Trump Denies Knowing About Project 2025 Allies Plan To Overhaul

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 28, 2025, 7:40 AM

trump denies knowing about project 2025 allies plan to overhaul

As a 2024 presidential candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly distanced himself from Project 2025, a plan by the conservative nonprofit the Heritage Foundation to overhaul the federal government, claiming he knew nothing about the initiative. Less than a year into his second presidential term, however, his presidential administration has embraced many of Project 2025's core ideas — advancing policies that align with its recommendations on immigration, education, fossil fuels... The Heritage Foundation formally revealed Project 2025 in 2022, framing it as a possible guide for a future Republican presidential administration. The initiative centers on a roughly 1,000-page document that recommends giving the executive branch more power, reversing policies sponsored by former President Joe Biden and enacting numerous department-level changes. Below, we outline what Trump has said about Project 2025 over time, both as a presidential candidate and the country's commander in chief. He's gone from denying any involvement in the initiative to promoting his connection to one of its key authors in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.

No federal document, including executive orders, cite Project 2025, despite the fact that several Trump-sponsored measures align with the Heritage Foundation proposal. Jill Colvin, Associated Press Jill Colvin, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he desperately tried to distance himself from during the 2024 campaign, as one of its architects works to use the government... In a post on his Truth Social site Thursday morning, Trump announced he would be meeting with his budget chief, "Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat... The comments represented a dramatic about-face for Trump, who spent much of last year denouncing Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation's massive proposed overhaul of the federal government, which was drafted by many of his... READ MORE: Trump threatens mass firings as shutdown continues with no signs of potential deal

Donald Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025, a massive proposed overhaul of the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration. FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, June 22, 2024, in Philadelphia. Trump is seeking to distance himself from a plan for a massive overhaul of the federal government drafted by some of his administration officials. Some of these men are expected to take high-level roles if the Republican presumptive nominee is elected back into the White House. Trump is saying on Truth Social that he “knew nothing about Project 2025.” (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File) FILE - Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, speaks in Washington, April 12, 2023.

Former President Donald Trump is seeking to distance himself from a plan for a massive overhaul of the federal government drafted by some of his administration officials. Some of these men are expected to take high-level roles if Trump is elected back into the White House. Roberts said that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back” when he spoke Tuesday, July 2, 2024, on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) FILE - Paul Dans, director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation, speaks at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, Feb.

22, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. Former President Donald Trump is seeking to distance himself from a plan for a massive overhaul of the federal government drafted by some of his administration officials, including Dans. Some of these men are expected to take high-level roles if the Republican presumptive nominee is elected back into the White House. Trump is saying on Truth Social that he “knew nothing about Project 2025.” (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File) FILE - Acting director of Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought listens during a television interview at the White House, Oct. 21, 2019, in Washington.

Former President Donald Trump is seeking to distance himself from a plan for a massive overhaul of the federal government drafted by some of his administration officials, including Vought. Some of these men are expected to take high-level roles if the Republican presumptive nominee is elected back into the White House. Trump is saying on Truth Social that he “knew nothing about Project 2025.” (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) Former President Trump says he knows 'nothing about Project 2025,' a plan by allies and ex-administration officials to overhaul the federal government. Donald Trump says he knows 'nothing about Project 2025,” a massive plan to overhaul the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration, days after the head of the think... “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted Friday on his social media website.

“I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” The 922-page plan outlines a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a plan to fire as many as 50,000... President Biden's reelection campaign has worked to draw more attention to the agenda, particularly as Biden tries to keep fellow Democrats on board after his problematic debate performance. Trump has outlined his own plans to remake the government if he wins a second term, including staging the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and imposing tariffs on potentially all imports.

His campaign has previously warned outside allies not to presume to speak for the former president and suggested their transition-in-waiting efforts were unhelpful. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said on Stephen K. Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Tuesday that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.' Republican former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia hosted the show for Bannon, who is serving a four-month prison term. “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts said.

Those comments were widely circulated online and blasted by the Biden campaign, which issued a statement saying Trump and his allies were 'dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”... The project’s director is Paul Dans, who served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump. Trump's campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was featured in one of Project 2025's videos. John McEntee, a former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration, is a senior advisor. McEntee told the conservative news site the Daily Wire earlier this year that Project 2025's team would integrate a lot of its work with the campaign after the summer when Trump would announce his...

Trump’s comments on Project 2025 come ahead of the Republican Party’s meetings next week to begin to draft its party platform. Project 2025 has been preparing its own 180-day agenda for the next administration that it plans to share privately, rather than as part of its public-facing book of priorities for a Republican president. A key Trump ally, Russ Vought, who contributed to Project 2025 and is drafting this final pillar, is also on the Republican National Committee’s platform writing committee. A spokesperson for the plan said Project 2025 is not tied to a specific candidate or campaign. “We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative president,' a statement said. “But it is ultimately up to that president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement.” The Democratic National Committee said the plan and the Trump campaign are part...

“Project 2025 is the extreme policy and personnel playbook for Trump’s second term that should scare the hell out of the American people,' said Ammar Moussa. On Thursday, as the country celebrated Independence Day and Biden prepared for his television interview after his halting debate performance, the president's campaign posted on X a shot from the dystopian TV drama “The... The story revolves around women who are stripped of their identities and forced to give birth to children for other couples in a totalitarian regime. “Fourth of July under Trump’s Project 2025,” the post said. Adriana Gomez Licon writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Jill Colvin in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources. Democrats Target Pro-Trump 'Dystopian Plot' With Stop Project 2025 Task ForceJake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams. Read more » Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, June 22, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola, File) “Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them,” Trump says in social media post

MIAMI (AP) — Donald Trump distanced himself Friday from Project 2025, a massive proposed overhaul of the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in his administration, days after the head of... “I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump posted on his social media website. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” The 922-page plan outlines a dramatic expansion of presidential power and a plan to fire as many as 50,000 government workers to replace them with Trump loyalists.

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has worked to draw more attention to the agenda, particularly as Biden tries to keep fellow Democrats on board after his disastrous debate. Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project)[3] is an American political initiative published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation with the goal of reshaping the federal government by consolidating executive... president to implement those policies.[5][6] The project's policy document Mandate for Leadership[7] calls for the replacement of federal civil service workers by people loyal to "the next conservative president" and for taking partisan control of the Department of Justice... Project 2025 is based on a controversial interpretation of unitary executive theory according to which the executive branch is under the president's complete control.[28][29] Analysts note that the approach would further reduce agency independence... PBS News Hour reporting has linked these ambitions to discussions of domestic military involvement, pointing to Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., as a potential precedent.[30][28] The project's proponents say it...

toward autocracy.[33] Some legal experts say it would undermine the rule of law,[34] separation of powers,[6] separation of church and state,[33][35] and civil liberties.[6][34][36] Most of Project 2025's contributors worked in either Trump's first administration (2017−2021) or his campaign for the 2024 presidential election.[a] Several Trump campaign officials maintained contact with Project 2025, seeing its goals as aligned... The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank founded in 1973, has had significant influence in U.S. public policy making. In 2019, it ranked among the most influential public policy organizations in the United States.[56][57] It coordinates with many conservative groups to build a network of allies.[23] An online tracker that measures the extent to which Project 2025 has been implemented by the government has hit a 50 per cent milestone.

According to a website created by two Reddit users, titled Project 2025 Tracker, the White House has implemented 50 per cent of the policies outlined in the conservative document. The website does not provide the methodology it uses to track Project 2025. Project 2025 is a 900-page document of policy proposals spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation think tank. It advocates limited government, border security and tough immigration laws, among other conservative measures. Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Heritage Foundation by email to comment on this story outside of normal business hours. The extent to which Trump is influenced by Project 2025 has been a source of debate during the president's second term.

Trump Denies Knowing About Project 2025 Allies Plan To Overhaul

People Also Search

As A 2024 Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump Repeatedly Distanced Himself

No Federal Document, Including Executive Orders, Cite Project 2025, Despite

Donald Trump Has Distanced Himself From Project 2025, A Massive

Former President Donald Trump Is Seeking To Distance Himself From

22, 2024, In Nashville, Tenn. Former President Donald Trump Is