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Vought, left, with Mark Paoletta, general counsel at the OMB.
Photo: Will Oliver/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The first few months of Donald Trump’s second term saw steep cuts and mass layoffs across all sectors of the federal government, led largely by Elon Musk and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought in his second stint as head of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Few agencies were as decimated as the United States Agency for International Development, the federal government’s arm for distributing foreign aid. By 2026, USAID was a shell of its former self. Most of its contracts were terminated and thousands of employees fired as the administration moved to wind down the agency’s operations. A recent study published in The Lancet medical journal predicted that the USAID cuts, in concert with reductions from other western nations, could result in the deaths of 9.4 million people around the world by 2030 and increase the spread of malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.
Now, reporting indicates the White House has allocated much of USAID’s remaining funds to a very different cause: Vought’s security detail.
Documents analyzed by Reuters reveal the OMB is directing that $15 million of USAID’s remaining operating expenses pay for costs associated with Vought’s protection, which is said to consist of more than a dozen members of the U.S. Marshals Service. One document detailed a September 11 agreement with USAID that $1.6 million would be provided “to cover the costs associated with then Acting USAID Administrator Vought’s security detail through November” with the agency setting aside an additional $13.5 million for costs through the rest of the year.
In a statement to Reuters, OMB spokesperson Rachel Cauley did not deny that USAID funds were being allocated for Vought’s protection. “We are going to continue to use available funds at the three agencies overseen by the director to protect him,” she said, in apparent reference to the OMB as well as USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in which Vought holds temporary leadership roles.
Vought has emerged as one of the administration’s most divisive figures through his work with Project 2025, a right-wing policy road map from the Heritage Foundation, whose proposals ranging from federal workforce cuts to the rollback of environmental regulations have seen implementation in Trump’s second term. And this is not the first time Vought has sought federal dollars to cover his security expenses: GovExec reported in July that Vought also sent the CFPB a $4.7 million bill for his protection costs.
In February, a 26-year-old Maryland man was charged with attempted murder and other related counts after he went to Vought’s Virginia home last year. According to NBC News, footage from a Ring camera captured Colin Demarco on Vought’s porch wearing a mask and appearing to carry a firearm.
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Nia Prater
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