Biden slams Trump after he tries to distance himself from Project 2025

President Joe Biden slammed former President Donald Trump over his connections to Project 2025, the highly detailed and controversial 900-page “Mandate for Leadership” that lays out a plan and personnel to reconstruct the country's executive branch.

The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, as it is otherwise known, is a product of The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. Several of those who have worked to construct the administration-in-waiting for the next conservative president to adopt are former Trump administration officials. The project contains a 180-day transition plan and includes a domestic and foreign policy agenda.

The focus on Project 2025 comes as the Biden campaign has been doing damage control for the last week after his first debate against Trump June 27 prompted several Democratic calls for him to drop out of the race. In a statement Saturday, Biden emphasized one of the conservative project's main targets is abortion, an issue known to mobilize voters.

"Project 2025 should scare every single American," Biden said. "It would give Trump limitless power over our daily lives and let him use the presidency to enact 'revenge' on his enemies, ban abortion nationwide and punish women who have an abortion, and gut the checks and balances that make America the greatest democracy in the world."

More: What is Project 2025? The Presidential Transition Project explained.

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts' made comments praising Monday's Supreme Court immunity ruling as "vital" and alluded that it will help the group carry out the "second American Revolution."

“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts said in an interview on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on Tuesday.

Trump tried to distance himself from the policy blueprint in a post on his Truth Social account Friday, saying he knows "nothing" about Project 2025.

“I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal," Trump said. "Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

The Biden-Harris 2024 campaign clapped back almost immediately online with a sea of posts on X, formerly Twitter, drawing connections between the project and Trump. Biden chimed in with a post on his own account saying Trump was lying.

"It’s his people and his plan. But it’s your freedoms and future at risk," Biden said. "Trump’s 'project' will destroy America."

Project 2025's specific plans to overhaul agencies, replace civil servants with political appointees, and reverse progressive policies raised red flags for Democrats earlier this year. In May, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, called it a "playbook for authoritarianism."

Rachel Barber is a 2024 election fellow at USA TODAY, focusing on politics and education. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @rachelbarber_

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden slams Donald Trump's connections to Project 2025