Taking private jet, addressing rally: Trump had ties with Project 2025 leader since 2022 - Report

While former US President Donald Trump continues to distance himself from “Project 2025,” a bombshell report stated that the GOP Presidential nominee shared a private flight with the head of the right-wing think tank which is behind the controversial project. On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported on Trump’s long association with the project, publishing evidence including a picture of the two men in aeroplane seats, grinning.

As per the report, the flight carrying Trump and the Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts was on its way to a conference organised by the think tank. While addressing the group at the event, the former president reportedly said that they would “lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do”.

Spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 is a 900-page plan intended to present the outline for Trump’s comeback to the White House. The project became controversial since it posits aggressive right-wing reform to every corner of the federal government.

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The controversial plane ride

To support their claims, The Washington Post shared plane-tracking data and the picture of Trump with Roberts in a private jet. The outlet claimed that the picture was taken back in April 2022. As per the report, the two men were flying from Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, to Amelia Island in the same state for the annual Heritage conference.

“With Kevin and the staff, and I met so many of them now, I took pictures with among the most handsome, beautiful people I’ve ever seen," the former president reportedly said at the conference.

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The American newspaper also mentioned that in April this year, Roberts told the paper that he spoke to Trump about the project. “I personally have talked to President Trump about Project 2025 because my role in the project has been to make sure that all of the candidates who have responded to our offer for a briefing on Project 2025 get one from me," the Think Tank head told The Washington Post.

“We are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be," Roberts was quoted telling Steve Bannon in July.

JD Vance’s association with Project 2025

Things became more controversial after it was found that the introduction of Roberts’ forthcoming book titled, Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America, was written by Trump’s VP pick JD Vance.

In his introduction, obtained by the New Republic, the Ohio Senator calls the Heritage Foundation “the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump”. The group has indeed produced policy plans for Republican administrations since 1980. But none have proved remotely as controversial as Project 2025.

Democrats call out the project as Trump tries to distance himself

In the past, the Democrats slammed the project and particularly focused on how the plan poses threats to reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights and other progressive concerns. Amid all the attacks, Trump and allies have been trying to distance themselves from the project.

The former reality TV star claimed last month that he had “no idea who is in charge of” Project 2025. On Thursday, a spokesperson for Trump told The Washington Post that Project 2025 “has never and will never be an accurate reflection of President Trump’s policies”.

Despite all this, earlier this week, two House Democrats asked Roberts to publish plans of what the first 180 days of Trump’s presidency would look like if he came back to power.

“It is time to stop hiding the ball on what we are concerned could very well be the most radical, extreme, and dangerous parts of Project 2025,” Jared Huffman of California and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said in an open letter.