Andy Kroll

Opinion | Springsteen Isn’t Who I Thought He Was

"I hear [Swift's] songs as poetry; the music’s job is just to help get it across. And that’s what I hear when I listen to Springsteen: I hear poetry, and I hear Americans’ love of it."

Springsteen Isn’t Who I Thought He Was www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/o...

UPDATE: I have the attention of Russ Vought's spokesperson at OMB. Check out the exchange below.

I guess now I *am* curious what his dog's name is??
@propublica.org

Thank you, little tortoise 🐢

Thank you. And no, you're not a "nobody," cmon now!

Thank you, Steve 🤘

How to Contact ProPublica or Send a Tip Securely — ProPublica Our job is to hold people and institutions accountable. To do that, we need evidence.

We want your help. Do you work at OMB? Do you know someone who does?

Are you a current or former federal worker with information that you can share about Russell Vought?

You can contact me on Signal at (202) 215-6203.

We take your privacy seriously. 9/end www.propublica.org/tips/

A news headline that reads: "Musk is gone. But DOGE staffers are still trying to cut through agencies."

With Elon Musk having stepped aside and DOGE fading away, Vought is probably more powerful now than ever.

We want to know more: What’s his role with DOGE? What other agencies has he influenced? 8/

A headline of a New York Times story that reads: "Bipartisan House and Senate leaders urge White House to restore spending website"

Vought even took down a gov’t website — mandated by law — that showed how OMB was apportioning the money that Congress had appropriated for federal agencies.

The website was a response to Trump’s freezing of Ukraine aid in 2019.

This was so brazen even congressional Republicans pushed back. 7/

An excerpt of a news story that describes how lawyers in Republican administrations concluded that there is no constitutional power to impound federal funds, as Russ Vought argues.

Vought endorses the concept of impoundment — that the president has the power to block spending money appropriated by Congress.

William Rehnquist — the future Supreme Court chief justice — said impoundment power was “supported by neither reason nor precedent.”

A top Reagan official agreed: 6/

An excerpt of a ProPublica story that reads: “We have in Donald Trump a man who is so uniquely positioned to serve this role, a man whose own interests perfectly align with the interests of the country,” Vought said. “He has seen what it has done to him, and he has seen what they are trying to do to the country. “That,” he added, “is nothing more than a gift of God.”

Vought believes the U.S. is a “post-constitutional regime.”

He hails Trump as a leader sent by God to be a “radical constitutionalist” akin to James Madison.

He envisions vast powers for the executive that would undermine Congress’s constitutional authority to appropriate funds. 5/

Alt text: Whitehouse.gov screenshot that reads: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) serves the President of the United States in overseeing the implementation of his vision across the Executive Branch. Specifically, OMB’s mission is to assist the President in meeting his policy, budget, management and regulatory objectives and to fulfill the agency’s statutory responsibilities.

Vought’s job is director of the Office of Management and Budget.

OMB is a Cabinet-level agency, but it’s not a household name like DOJ.

Yet OMB is powerful. Often described as the “central nervous system” of the federal gov’t. 4/
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

The video we uncovered of Vought saying “We want to put them in trauma” has gone viral — online and off.

Senators used the word “trauma” more than 20 times at Vought’s confirmation hearing to be Trump’s budget and personnel director. 3/

“Put Them in Trauma”: Inside a Key MAGA Leader’s Plans for a New Trump Agenda Private videos reveal Trump adviser Russ Vought’s “shadow” plans for using the military on protesters, defunding the EPA and villainizing civil servants.

Our Vought scoop was one of the most prophetic stories in @propublica.org's history.

President Trump, Vought, and DOGE’s efforts to reassign or fire federal workers have left many of them feeling demoralized and — yes — traumatized. 2/
www.propublica.org/article/vide...

Last fall, @propublica.org and @documented.net broke the story that Russell Vought, Trump’s current budget chief, said he planned to put career civil servants “in trauma.”

Now, we're investigating the full extent of Vought's impact on the federal government. We need your help… 🧵 1/

I will. Updates to come. This is one of the wildest stories I’ve ever covered…

Russ Vought played soccer at Wheaton College. (Go Thunder.)

Didn't think this would be my first post on my return from mini-parental leave. Such are the times in which we live.

Speaking of Vought — watch this space soon...

N.H. jury acquits consultant behind AI robocalls mimicking Biden on all charges Steven Kramer admitted orchestrating the message sent to thousands of voters two days before the New Hampshire primary in January 2024. He was found not guilty on Friday of 11 counts each of voter sup...

Eye-opening follow-up story here:

N.H. jury acquits consultant behind AI robocalls mimicking Biden on all charges www.wbur.org/news/2025/06...

The Pint-Size Singers Hoping to Be Opera Stars

“I like singing, and I like ice cream,” Skye Yang, 7, said as she headed toward the exit. “That’s why I’m here.”

Meet the kids who audition for the Met Opera’s Children’s Chorus.

A lighter read for your Sunday morning. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/a...

Exclusive: US Marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles, video shows Marines deployed to Los Angeles carried out the detention of a civilian on Friday, the U.S. military confirmed after being presented with Reuters images, in the first known detention by active-duty troops deployed there by President Donald Trump.

The first known detention by the US Marines in their recent Los Angeles deployment is of... a US Army veteran on his way to an office at the Department of Veteran Affairs building. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.

“What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation?” Mr. Yudkowsky asked in an interview. “It looks like an additional monthly user.”

A completely absorbing and chilling read: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

!!!! "In a previously unreported development, federal agents came to suspect that Bukele and members of his inner circle had diverted U.S. aid funds to the (MS-13) gang..."

“Delay, Interfere, Undermine” President Donald Trump has praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele as a crime fighter, but new reporting based on interviews and documents reveals how senior Salvadoran officials have impeded a U.S....

Trump hailed El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, as a crime fighter for taking on the MS-13 gang.

New @propublica.org reporting shows that senior Bukele officials repeatedly impeded the work of a U.S. task force investigating MS-13.

Big scoop here: www.propublica.org/article/buke...

CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll was detained along with his crew and escorted out of a protest zone by police officers while documenting anti-deportation demonstrations in LA June 9: pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incident...

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Chemicals in ICE Facilities A complaint filed under the Biden administration alleged that on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group had its employees use the disinfectant, which causes irreversible eye damage ...

The EPA just withdrew a complaint against a major Trump donor -- GEO Group, which runs ICE detention facilities. The company was spraying a disinfectant without proper protection onto beds and into *microwaves*; detainees reported skin rashes + difficulty breathing www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

Photo of the platform with the US Army logo on it for Trump’s military parade this weekend.

Here is the Army-branded platform for this weekend’s military parade. It’s on Constitution Ave, just south of the Ellipse — a notable spot for all you J6 obsessives out there.

Photo of the Smithsonian African-American Museum, surrounded by metal security barricades

Metal barricades have popped up all over downtown DC and the proximity of the White House.

Reminds me a bit of what DC felt like in the weeks after the January 6 riots.

Appreciate the reference (below) to @propublica.org’s coverage of Russ Vought in @hcrichardson.bsky.social’s newsletter today.

I have more Vought reporting in the works. I’d love to hear from anyone with information about Vought, OMB, and DOGE.

Contact info in my bio.

I didn’t see this. Just watched it. Thanks for sharing.

Andy Kroll, Reporter I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

That's all, folks. Thanks for following along.

I continue to report on Russ Vought.

If you have tips, documents, or other information share, **please contact me securely here**: 40/end www.propublica.org/people/andy-...

Rep. Alford presses Vought on whether the administration's cuts to PEPFAR will slash HIV prevention programs.

Vought: "It is something that our budget will be very, uh, trim on." He adds: "At some point, the continent of Africa needs to absorb more of the burden of providing its health care." 39/