WASHINGTON, D.C. – President-elect Donald Trump on Monday appointed Mark Paoletta, a prominent Washington, D.C. lawyer, as general counsel at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), with the return of Director Russ Vought, the spearhead of the policy reversal. announced that he would return to the White House. Directing federal regulation and spending, building a border wall, and implementing recommendations from Elon and Vivek's DOGE to overhaul the federal government.
“Mark is a brilliant and tenacious lawyer who worked tirelessly to advance my agenda during my first term,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “As an OMB GC in my first administration, Mark led the mission to identify funding to build a wall on the southern border, working with then-OMB Director Russ Vought on government spending.
Trump noted that Paoletta is currently a partner at the law firm Shah Jaffe and a senior fellow at Vought's nonprofit Center for American Renewal.
Mr. Paoletta is widely known as one of the toughest lawyers in Washington and is a seasoned veteran of more than 30 years of political action. Her work began during the 41 years of the Bush administration (1989-1993) as a young lawyer in the White House Counsel's Office, where the young Paoletta eventually became a key force in the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. .
Thomas and Paoletta have been close friends ever since, and Paoletta's success in the 1991 Thomas fight made him the Republican White House's go-to guy in judicial confirmation fights. A staunch conservative and one of the most vocal supporters of President Trump's MAGA policy, Paoletta is supported by both elite legal circles and the Federalist Society, while also being admired among grassroots activists and anti-establishment groups.
During the Clinton era, Mr. Paoletta led dozens of investigations in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, earning a reputation as a no-compromise Doberman when it came to preparing subpoenas and planning congressional hearings.
He then moved to the private sector as a partner at the large law firm DLA Piper, where he became highly sought after by organizations and corporate executives who have to deal with Congress, especially those dragged into confrontational hearings by Democrats. Ta.
Paoletta returned to the White House when Trump was first elected, serving as an adviser to the vice president and then general counsel at OMB. While serving in President Trump's White House, Mr. Paoletta was also instrumental in the confirmation of two of Trump's Supreme Court nominees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as numerous lower court nominees. played a role.
As President Trump pointed out, during his tenure at OMB, Paoletta was able to block spending on Trump's signature issues and designate funding from the military construction budget. Crafted a legal strategy to successfully direct billions of dollars to begin construction of the president's border wall. Drug funds were withheld. Mr. Vought acted on Mr. Paoletta's legal analysis, and once wall money started flowing in from OMB, Democrats were unable to maintain a central position among wall opponents. Billions more were explicitly appropriated by Congress and the Trump administration built hundreds of miles of wall.
Vaught also posted on social media yesterday, saying he “couldn't be happier” to have Paoletta back at OMB and advising everyone to “buckle up.” above. “
OMB is the White House's operations center and one of the most powerful actors in government, but most Americans have never heard of it, and even many within Belt and Road are unsure of how it works. I don't understand how it works. All changes to federal regulations require OMB approval. It prepares the President's budget each year, controls the distribution of all federal funds after Congress passes the annual spending bill, and is a clearinghouse for countless government processes.
And OMB will be in the news regularly for years to come as it implements the recommendations of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Rather than being a literal department, DOGE will actually be a presidential advisory board, serving as an idea factory to revolutionize the size, scope, cost, and functional efficiency of the federal government. As President Trump decides which recommendations to adopt, Vought's OMB, which includes Paoletta's Office of General Counsel, which has more than 20 lawyers, will play a leading role in implementing major changes to the way the federal government works. will play a role. This includes finding creative legal theories to implement many of the proposals.If Congress cannot muster the will to change the current law, it will be changed.
Mr. Vought will not be able to run OMB from day one because he needs Senate confirmation as a director, but Mr. Paoletta will be able to start work on January 20th because the general counsel position is appointed directly without going through the Senate. Become. OMB occupies most of the second floor of Congress. The Eisenhower Executive Building (EEOB) on the White House campus has non-stop traffic between its many offices and the West Wing.
Given the president-elect's aggressive policies, Americans won't have to wait long to see big changes, courtesy of the team President Trump is bringing back to OMB with Vought and Paoletta. .
Breitbart News senior legal contributor Ken Krukowski is a lawyer who worked in the White House Office of Management and Budget under Russ Vought and Mark Paoletta. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @kenklukowski.
