OAN Staff Abril Elfi
4:20 PM – Monday, January 20, 2025
The White House has confirmed that Vivek Ramaswamy will be stepping aside from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
According to a report by ABC News, the White House confirmed to the outlet that Ramaswamy, who had been selected to lead DOGE along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has stepped aside from the position to focus on running for Ohio governor in 2026.
“Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Anna Kelly told ABC News in a statement. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE based on the structure that we announced today. We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last 2 months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again!”
Last week, the outlet had reported that an Ohio operative stated that Ramaswamy would announce his gubernatorial run soon.
“Vivek’s base plan remains [the] same: to get accomplishments at DOGE and then announce a run for governor shortly,” the operative said.
This comes after three lawsuits were filed in D.C.’s federal district court alleging DOGE doesn’t comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
The lawsuits were brought on by Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association and National Security Counselors.
The suits reportedly each claim DOGE is covered by FACA, which mandates federal advisory committees meet transparency requirements like having a charter, fairly balanced membership and a designated federal officer to call meetings.
“DOGE’s stacked membership, far from being fairly balanced, reveals that only one viewpoint is represented: that of ‘small-government crusaders’ with backgrounds in either the tech industry or Republican politics. This shortcoming renders DOGE’s membership imbalanced and unfit for the function is has been directed to perform,” the National Security Counselors’s lawsuit states.
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