’s acting OMB director after Mick Mulvaney was elevated to acting White House chief of staff in January 2019. He was then nominated to serve in the role permanently in March 2020, clearing the Senate on a 51-45 vote that July.
If confirmed again, Vought will work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to carry out Trump’s campaign pledge to slash government spending and regulations.
On Carlson’s show, Vought said he expects to work with their new agency — the Department of Government Efficiency — to use recent court decisions limiting federal agency powers to pursue a “massive deregulatory agenda.” They will also be “as radical or aggressive as you can” in reducing full-time federal employees and contractors, he added.
