def new_user(admin_username, admin_password):
    env.user = 'root'

    # Create the admin group and add it to the sudoers file
    admin_group = 'admin'
    runcmd('addgroup {group}'.format(group=admin_group))
    runcmd('echo "%{group} ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers'.format(
        group=admin_group))

    # Create the new admin user (default group=username); add to admin group
    runcmd('adduser {username} --disabled-password --gecos ""'.format(
        username=admin_username))
    runcmd('adduser {username} {group}'.format(
        username=admin_username,
        group=admin_group))

    # Set the password for the new admin user
    runcmd('echo "{username}:{password}" | chpasswd'.format(
        username=admin_username,
        password=admin_password))