Project 2025 director steps down amid criticism from Donald Trump

July 30 (UPI) -- Project 2025 director, Paul Dans, is stepping down at the Heritage Foundation amid intense scrutiny from Donald Trump, who chastised the group for linking its conservative blueprint to his campaign, as Democrats vowed to continue linking the report's policies to the former president.

"President Trump's campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign and should not be associated with the campaign or the president in any way," Trump campaign co-managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement.

Trump told supporters during a rally earlier this month that Project 2025 was written by people on the "severe right" and that its policies were "absolutely ridiculous and abysmal."

The 922-page document, which has been used heavily by Democrats to target Trump, calls for expanding presidential power, eliminating the Department of Education, restricting welfare programs, cutting federal funding for clean energy research and taking the abortion pill mifepristone off the market.

"When we began Project 2025 in April 2022, we set a timeline for the project to conclude its policy drafting after the two party conventions this year, and we are sticking to that timeline," Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, wrote Tuesday in a post on X.

"Paul, who built the project from scratch and bravely led this endeavor over the past two years, will be departing the team and moving up to the front where the fight remains," Roberts added.

Trump and his campaign have repeatedly distanced themselves from the initiative and have warned those involved in creating Project 2025 that they would be barred from working in a second Trump administration. In a statement released Tuesday, the former president and his campaign called the project's "demise" welcomed news.

"Reports of Project 2025's demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign -- it will not end well for you," said LaCivita and Wiles.

While Democrats have used Project 2025's policy proposals to target Trump, Kamala Harris' campaign said Tuesday their plan of attack will not change despite the director's decision to leave.

"Project 2025 is on the ballot because Donald Trump is on the ballot. This is his agenda, written by his allies, for Donald Trump to inflict on our country," Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez claimed in a statement.

During her first campaign event last week, Harris linked Trump to Project 2025 by referring to it as "his platform," while the former president called Harris' claims "pure disinformation." Earlier this month, Biden said the initiative was "written for him."

Meanwhile, Project 2025 "has completed exactly what it set out to do," according to Roberts.

"Bringing together over 110 leading conservative organizations to create a unified conservative vision, motivated to devolve power from the unelected administrative state and returning it to the people."