Exhaustive review finds at least 140 ex-Trump advisors behind Project 2025: report

11 July 2024

Donald Trump and some of his supporters, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), have been making a concerted effort to distance the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee from Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation's controversial 900-page blueprint for a second Trump presidency.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that he had nothing to do with Project 2025 and even criticized some of its proposals as "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal." But Trump's critics have been quick to respond that the Heritage Foundation will be a major participant in the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and that Project 2025 was crafted by many people who worked with Trump closely during his four years as president.

CNN's Steve Contorno fact-checks Trump's claims about his connection to Project 2025 in an article published on July 11. According to a thorough review, at least 140 people who have been advisers for Trump in different capacities were part of the Heritage Foundation's lengthy document.

Contorno reports, "Donald Trump has lately made clear he wants little to do with Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican president that has attracted considerable blowback in his race for the White House…. Many people Trump knows quite well are behind it. Six of his former cabinet secretaries helped write or collaborated on the 900-page playbook for a second Trump term published by the Heritage Foundation."

The CNN reporter adds, "Four individuals Trump nominated as ambassadors were also involved, along with several enforcers of his controversial immigration crackdown. And about 20 pages are credited to his first deputy chief of staff."

Contorno notes that in order to "quantify the scope of the involvement from Trump's orbit" in Project 2025, CNN "reviewed online biographies, LinkedIn profiles and news clippings for more than 1000 people listed on published directories for the 110 organizations on Project 2025's advisory board."

"Overall, CNN found nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump, covering nearly every aspect of his time in politics and the White House — from day-to-day foot soldiers in Washington to the highest levels of his government," Contorno explains. "The number is likely higher because many individuals' online résumés were not available. In addition to people who worked directly for Trump, others who participated in Project 2025 were appointed by the former president to independent positions."

Read CNN's full report at this link.

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