Thursday, President Trump posted on social media that he would meet with Russell Vought, the current head of the Office of Management and Budget, to "determine which of the Democrat agencies... he recommends to be cut."

Washington

Russell Vought, a self-described budget hawk, has been a key architect in efforts to shrink the US federal government. He co-authored the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint aimed at transforming government operations and reducing bureaucracy. Vought's political career includes roles on Capitol Hill, at Heritage Action, and as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during the Trump administration. He has been instrumental in policies such as freezing funds for Ukraine and making it easier to dismiss federal employees. His actions have led to polarized reactions, with Democrats criticizing his approach as unlawful and Republicans praising his effectiveness in advancing their agenda.

Russell Vought, and his influence on the federal workforce

So vote is a self-declared budget hawk who wants to shrink the federal government, and he gained national attention for co-authoring the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. You may have heard of them. It is a conservative blueprint to transform nearly every aspect of government, containing hundreds of policy proposals along with strategies to enact them. His policy or his career in politics started on Capitol Hill working for Republican congressional officials, and then he moved to the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action. During Trump's first term, he rejoined the federal government as the deputy director of OMB before becoming its director in 2020. Vote led in an effort to temporarily freeze funds for Ukraine, also helped craft an executive order to make it easier to fire federal employees. After Trump's inauguration this year, Vote was reconfirmed as OMB director, despite the controversy around his role in Project 2025. During the 2024 campaign and throughout his time at the White House, President Trump has repeatedly said he had, quote, nothing to do with Project 2025, though in this morning's post about Vote, Trump did acknowledge his OMB director's connection, identifying him as, quote, of Project 2025 fame. Scott Patterson joins us now. He's a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and he co-wrote an article out today that calls Russell Vote the slayer of big government, quite a statement there. And thank you very much for joining us to talk about all of this now. Scott, how would you describe Vote's vision for the federal government today, and how much influence has he already had? Vote's vision for the federal government is to make it smaller, to put it simply. He's long advocated cutting the federal bureaucracy. He's actually said at one point that he wants to put federal workers into trauma. And I would say that that's something that he's been very effective at doing this year alongside Elon Musk and Doge. I've talked to many federal workers, and they express a lot of, I would say, despair about what's happened with all the firings that have been orchestrated by people such as Vote and Musk. He laid the groundwork for this with Project 2025 over the past four years. He is now implementing that policy, and he is saying that with this government shutdown that he plans to accelerate it and use this time to fire more federal workers. We were talking about his connection and a big part of it in Project 2025. It has nearly 40 authors and editors, more than 250 contributors. Can you talk more about his contribution to Project 2025? I would say his biggest contribution is exactly what he's doing right now. He writes about how he thinks that the federal bureaucracy, which people on the right call the deep states, has grown way out of control. It's spending too much money. It's not doing what the executive branch wants. And I think that's his biggest complaint, is that the administrative state, as they call it, isn't responsible for doing what the president says he wants to do. I think he felt like he experienced some of that during Trump's first term. You mentioned the spending freeze in Ukraine. He's expressed a lot of resentment about what happened there, where he tried to withhold funds from Ukraine that ended up in the first impeachment of Trump. So he has, I think, what a lot of people would think are very extreme views of the power of the executive, but he is implementing those as we speak. And, Scott, before we let you go, given his enormous impact here, how have lawmakers from both parties reacted to him? Very polarized, I would say. The Democrats say that he's breaking the law over and over again by doing things like withholding funds from congressionally approved projects and funds to agencies, whereas the Republicans celebrate Russ's vote and say he's doing exactly what they wanted to do. One person told me that he thinks that the left probably wishes they had their own Russ vote who could be so effective. And that's one of the things that he is known for, is he's effective. People say he knows where the levers are in the federal government, and he can make things happen in ways that many other people couldn't. Always good to understand how we got here. Scott Patterson, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you.

Ukraine and Russia have carried out another exchange of prisoners of war. About two hundred Ukrainian prisoners released by Russia have arrived in the Chernihiv region near Ukraine’s border with Belarus.

Chernihiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russia, Ukraine exchange 185 prisoners of war in latest swap

Two Jewish men were killed and three other men were seriously injured in a terror attack outside a synagogue in the northern English city of Manchester, authorities said.

Manchester

Two killed in U.K. terror attack outside synagogue on Yom Kippur

President Trump has declared the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels as the White House calls drug runners "unlawful combatants."

Trump declares U.S. in 'armed conflict' with drug cartels

The head of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Presidential Library has resigned after sources say he resisted a request from the Trump administration to give a sword from the library's collection to King Charles.

Abilene

Eisenhower library head resigns

Two regional jets crashed into each other on the tarmac at New York's LaGuardia Airport when the wing of one aircraft hit the front end of another. One flight attendant was injured.

LaGuardia Airport

Two regional jets collide on tarmac at New York's LaGuardia Airport

Blame was thrown around by all sides on the first day of the shutdown after the White House and Congress failed to agree on a way to keep the U.S. government funded and open. The White House said layoffs to the federal workforce were ‘imminent.’

White House says federal worker layoffs ‘imminent’ after shutdown

Jane Goodall, the British conservationist and researcher renowned for her work with chimpanzees, has died at age 91. The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed her death on Instagram Wednesday, saying she died of natural causes.

Los Angeles

Jane Goodall, chimpanzee researcher and conservationist, dies at 91

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order, promising military action if necessary, to defend Qatar in the face of any future attack. It follows an Israeli strike on Doha last month, targeting a Hamas negotiating team. Qatar called the attack a violation of its sovereignty, prompting Trump to issue the new security assurances to the Gulf nation.

Doha

Trump signs executive order protecting Qatar after Israeli strike

The Israeli military is pressing on with its offensive in Gaza, launching strikes across the territory, as Hamas weighs up its response to the U.S. peace proposal. Debora Patta reports.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Israel continues Gaza offensive as Hamas weighs U.S. peace deal

The Supreme Court has added another blockbuster case to its new term of cases. The court announced it would hear whether President Trump can legally fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Jessica Levinson has more.

Supreme Court to weigh Trump firing of Fed's Lisa Cook

Flash floods in Ukraine's Odesa killed at least nine people, including a family of five trapped in their home as it was engulfed by water, emergency services said on Wednesday (October 1), as torrential rain left hundreds in need of rescue and thousands without power.

Odesa Oblast

Deadly flash floods hit Odesa after downpours in Ukraine's south

Parts of the U.S. government remain closed after Senate votes failed to pass funding. A GOP-backed House bill fell short of the 60-vote threshold, leaving 750,000 federal workers facing furloughs and possible military pay delays.

Government shutdown continues after Senate votes down resolutions

In Afghanistan, concerns are growing after days of virtually no internet connectivity. The blackout has disrupted banking, commerce and aviation. The Taliban denies banning internet services.

Kabul

Afghanistan imposes internet blackout

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Hamas militants have about three or four days to respond to his Gaza peace plan proposal or face the consequences. But Gazans saw little hope in the plan, which was presented to Hamas after Israel had endorsed it as satisfying its war aims.

Hamas under pressure as Trump issues deadline on Gaza peace plan

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to use 'dangerous' U.S. cities as training grounds for the military at a rare meeting of top military officials where he and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took aim at what they called 'woke' military standards.

Trump threatens to train military in U.S. cities

At least 69 people were killed after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake shook the coastal city of Bogo and outlying rural towns in Cebu province in the Philippines, officials said. CBS News foreign correspondent Anna Coren has the latest details.

Cebu

Dozens killed after 6.9-magnitude earthquake shakes Philippines

U.S. President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to reach a funding deal, causing the government to shut down Wednesday. Tens of thousands of federal workers will be told to stay home – furloughed without pay.

U.S. government shuts down after lawmakers fail to reach funding deal

U.S. President Donald Trump is amping up pressure on Hamas to respond to his 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza. He says he wants a response in a matter of days or there will be a ‘very sad end’ to the conflict.

Trump puts pressure on Hamas with deadline on Gaza peace plan

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said there would be no more ‘overbearing rules of engagement’ for the U.S. military while President Donald Trump threatened war on ‘the enemy from within’ at a gathering of top U.S. military commanders.

Hegseth calls for end to ‘politically correct’ U.S. military leadership

European leaders, from Ursula von der Leyen to Emmanuel Macron, have reacted positively to U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza.

EU leaders urge Hamas to accept Trump's Gaza plan 'without delay'

Military leaders have been summoned to Quantico Marine Corps base from all around the world by Defense Secretary Hegseth for a rare, in-person meeting. Democratic lawmakers have raised safety concerns about the military leaders leaving their posts for the well-publicized meeting.

Quantico

Hegseth gathers U.S. military leaders for rare, in-person meeting

Imelda is now a Category 1 hurricane, threatening dangerous weather conditions on the East Coast alongside Hurricane Humberto. CBS News' Rob Marciano has more details.

Folly Beach

Imelda becomes hurricane, threatens dangerous conditions on East Coast

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday he is ready to declare a state of emergency over the threat of U.S. "aggression," following a spate of deadly U.S. strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats.

Caracas

Maduro ready to declare state of emergency over U.S. 'aggression'

Some have expressed excitement after Bad Bunny was announced as the Super Bowl halftime performer, while others have criticized the pick. CBS News' Lilia Luciano reports.

Bad Bunny to headline Super Bowl 2026 halftime show

President Donald Trump said he would impose a 100% tariff on all films produced overseas that are then sent into the U.S., repeating a threat made in May that would upend Hollywood's global business model.

Hollywood

Global Tariffs

Trump says U.S. to impose 100% tariff on movies produced overseas

Moldova's pro-Europe governing party has won a majority in key parliamentary elections. The result brings Moldova closer to EU membership — but not everyone is celebrating.

Chișinău

Pro-EU party wins majority in Moldova election

U.S. President Donald Trump outlined a 20-point plan for peace in Gaza as he stood with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Hamas has yet to comment on the plan.

Trump, Netanyahu announce plan to end Gaza conflict

Amid growing impatience over the Kremlin’s reluctance to participate in direct talks with Ukraine, Washington is now considering providing Kyiv with Tomahawk missiles, according to U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Washington might send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, Vance says

The FBI says it is investigating 'an act of targeted violence' after a man crashed his vehicle through the front doors of a Michigan church, opened fire with an assault rifle and set the church ablaze, killing at least four people and wounding at least eight others.

Grand Blanc

Investigators look for motive in deadly Michigan church shooting

Washington is preparing for the arrival of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. President Trump is advancing a plan aimed at securing the release of hostages, ending the war in Gaza, and outlining a post-war strategy.

Breakdown