Biden-Era ‘Lawfare’ Target Says He’s Now Running ‘Most Important Agency’ You’ve ‘Never Heard Of’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A former target of the Biden administration’s “lawfare” says he and President Donald Trump have already made profound changes to the federal bureaucracy.

Jeff Clark, the acting administrator for the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), outlined how he thinks the government is becoming more accountable to the American people in a talk at Capitol Hill Friday for the conservative group American Moment. The former Department of Justice (DOJ) official is now tasked with curtailing the very system that branded him a criminal after President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

“We have a problem with the civil service and a problem with the bureaucracy in America,” Clark told his audience. “It’s become a fourth branch of government.”

Congress created OIRA to help presidents review agency actions. A Feb. 18 order from Trump requires “all” agencies to submit their “proposed and final significant regulatory actions” to Clark’s office for review. The order said this policy makes the unelected bureaucracy “accountable to the American people” through “Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch.” Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought picked Clark to lead OIRA after Trump took office.

Clark said the administration believes so-called “independent agencies” – created to exist outside the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government – are “unconstitutional” and he is making them “independent no longer.” One of them is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where Vought has also made Clark a senior adviser.