By RICHARD LARDNER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Russell Vought, a key architect of the controversial Project 2025 plan , speaks as a general marshaling troops to tame a “woke and weaponized” federal government. Vought has said political opposition is “enemy fire that’s coming over the target” and has urged allies to be “fearless at the point of attack.” He has described his policy proposals as “battle plans.
” If former President Donald Trump wins a second term in November, Vought, his former White House budget chief, may get the opportunity to go on the offensive; he is expected to be appointed to a high-ranking post in a second Trump administration. Here are some things to know about Vought and his plans if Trump returns to power. Vought did not respond to an interview request or to questions first emailed in February to the Center for Renewing America , the pro-Trump think tank he established after leaving government.
The center joined a coalition of conservative organizations, led by the Heritage Foundation, to launch the 920-page Project 2025, a detailed blueprint for governing in the next Republican administration. The project’s public-facing document, “Mandate for Leadership,” examined nearly every corner of the federal government and urged reforms large and small to bridle a “behemoth” bureaucracy. As part of his work on Project 2025, Vought is at work drafting a so-far secret “180-Day Transition Playbook” to speed the plan’s i.