During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump and his advisers worked to fiercely distance themselves from Project 2025, the controversial plan to overhaul the federal government proposed by a close-knit conservative group. But several people associated with the plan have already been given positions in the new administration, and one of the plan’s top architects is under consideration for a top job, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
Russ Vought, who authored a chapter on “The Executive Office of the President” for Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” which Project 2025 describes as “a comprehensive policy guide for the next conservative American president,” is being considered for a position on cabinet level in the next administration and has been vetted by Trump’s transition team, sources said.
Vought not only authored a chapter of the 922-page Project 2025 plan, but he was also deeply involved in drafting Project 2025’s playbook in the first 180 days of a new Trump administration. His Center for Renewing American is also listed as a member of Project 2025’s advisory board, according to the plan’s website.
Vought — who has been seen at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in recent days meeting with Trump’s top advisers — served in Trump’s first administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget and has been in active discussions to return to the next administration, sources familiar with the matter said.
It is not clear what position Vought could ultimately land, but he has been discussed as a candidate for his previous job or for a top White House post focused on economic policy, the sources said.
When asked for comment, Trump’s transition team pointed to President Trump’s comments in his debate with Kamala Harris, where he stated, “This was a group of people who came together, they came up with some ideas, I think some good, some bad , but it makes no difference, I have nothing to do [with it].”
During his run for the White House, Trump claimed he knew “nothing” about Project 2025, and his campaign advisers worked hard to distance the campaign from it.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa.
Alex Brandon/AP
Trump co-chairman Howard Lutnick told the Financial Times last month that Project 2025 “is ground zero for the transition between Trump and Vance.”
“You can use another term — radioactive,” Lutnick said.
While personnel decisions are not final until Trump announces them, sources told ABC News that Trump’s transition team has considered several other people with ties to the plan, including Project 2025 authors as well as several contributors to the document.
Gene Hamilton, the author of the Department of Justice department, is among those being considered for a top legal role in Trump’s administration, according to sources. In his Project 2025 chapter, Hamilton criticizes the DOJ, claiming it has been “captured by an unaccountable bureaucratic management class and radical left-wing ideologues who have embedded themselves in its offices and components.”
Hamilton is calling for a sweeping “top-to-bot audit” of the Justice Department, as well as an internal review of “all major active FBI investigations,” recommending closure of any deemed illegal or contrary to the national interest.
Another name that has been floated for a potential position in the Trump administration is Reed Rubinstein, who contributed to Project 2025 and is being considered for the next Treasury Department attorney general, according to a potential staff list reviewed by ABC News.
In recent days, Trump has announced other picks to fill out the incoming administration that also have ties to Project 2025, marking a sharp turn from his campaign.
On Sunday, Trump’s team said Brendan Carr will serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission — a committee that places one of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s active defenders in charge of regulating the nation’s airwaves. Carr, who has used his position to defend Musk’s companies, authored the chapter in Project 2025 detailing how he intended to run the agency.
Former ICE Director Tom Homan has been tapped to serve as the incoming administration’s “border czar” to oversee the mass deportations promised by Trump throughout his 2024 campaign, and immigration hardliner and top adviser Stephen Miller will act as Trump’s deputy. chief of staff for politics. Both Homan and Miller have ties to Project 2025.
Homan is a Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, the Trump-aligned group behind the controversial plan, and is also listed as a contributor to the Project 2025 document. Miller’s organization, America First Legal, originally appeared on the list of advisory board members for Project 2025.
ABC News reported in July that Miller asked that his group be removed from the Project 2025 website’s list of advisory board members amid ongoing attacks from Democrats about the plan on the campaign trail.
A big part of Project 2025’s agenda is to expand presidential power and drastically cut federal agencies like the Department of Education — moves Trump has supported on the campaign trail.
The proposal also calls for a reversal of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone and calls on health agencies to promote “fertility awareness” as an “unsurpassed” birth control method.
