Russell Vought has systematically orchestrated a shutdown of critical government services as budget chief. It’s time to end that.
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Welcome to Revolving Door Project’s Corruption Calendar, where we provide in-depth explanations of the material consequences—real and potential—of the Trump administration’s corrupt policymaking, with an emphasis on tangible harms to working people. Read our first thirty-three issues here, and follow us on Bluesky and X for more updates on this work.
Vampiric Vought’s Victims
We’re a few days into the official government shutdown, which Russell Vought aims to use as pretext to continue his unlawful withholding of federal funds. While he may operate with less fanfare, Vought is similarly hellbent on achieving the Elon Musk-DOGE vision of dismantling critical government services and infrastructure. Indeed, as long as he remains at the helm of the Office of Management and Budget, Congress can’t reasonably trust the Trump administration to follow the law and properly allocate and account for appropriated funds.
There are real victims of the vampiric Vought’s illegal impoundment of over $410 billion in just nine months. He’s withheld close to $2 billion worth of funding to the National Cancer Institute, which doles out over 8,000 grants to researchers seeking to develop interventions to better understand and cure cancer. This disregard for our collective wellbeing is further reflected in OMB’s delayed apportionment of billions of dollars to the CDC’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion program, as well as the substance abuse treatment and mental health programs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
In addition to these cuts to lifesaving medical research, Vought has also targeted Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), even as millions of Americans struggle to afford the daily necessities of life. CDFIs rely on federal government funds to support underserved communities, providing “loans, capital and financial services in areas that are often overlooked by traditional financial institutions.” Since Vought has held on to $289 million of the $324 million appropriated to this program, numerous communities will be unable to access financing to help them run their businesses, purchase homes, and more.
Vought’s actions in the past few months amount to a stealthy shutdown of the federal government. But now that more of the public is tuned into the shutdown battle, it would be wise for Democrats to inform them about the architect of our current state of dysfunction. Vought thinks he has sole discretion over federal funds; as such, he considers the rule of law a mere obstacle to be ignored in pursuit of his goals. As long as that is the case, there will be a trust gap between the two parties in Congress. So one sensible demand Democrats should make—in addition to their focus group-approved call for concessions on health insurance premiums—is for Mr. Vought to either resign or be summarily dismissed.
Scourge of Corporate Pardons
Regular readers of Corruption Calendar are probably familiar with the president’s willingness to grant clemency to donors and allies. Essentially, Trump has created a parallel justice system where white-collar criminals who lavish him with praise and money evade accountability, even when juries have found them guilty of defrauding everyday Americans.
Now fresh reporting from the New York Times’ Kenneth Vogel reveals how this circumvention of established legal processes robs the public of significant restitution funds. As Vogel notes, last month, the “Securities and Exchange Commission […] dropped civil enforcement cases that could have led to penalties totaling hundreds of millions of dollars against three men who were previously granted clemency by President Trump.”
One of these men is Devon Archer, who ingratiated himself into Trump’s circle after providing information on his previous business partnership with Hunter Biden. Archer had been found guilty of defrauding the Wakpamni Lake Community, a Native American tribal entity, of millions of dollars. With a pardon now secured, he is no longer on the hook for his near $60 million forfeiture and restitution bill, and any additional civil penalties the SEC might have sought if the White House had not interfered. Similarly, Trevor Milton, who misled shareholders of electric truck maker Nikola, and Carlos Watson, who defrauded investors in his media company Ozy, can breathe easy knowing the federal government will no longer seek justice.
There may still be hope for their victims since the dismissals don’t foreclose private civil lawsuits. Moreover, as former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra recently argued in Promarket, “Given the dormancy of consumer protection enforcement at the federal level, the time may be ripe for federal and state statutes to give consumers and businesses the ability to bring private enforcement actions against those who engage in misconduct.” Nonetheless, a functioning democracy requires an opposition party to hold politicians to account.
Other Notable Happenings
Bessent hands billionaire bestie a lifeboat. Many heads turned last week when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared his plans to bail out the Javier Milei-led Argentine economy. Why would the US government step in to save the South American country? One explanation is that Trumpworld sees MAGA as a global movement. Another reason, which escaped the attention of the mainstream press, is that Bessent’s rescue mission will protect the fortunes of investors like his friend and former colleague Rob Citrone. The strange public-funded bailout package has been met with ire by one key domestic constituency: soybean farmers, currently reeling from Argentina’s removal of soybean export taxes to ease shipments of the crop to the Chinese market.
De facto legalization of bribery. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel shut down an investigation into Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who allegedly accepted $50,000 in an undercover sting operation last year. Homan had promised the undercover FBI agents, who were posing as businessmen, that he would facilitate future government contracts in exchange for the cash offering. Although the early closure of the investigation might have prevented the discovery of more damning evidence, the alleged cash-for-contracts proposal is still, if proven, a crime. What’s more, additional reporting from ProPublica shows that Homan’s senior advisor Mark Hall and his erstwhile business partner Charles Sowell have been touting their connections to the border czar to companies seeking government contracts.
Donor-driven disaster relief. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s policy of personally reviewing grants over $100k has kneecapped the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s operations, disrupting the flow of relief resources to disaster victims. A troubling reality, which my colleague Kenny Stancil has been tracking. However, when one of her major donors got in touch regarding the rebuilding of a pier in Naples, Florida, “Noem quickly expedited more than $11 million of federal money.” If political favoritism is going to decide Noem’s release of often lifesaving federal funds, then countless communities unwilling or unable to corrupt the system are bound to suffer under this administration.
Hatch Act violations. Numerous federal agencies refashioned their government websites as broadcast platforms for the administration’s partisan shutdown messaging, a likely violation of the Hatch Act, which bars federal government officials from using public infrastructure for partisan political activity. Our friends Public Citizen have filed complaints against the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Retain Ballard, reap rewards. Last week, Mother Jones broke news of BI² Technologies landing a no-bid award worth $10 million from ICE with the help of the Trump-connected Ballard Partners. ICE will now use the company’s Inmate Recognition and Identification System, which is “equipped with an iris-scanning mobile app called MORIS.” There’s little doubt that the growing embrace of dystopian surveillance technologies for the immigration crackdown will redound to an encroachment on everyone’s civil liberties.
Thanks for reading Corruption Calendar!
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