Project 2025 is an effort by the Heritage Foundation, not Donald Trump | Fact check

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Project 2025 is a plan from Trump

A July 5 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes nine slides describing supposed policy propositions from former President Donald Trump. The slides include an image of Trump along with the title "Project 2025."

“Trump has made his authoritarian intentions quite clear with his Project 2025 plan,” reads the post's caption.

It received more than 500 shares in four days.

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Our rating: False

Project 2025 is a political playbook created by the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other conservative groups, not Trump, who said he disagrees with elements of the effort. There are, however, numerous people involved in Project 2025 who worked in Trump's first administration.

President decides which policy recommendations to implement

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, collaborated with more than 100 conservative groups for Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project. The result is a more than 900-page playbook with policy recommendations for the next Republican president that reflect the think tank's goal of "(rescuing) the country from the grip of the radical Left."

Trump, however, has sought to publicly distance himself from the effort, as reported by The Washington Post.

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump wrote in a July 5 Truth Social post. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

Trump didn’t specify which Project 2025 proposals he disagrees with in the statement.

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Project 2025 said it “does not speak for any candidate or campaign” in a July 5 post on X, formerly Twitter. Its playbook is comprised of suggestions the coalition believes will benefit the "next conservative president."

“But it is ultimately up to that president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement,” the post said.

That said, Project 2025 does involve numerous Trump allies.

Director Paul Dans, for example, was the chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration. Trump advisor Stephen Miller and the Trump campaign's National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also appeared in a video supporting the project’s “Presidential Administration Academy."

Jun 27, 2024; Atlanta, GA, USA; Former President Donald Trump during the debate at CNN's studios in Atlanta. CNN Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are moderators of the debate. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY
Jun 27, 2024; Atlanta, GA, USA; Former President Donald Trump during the debate at CNN's studios in Atlanta. CNN Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are moderators of the debate. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY

There is also overlap between Trump's platform and Project 2025's proposals.

The project has called for an end to illegal immigration while Trump has vowed to "carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history" and "terminate every open borders policy of the Biden administration," if re-elected.

Project 2025 also supports shutting down the Department of Education, which Trump pledged to do in a 2023 campaign video.

The Heritage Foundation said in a January 2018 news release that Trump had adopted nearly two-thirds of its policy recommendations within his first year in office.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims about Trump, including false assertions that he selected Michael Flynn as his vice president, that a video shows “Trump Force One” buzzing a Washington-area airport after the June presidential debate and that Trump was found guilty in his hush-money trial by a jury stacked with Biden supporters.

The Facebook user who shared the post told USA TODAY it's a "logical inference" that Trump supports the project because of the number of his allies who are involved, even if he has not publicly endorsed the effort.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Project 2025 is from Heritage Foundation, not Trump | Fact check