Former President Donald Trump has recently attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for the next Republican president. However, a CNN investigation has uncovered extensive connections between Trump's circle and the initiative.
"I have no idea who is behind it," Trump claimed on social media regarding Project 2025. Yet, CNN's review found that at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in the project, including six former cabinet secretaries and four former ambassadors.
The Heritage Foundation, led by Trump ally Kevin Roberts, conceived Project 2025 to prepare for a Republican president to quickly reorient federal agencies around its conservative vision. The project aims to create a roadmap for the first 180 days of a new administration and recruit thousands of people loyal to the conservative movement to fill federal government positions. The 900-page article outlines plans for overhauling the executive branch.
CNN's analysis revealed that more than half of the individuals listed as authors, editors, and contributors to the project's "Mandate for Leadership" manifesto had worked in the Trump administration. Notable figures involved in Project 2025 include former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, longtime adviser Stephen Miller, and lawyers who were deeply involved in Trump's attempts to remain in power after the 2020 election, such as Jay Sekulow, Cleta Mitchell, and John Eastman.
CNN's review encompassed online biographies, LinkedIn profiles, and news clippings for over 1,000 people listed on published directories for the 110 organizations on Project 2025's advisory board, as well as the 200-plus names credited with working on "Mandate for Leadership." The investigation found nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and Trump, covering almost every aspect of his time in politics and the White House. This number is likely higher, as many individuals' online résumés were not available.
In a House of Representatives hearing, Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wittily responded to questions from Rep. Eric Swalwell about Project 2025: "Like President Trump, I haven't looked all that deeply at Project 2025, but it seems that Democrats on this committee are sort of like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. If they say Project 2025 enough, their presidential candidate becomes alive again."
JUST IN: Crowd starts cracking up after Ben Shapiro breaks Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell's brain after he asked a question about Project 2025.
Swalwell: "How much do you support Project 2025?"
Shapiro: "Like President Trump, I haven't looked all that deeply at Project 2025, but… pic.twitter.com/BKgBfCej8o
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 10, 2024
Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez told CNN, "Team Biden and the (Democratic National Committee) are lying and fear-mongering because they have nothing else to offer the American people." She emphasized that Trump only endorses the Republican Party platform and the agenda posted on his website.
While many of Project 2025's priorities align with Trump's agenda, particularly on immigration and purging federal bureaucracies, the project has become controversial for other ideas that Trump hasn't explicitly backed. These include plans to ban pornography, reverse federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, and eliminate the federal agency overseeing the National Weather Service.
Trump's campaign has repeatedly stated that "reports about personnel and policies that are specific to a second Trump Administration are purely speculative and theoretical" and don't represent the former president's plans.
