How A 25-Year-Old DOGE Staffer Set Policy at USDA

New court documents show how an effort to slash climate-related funds played out at one agency.

A banner with an image of President Donald Trump hangs outside Department of Agriculture headquarters.
Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

Gavin Kliger, a 25-year-old DOGE staffer, was coming off a whirlwind few weeks when he went to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February.

To join President Donald Trump’s new government-cutting team, he went on “unpaid indefinite leave” from the Andreessen Horowitz-supported artificial intelligence firm Databricks, according to his public financial disclosure report.

He had posted a Substack titled “Why DOGE” with the subhead “Why I gave up a seven-figure salary to save America.” It cost $1,000 a month, or $10,000 a year, to unlock — those who paid found that the rest of the post was blank.