President Donald Trump’s campaign issued an ominous statement after the leader of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 stepped down.
President of the Heritage Foundation Dr. Kevin Roberts wrote in a Tuesday statement that Project 2025’s leader, Paul Dans, was stepping down and “moving up to the front where the fight remains.” The Trump campaign, who over the last few weeks has been distancing itself from the campaign, reiterated that the project isn’t associated with the president while issuing a future warning.
“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,” Trump campaign senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote in a statement.
Though a report noted that the leadership change could “suggest” that Project 2025 was shutting down, a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Caller that the initiative was continuing on and gearing up for its “next phase.”
Despite moments of strife in recent weeks, a source familiar told the Daily Caller that the Project 2025 staff had been under the impression that there was a clear path forward for both camps before Tuesday’s news. They added that the campaign statement did not make anyone feel better about the situation and that it was “unfortunate.”
NEWS: Project 2025 director Paul Dans has stepped down at Heritage Foundation after pressure from Trump campaign leadership, ongoing power rift over staffing control for potential second Trump admin, per internal email. This suggests Project 2025 will likely shut down. Story TK.
— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) July 30, 2024
Trump first distanced himself from Heritage’s Project 2025, a policy outline and a personnel list built to help serve the next Republican president, on July 5 through a Truth Social post. The former president claimed he knew nothing about it or who runs it and his statement sparked speculation within the media on a sudden rift between the two parties. For weeks, the Biden campaign had circulated messaging about “Trump’s Project 2025” tying the former president to the initiative.
“It was always Paul’s intention to step away from the project after the convention,” Mike McKenna, who is involved with Project 2025 and served in the Trump administration, told the Caller.
“I saw that statement. I’m sure the campaign appreciates all the efforts made and still underway to help Mr. Trump. I’m equally sure they are concerned about the candidate being asked or otherwise held responsible for things he did not say,” McKenna continued.
Under Paul Dans’ leadership, Project 2025 has completed exactly what it set out to do: 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…
— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) July 30, 2024
When Trump first distanced himself from the initiative, the former president said that some of Project 2025’s proposals are “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.” The Truth Social post followed Roberts’ comments on Steve Bannon’s War Room in which he said that the country was in a second American Revolution, which would “remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” It was an interview that was then was circulated by the Biden campaign, who claimed Roberts was calling for violence, The Hill reported. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Heritage President Clarifies Relationship Between Trump, Project 2025 Amid Media Frenzy)
“I have a strong personal relationship with President Trump, I presume that will continue. Project 2025 is a reflection of basically the entire conservative movement,” Roberts told the Caller during the RNC Convention, adding that he at the time had not spoken to Trump about the comments. “It’s never intended to speak for any presidential campaign. We want President Trump to continue running a great campaign, it’s actually very important both for the purposes of his campaign and for those of us that lead nonprofits, to have the reminder about that distance.”
Roberts went on to tell the Caller that Project 2025 was never meant to speak for or be associated with a campaign. He said it was meant to serve as a “restaurant menu” for the next administration to choose policies and personnel from.
“Great ideas and great people always rise to the top. President Trump is one of the best CEO’s we’ve ever had in modern history, both as president and in the business world,” Roberts told the Caller. “So for us at Heritage, at Project 2025, we’re doing the same thing we’ve done for over 50 years, which is put some personnel together, put some policy together.”
“We know who makes the decisions. President Trump is the boss. We not only don’t mind that, we celebrate that,” Roberts previously told the Caller.
Despite the clear rift between the parties, the Harris campaign continued to tie Trump to the initiative in a statement following the Dans news.
“Make no mistake – Project 2025 is Donald Trump’s policy agenda,” a Harris campaign press release read.
