Trump campaign rips 'fear-mongering' Dem strategy linking him to Project 2025 after Biden's disastrous debate
Former President Trump's campaign is pushing back on Democrat attacks centered around a conservative think tank's policy agenda promoting policies for a GOP presidency.
The Trump presidential campaign is firing back at what appears to be coordinated attacks from the White House, the Biden campaign and Democrats relating to the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 platform, calling it a "distraction" following President Biden's disastrous debate performance.
"Agenda 47 and President Trump’s RNC Platform are the only policies endorsed by President Trump for a second term," Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez told Fox News Digital.
"Team Biden and the DNC are LYING and fear-mongering because they have NOTHING else to offer the American people. Remember this is the same group that lied to Americans and hid Joe Biden’s cognitive decline all these years."
Portrayed as a blueprint for a future Republican administration to restructure many parts of the U.S. government, Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, launched in April 2023 and is not directly associated with Trump's campaign.
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"The actions of liberal politicians in Washington have created a desperate need and unique opportunity for conservatives to start undoing the damage the Left has wrought and build a better country for all Americans in 2025," Project 2025's website reads. "It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration."
"This is the goal of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. The project will build on four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook."
Project 2025 includes several former senior Trump administration officials, including Paul Dans, the director of the project who served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Trump; Russ Vought, who wrote one of the chapters and served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump; and John McEntee, a senior adviser for the project who previously served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump administration.
Democrats have relentlessly attacked Trump's alleged connection to the project in the days following Biden's disastrous debate, accusing it of attempting to make radical changes to government staffing, abortion, taxes, drug prices and other issues, despite Trump's denial. The Biden campaign X account alone has posted about Project 2025 over 100 times, including clips of Democrats and media personalities attacking it, since June 27, the date of the debate.
President Biden's personal X account has posted about it multiple times in the last week, including a Wednesday video post of Biden saying, "Project 2025 will destroy America" and then instructing his social media followers to visit a section of his campaign website to read about Project 2025. Another post called the policies "extreme and dangerous."
"Trump doesn't need a GOP platform when he has a 1,000-page extremist agenda detailed out in Project 2025," the Biden campaign posted two days after the debate.
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said on Tuesday that Project 2025 is a "creepy document written by Trump’s closest confidants."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. took a shot at House Republicans and said they "are determined to hide their extreme agenda" and "will eliminate reproductive freedom and jam Project 2025 down the throats of the American people."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Biden-Harris 2024 Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa said, "Project 2025 was written for Donald Trump by the people who know him best. These are the same extremists who wrote the RNC’s policy platform, led Trump’s debate prep, and regularly tout their connections to Trump’s team. Oh, and Trump’s own SuperPAC has run ads promoting Project 2025."
"Trump's Supreme Court and Project 2025 have designed the playbook for Trump to serve as a dictator on day one with unchecked power to rip away freedoms and raise costs for working families so billionaires get richer. This November, voters must stop Trump from turning the Oval Office into his throne room."
The campaign also pointed to the Heritage Foundation previously stating in 2018 that the Trump administration "embraced nearly two-thirds of the policy recommendations from The Heritage Foundation’s 'Mandate for Leadership.'"
Project 2025's website says, "the Trump administration relied heavily on Heritage’s "Mandate" for policy guidance, embracing nearly two-thirds of Heritage’s proposals within just one year in office.
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Additionally, the Biden campaign points to internet analytics numbers showing interest in the project has spiked in recent weeks, even surging past Taylor Swift in search trends.
"As we’ve been saying for more than two years now, Project 2025 does not speak for any candidate or campaign," Project 2025 told Fox News Digital in a statement. "We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for 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.
"Rather than obsessing over Project 2025, the Biden campaign should be addressing the 25th Amendment."
In a lengthy X thread, Project 2025 outlined the various attacks on its agenda, giving the criticisms a ranking of "true" or "false."
Trump disavowed the effort in a post on Truth Social, saying he did not know who was behind the initiative that offers recommendations on how a future Republican president can begin to enact conservative changes upon entering office.
"I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it," Trump wrote. "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."
On the other hand, Fox News Digital previously reported that the Biden administration has worked behind the scenes with Governing for Impact, a shadowy group backed by millions of dollars from liberal billionaire George Soros, to shape administration policy. A Harvard advert said the group was established to prepare the Biden administration for a "transformative governance" and that it had produced "more than 60 in-depth, shovel-ready regulatory recommendations" for dozens of federal agencies.
The Biden White House has also worked closely with The Center for American Progress (CAP), a leading progressive think tank, which has a strong influence on federal policymaking with many of its former employees flocking to high-level administration roles. Two of the most notable CAP hires are CAP founder John Podesta, who has received scrutiny for his ties to the CCP, and former CAP President Neera Tanden, whose nomination was derailed in 2021 after several controversial posts were unearthed and hundreds were deleted. She is currently President Biden's domestic policy advisor.
Several individuals on the White House visitor logs have advocated for defunding the police; critical race theory; diversity, equity, and inclusion; praising antisemite Louis Farrakhan; eliminating cash bail; and packing the Supreme Court, among other radical positions, Fox News Digital previously reported.
A recent report revealed that the president of the National Education Association, who vowed that she would "fight" school vouchers and wants to transform public schools into a racially "equitable system," has visited the Biden White House 24 times.
Fox News' Kyle Morris, Tom Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.