Vought early and often

Despite how relatively tiny these aid agencies are, the Trump administration has clearly set the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation in its crosshairs.

Yesterday, Trump nominated Project 2025 architect Russell Vought — current head of the White House’s budget office — to the boards of both USADF and IAF.

Vought’s name surfaced on the Senate’s calendar on Monday, along with the nominations of two other political appointees: Kenneth Jackson, who is now serving as USAID’s assistant to the administrator for management and resources; and Laken Rapier, who is noted as a “senior FO advisor,” or front office adviser, in internal USAID documents.

For decades, IAF has provided small grants to civil society organizations in Latin America, while USADF has funded small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs, businesses, and groups in Africa.

Trump appointed Peter Marocco, the acting deputy administrator of USAID, as president and board chair of both organizations. IAF has now virtually disappeared, while USADF President and CEO Ward Brehm temporarily blocked Marocco’s appointment by taking him to court.

The initial results of that court case weren’t promising, though they weren’t definitive either, my colleague Elissa Miolene reports. While a federal judge yesterday cleared the way for the Trump administration to shift the leadership of USADF and significantly downsize its operations, Judge Richard Leon asked both legal teams to file a proposed briefing schedule for a preliminary injunction by March 12. It’s a route Brehm’s team had already said they would be taking.

It’s not yet clear what will happen between now and a possible preliminary injunction, and whether Brehm will lead USADF until then. That being said, the judge did not deny Brehm was the president, and in his court order, Leon stated that he had found no existing statutes that would permit temporary appointments — such as Trump’s appointment of Marocco — to USADF’s board.

Read: Trump taps Project 2025's Russell Vought to USADF, IAF boards

Read more: Judge rejects USADF chief’s bid to block Trump’s leadership shakeup