Source: Joe Raedle / Getty
Donald Trump was found to have shared a private jet flight with the architect behind Project 2025, contradicting denials of his involvement.
SCOOP: Trump says he doesn't know who's in charge of Project 2025. He took a private flight with Heritage's president in 2022. Here's a photo.
w/ @jdawsey1 @KnowlesHannah https://t.co/tVBfl2qwSw— Isaac Arnsdorf (@iarnsdorf) August 7, 2024
As more of the public has become aware of Project 2025, the policy blueprint to radically remake the United States into a more conservative image, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been distancing himself from it. “Have no idea who is in charge of it,” he wrote in a Truth Social post last month. But that has hit a snag. According to reports, Trump was recorded taking a private jet flight with Kevin Roberts, the architect of the 900-page policy. Roberts has been an infamous figure, recently saying to Steve Bannon during a recent interview: “We are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
The 45-minute private flight, according to sources familiar with the trip, took place in April 2022 when Trump flew to the Heritage Foundation’s annual conference on Amelia Island. The flight was logged by the Heritage Foundation because they chartered the plane as Trump’s jet was being serviced. Trump spoke at the conference, remarking: “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.” Roberts would also state that he talked to Trump extensively in April of this year: “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.”
When asked, a Trump campaign official stated that Project 2025 wasn’t discussed on the plane ride. However, the fallout from the increased scrutiny has led to several figures involved with Project 2025 stepping down, including its director Paul Dans. The move was reportedly due to “pressure from Trump campaign leadership.” Outside observers have noted that these moves were also due to the policy now being seen as “a disaster, a catastrophe … the wishful-thinking school is that this will all blow over.”
Heritage Foundation President and Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts: It's good that President Trump and his campaign distance their campaign from anything else … They're trying to win an election. … Our relationship with Mr. Trump and his advisors remains very good. pic.twitter.com/HSuVpXdnbP
— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 8, 2024