Russell Vought is the architect and legal scholar behind the Trump administration’s attempt to reshape the federal government. Simon Rabinovitch, US economics editor for the Economist, explains how he got all that power. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Noel King. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members President Trump's Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, at his Senate confirmation hearing last month. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
During confirmation hearings, Democratic senators pushed President Trump's more controversial cabinet picks on things they'd allegedly said.
Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon?
I probably did say that. On things they'd allegedly done.
Another time, a CBA staffer stated that you passed out in the back of a party bus. Is that true or false? Anonymous smears.
But for one nominee, Russell Vogt, Democrats took the step of staging a 30-hour protest calling him... Donald Trump's most dangerous nominee. Before he was easily confirmed by the Republican majority Senate. The low-key Mr. Vogt now leads the low-key Office of Management and Budget. And while he's short on razzle-dazzle, he's been very, very, very effective so far.
What Russ wants, coming up on Today Explained.
Support for the show comes from Yonder. There's a certain time and place for you to be checking your phone, and the classroom probably isn't one of them. Shouldn't school classrooms have, at the very least, the level of focus a stand-up comedian would demand of their audience? Yonder says they are committed to fostering phone-free schools. Learn more at overyonder.com.
That's O-V-E-R-Y-O-N-D-R dot com. Overyonder.com without the E in yonder.
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