Former President Donald Trump said he does not know anything about Project 2025, a presidential transition framework led by the Heritage Foundation that conservatives have lauded as a way to reshape the federal government should Trump be reelected.
In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said he knows “nothing about Project 2025” and that he does not know who is behind the effort. However, the former president noted he disagrees with a handful of the pillars of the framework and argued that some of the ideas are “ridiculous and abysmal,” although he did not specify which ones.
“Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them,” Trump said.
Trump’s effort to distance himself from Project 2025 comes as Democrats have sought to weaponize the conservative playbook to warn voters about what they say are dangerous changes to the federal government under a possible Trump administration.
President Joe Biden’s campaign was quick to respond, posting a video of Trump on X featuring comments in which the former president said the Heritage Foundation was critical to “achieve” conservative policies.
A spokesperson for Project 2025 pushed back on claims that the framework is designed specifically for Trump, telling the Washington Examiner the group “does not speak for any candidate or campaign.”
“We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative president,” the spokesperson said. “But it is ultimately up to that president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement.”
“Rather than obsessing over Project 2025,” the spokesperson added, “the Biden campaign should be addressing the 25th Amendment.”
Project 2025 is part of Heritage President Kevin Roberts’s goal of using the foundation as a way to institutionalize “Trumpism” in the federal government by seeking to leverage the power of the executive branch and dismantle some federal agencies. The framework would also seek to vet government employees before they are hired.
Democrats have attacked the effort as a way to consolidate government power, thus “gutting” democratic processes. Biden’s campaign has also targeted the project, arguing it would “terminate the Constitution” and allow Trump to use the presidency to exact revenge on his political enemies.
Biden’s campaign especially criticized Project 2025’s proposals for reproductive rights, as the Heritage Foundation has previously called the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization “just the beginning.” The foundation has also suggested the next president should “push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America,” which some Republicans have called for through a federal abortion ban.
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Trump has said he would not sign a federal abortion ban, arguing the matter should be left to the individual states.
The Washington Examiner contacted spokespeople for the Heritage Foundation for comment.
