Former President Trump has recently sought to distance himself from Project 2025 and its radical proposals, claiming that he knows “nothing about” it, has “no idea who is behind it,” and has “nothing to do with them.” Project 2025 has tried to create some distance as well, maintaining in a recent tweet that it is “not affiliated with former President Trump.” It’s a classic example of drawing a distinction without a difference.
Trump and the Heritage Foundation — which is spearheading Project 2025 — have largely been aligned in the past. Just a year into Trump’s presidency, the organization found that the administration had implemented 64 percent of its 334 policy recommendations. The current president of the Heritage Foundation has said that he views the organization’s role as “institutionalizing Trumpism.”
Given how many authors of Project 2025 worked for Trump — such as his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russ Vought and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Ben Carson — there’s little reason for people to believe that there’s any daylight between the two on policy issues. A recent CNN review found that over 140 former Trump officials were involved in Project 2025.
Moreover, an RDP review finds that the Project 2025 policy agenda, which is meant to guide a next conservative administration in its stewardship of the executive branch, was largely authored by people who worked for the Trump administration.
Former Trump officials authored, in full or in part, 25 out of the 30 chapters in the Project 2025 agenda (counting one person who was nominated by Trump but failed to get confirmed by the Senate). See a full list of these former officials below:
CHAPTER 1: WHITE HOUSE OFFICE
- By RICK DEARBORN
CHAPTER 2: EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
- By RUSSELL VOUGHT (pictured above)
- Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 2018-2020
- Acting Director of the OMB, 2019-2020
- Director of the OMB, 2020-2021
- Has also worked at the Heritage Foundation, the Republican Study Committee, and the House Republican Conference, consistently advocating “tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the poor” (read more from our Chris Lewis in The American Prospect)
- Vought is a “self-described Christian nationalist”
- Currently policy director for the RNC
- Runs the Center for Renewing America (CRA), a Christian nationalist think tank launched by the Conservative Partnership Institute
- In 2021, CRA produced a policy brief arguing that Texas should declare a migrant “invasion,” which they argued would give the state the legal basis to use the national guard to detain and expel undocumented immigrants (in fact, this brief was written by CRA’s Ken Cuccinelli, author of Chapter 5)
CHAPTER 3: CENTRAL PERSONNEL AGENCIES: MANAGING THE BUREAUCRACY
- Co-authored by DENNIS DEAN KIRK
- Senior Advisor at the Office of Personnel Management, 2018-2021
- Nominated to be Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board by Trump, never confirmed by the Senate
- Currently Associate Director of personnel policy for the “2025 Presidential Transition Project” at the Heritage Foundation
CHAPTER 4: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
- By CHRISTOPHER MILLER
- Director of National Counterterrorism Center, 2020-2020
- Acting Secretary of Defense, 2020-2021
- Became Acting Secretary following the 2020 election after Trump fired Mark Esper, who had previously disagreed with Trump over using troops against protestors (Esper wrote in his book that Trump asked him “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?”)
- Miller was extremely slow to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol on Jan. 6
- Trump floated him to lead the Pentagon again in late 2023
CHAPTER 5: DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
- By KEN CUCCINELLI
- Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 2019-2021
- Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 2019-2021
- Both appointments were found to be illegal
- Defended an anti-sodomy law as Attorney General of Virginia and filed an amicus brief in 2013 arguing against marriage equality
- Promulgated rule as USCIS director that made it much harder for noncitizens seeking visas to get social benefits they are entitled to
- As USCIS Director, reacted to a photo of a father and daughter having drowned trying to cross the border by blaming the father
- Pushed Texas to declare an “invasion” so that the state could use the National Guard against migrants, which Governor Greg Abbott did in January 2024
- Currently Senior Fellow for Immigration and Homeland Security at Vought’s Center for Renewing America, a Christian nationalist think tank launched by the Conservative Partnership Institute
CHAPTER 6: DEPARTMENT OF STATE
- By KIRON K. SKINNER
- Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, 2018-2019
- Famous for framing US-China relations as “the first time that we will have a great power competitor that is not Caucasian”
CHAPTER 9: AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- By MAX PRIMORAC
- Held several high-ranking roles at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) between 2018 and 2021
- Just weeks before he was set to start his role at USAID, Primorac sent a letter to the agency advocating for them to contract with one of his private-sector clients
- Currently a fellow at Heritage
CHAPTER 12: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND RELATED COMMISSIONS
- By BERNARD L. MCNAMEE
- Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy at the DOE, 2017-2018
- Executive Director, Office of Policy at the Department of Energy (DOE), 2018-2018
- Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), 2018-2020
- While working for the fossil-fuel-funded Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) — in between stints at the DOE — McNamee claimed that fossil fuels “are key to our prosperity, our way of life and also to a clean environment”
- TPPF has long partnered with corrupt fraudster (and Texas AG) Ken Paxton, including a joint effort to gut the Clean Air Act
- McNamee led the Life:Powered campaign, which is intended to make the “moral case for fossil fuels”
CHAPTER 13: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
- By MANDY M. GUNASEKARA
- Senior Policy Advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2017-2019
- Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator at the EPA, 2017-2019
- Chief of Staff for the EPA, 2020-2021
- Brags about being “the chief architect of the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord”
- Also worked at TPPF — between stints at the EPA — under McNamee for the Life:Powered campaign
- The Life:Powered campaign is intended to make the “moral case for fossil fuels”
- A 2018 article from the campaign argues that there is “little conclusive evidence to prove that carbon dioxide emissions from human activity are causing great environmental harm and justify any policy responses at all”
CHAPTER 14: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
- By ROGER SEVERINO
- Director of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 2017-2021
- Long advocated anti-LGBTQ views, including endorsing “reparative therapy” for trans people and said that being trans is “against your biology”
- Recently said that congressional efforts to codify marriage equality were not about protecting gay people, but instead meant “to put salt on a wound and to target people of faith who disagree” with marriage equality
- As Director of OCR, Severino stripped trans people of protections from sex discrimination in health care
- Consistently defended religious rights of employers over health care needs of employees, including gutting an ACA provision that required employers to offer health insurance that covers birth control
- Currently Vice President at Heritage
CHAPTER 15: DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
- By BEN CARSON
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 2017-2021
- Founded the American Cornerstone Institute (ACI), a right-wing policy shop launched by the Conservative Partnership Institute
- ACI advocates deeply unpopular positions, including filing an amicus brief supporting the reversal of Roe v. Wade
- While HUD secretary, Carson gave his son — owner of an infrastructure investment firm — broad access to HUD, leading one official to suggest that he “may be using his position for his son’s private gain”
- Read more about Carson in our memo on housing policies under Trump
CHAPTER 16: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
- By WILLIAM PERRY PENDLEY
- Deputy Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 2019-2021
- Unlawfully acted as Director of the BLM for over a year
- Has a long history of unapologetic racism towards Indigenous people
- BLM manages federal lands, but Pendley is hostile to the very idea of federal lands
- In his chapter, pledges to be even more anti-federal lands in a new administration
CHAPTER 17: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
- By GENE HAMILTON
- Counselor to the Attorney General at the Department of Justice, 2017-2021
- Architect of family separation
- Drafted the memo that gutted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
- Key ally of Stephen Miller, and currently working as VP and General counsel at Miller’s America First Legal (AFL), a legal organization affiliated with the Conservative Partnership Institute
- AFL has partnered with the state of Texas on multiple lawsuits against the Biden administration, including suits trying to reinstate a Trump-era policy used to block asylum seekers, end a policy that allowed many refugee children the opportunity to reunite with their families, and reverse a policy meant to speed up the processing of asylum claims
- Read more about Hamilton in our memo on immigration policy under Trump
CHAPTER 18: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND RELATED AGENCIES
- By JONATHAN BERRY
- Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, 2017-2018
- Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Labor, 2018-2020
- Recently said he would support Trump firing 50,000 civil service workers if their political ideology did not align with Trump’s
- In his chapter, Berry rails against “racial equity” in hiring and defends discriminatory hiring practices for businesses so long as they are couched in religious justifications
CHAPTER 19: DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
- By DIANA FURCHTGOTT-ROTH
- Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Treasury, 2018-2019
- Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Transportation, 2019-2021
- Frequently spews anti-union and anti-climate views in right-wing publications and on right-wing TV
- Currently runs Furchtgott International, “a firm that provides a select group of clients advisory services on economic and governmental matters”
CHAPTER 20: DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
- By BROOKS D. TUCKER
- Chief of Staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, 2017-2021
- Revolved into government contracting consulting firm SPECTRUM Group, where he “supports clients working in U.S. government arenas with his extensive expertise in the Department of Veterans Affairs”
- In 2022, Tucker lobbied on behalf of Loyal Source, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) contractor that provides mandated medical services to people in CBP custody
- After the death of an 8-year-old girl in CBP custody in 2023, a whistleblower filed a complaint about Loyal Source, alleging that the company had “40 percent staffing deficits” and “employees working without proper clearances and licenses”
CHAPTER 21: DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
- By THOMAS F. GILMAN
- Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Commerce, 2019-2021
- Prior to government service, he was a longtime Chrysler executive
- In his chapter, Gilman calls for getting rid of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and calls it “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry”
CHAPTER 22: DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
- Co-authored by STEPHEN MOORE
- Nominated to be a governor of the Federal Reserve in March 2019, withdrawn six weeks later due to lack of support, including from Republicans
- Nomination was sunk due to a very large number of past offensive comments, including a column where he wrote that if college women “were so oppressed and offended by drunken, lustful frat boys, why is it that on Friday nights they showed up in droves in tight skirts to the keg parties?”
- Recently claimed that “climate change is not a science, it’s a religion”
- Effusively praised former Conservative British Prime Minister Liz Truss’s failed economic agenda of tax cuts for the rich
- Moore’s grasp of economics was panned by economists on the left and right
CHAPTER 23: EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
- Co-authored by JENNIFER HAZELTON
- Acting Head of Public Affairs at the Department of State, 2017-2017
- Senior Vice President at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., 2017-2020
- Deputy Assistant Administrator at USAID, 2020-2021
CHAPTER 24: FEDERAL RESERVE
- By PAUL WINFREE
- Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Director of Budget Policy, 2017-2017
- Appointed Chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, 2019-2022
- Recently founded and now serves as President and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center, which has taken to railing against the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly Food Stamps)
CHAPTER 26: TRADE
- Co-authored by PETER NAVARRO
- Director of the National Trade Council, 2017-2017
- Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, 2017-2021
- Convicted and imprisoned this year for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 Select Committee; even the conservative Supreme Court didn’t buy his arguments
CHAPTER 27: FINANCIAL REGULATOR AGENCIES
- Co-authored by ROBERT BOWES
- Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of HUD, 2017-2021
- Held multiple other positions, including advising Stephen Miller
- Nominated to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) having previously made stock trades worth hundreds of thousands of dollars while serving at HUD
- Bowes, a longtime banker, says in his chapter that Congress should “abolish the CFPB,” (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) which does invaluable work protecting consumers
CHAPTER 28: FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
- By BRENDAN CARR
- General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 2017-2017
- Commissioner of the FCC, 2017-present
- Staunch opponent of net neutrality
- The only current official to write a chapter of the playbook, which calls for turning the agency’s scrutiny away from big telecom companies Verizon and AT&T
CHAPTER 29: FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
- By HANS VON SPAKOVSKY
- Member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, 2017-2018
- Has long been a promoter of voter fraud conspiracy theories
- Argued against the inclusion of Democrats and even “mainstream Republicans” on Trump’s short-lived voter fraud commission
CHAPTER 30: FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
- By ADAM CANDEUB
- Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce, 2020-2020
- Deputy Associate Attorney General, 2020-2021
- Represented white nationalist Jared Taylor in a lawsuit against Twitter
- Currently a fellow at Vought’s Center for Renewing America (CRA), a Christian nationalist think tank launched by the Conservative Partnership Institute
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