White House Uses USAID Funds For Russell Vought’s Security, Documents Show | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – The White House price range workplace is utilizing thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the previous U.S. overseas assist company to pay for the safety element of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s price range chief and an architect of the federal government overhaul that has minimize hundreds of federal jobs, in line with three paperwork seen by Reuters.

The White House Office of Management and Budget, which Vought leads, is allocating $15 million of what stays of USAID working bills to cowl the prices of his safety by the U.S. Marshals Service by way of the top of 2026, the paperwork confirmed.

An individual aware of the matter mentioned that Vought’s safety element includes multiple dozen U.S. Marshals, which Reuters couldn’t independently affirm. OMB didn’t make Vought out there for interview.

The Marshals Service didn’t touch upon Vought particularly, saying it doesn’t establish folks beneath safety however it “typically seeks reimbursement by the supported agency.”

Asked about the usage of USAID funds, OMB spokesperson Rachel Cauley mentioned in an e-mail: “We are going to continue to use available funds at the three agencies overseen by the director to protect him.”

She apparently was referring to OMB, USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, of which Vought is the appearing director.

Vought served as appearing USAID director for practically 90 days final yr earlier than his deputy assumed the put up in November. He stays a senior adviser to the practically defunct company, in line with one of many paperwork, which haven’t been beforehand reported.

Cauley didn’t give additional particulars about Vought’s safety prices however she didn’t dispute that USAID funds are getting used to underwrite the prices of his U.S. Marshals element.

The Trump administration dismantled USAID and canceled most of its assist packages final yr, transferring accountability for overseas help to the State Department. A skeleton crew of greater than 100 workers and contractors is closing out USAID’s remaining contracts and is because of shut the 64-year-old company’s doorways for good by September.

One of the paperwork reviewed by Reuters mentioned OMB signed an settlement with USAID final September 11 “to cover the costs associated with then Acting USAID Administrator Vought’s security detail through November.” That quantity – $1.6 million – got here from what’s left of USAID’s working bills, the doc confirmed.

OMB budgeted one other $13.5 million in USAID funds to underwrite the prices of Vought’s safety element by way of the top of this yr “as they relate to his current role as Senior Advisor to USAID,” the doc mentioned.

The Marshals Service sometimes protects federal courthouses, judges and court docket personnel. Asked about Vought, the Marshals Service mentioned it “could offer protection to members of the executive branch who face threats or at the direction of the Attorney General.”

The individual aware of the matter mentioned that Vought has acquired critical threats, which the individual mentioned had been apparently linked to his position as a number one creator of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint that has shaped the idea of many Trump administration insurance policies.

Reuters was unable to independently affirm the threats or whether or not they associated to Project 2025. Last week, police in northern Virginia introduced the arrest of a 26-year-old man for tried homicide, with media stories figuring out Vought because the goal. A spokeswoman for the Arlington County police declined to verify Vought was the suspect’s goal.

In her assertion to Reuters, OMB spokesperson Cauley accused “The Left” – which she didn’t additional establish – of pursuing a technique that fuels an “assassination culture against public officials” after which expresses “shock about what it takes to keep them safe.”

Vought’s use of bodyguards comes amid a unprecedented surge in intimidation and violence directed at U.S. officers, judges and politicians and activists of each political events since 2020. Trump has been focused by two assassination makes an attempt. Under Trump, the Marshals Service has sometimes offered safety to high U.S. officers, together with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In July, Vought sought funds from the CFPB to assist meet the $4.7 million value of his safety element for the rest of 2025, in line with an e-mail seen by Reuters and an individual with information of the matter. The e-mail was first reported by GovExec.

Trump ordered the closure of USAID on taking workplace in January, claiming with out offering proof that it was rife with corruption.

Some 10,000 USAID personnel and hundreds of contractors had been fired and hundreds of packages shuttered, throwing into turmoil U.S.-funded international humanitarian assist operations on which thousands and thousands of the world’s poorest folks depended. USAID stopped distributing assist in July.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Douglas Gillison; Editing by Don Durfee and Claudia Parsons)