Project 2025 director leaves Heritage Foundation after Democratic attacks and Trump criticism

NEW YORK — The director of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 vision for a complete overhaul of the federal government has stepped down, the conservative think tank confirmed Tuesday.

Paul Dans' exit comes after the project “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 the people," Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said in a statement. Roberts said the group is sticking to its original timeline.

But the news comes after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has increasingly disavowed Project 2025 amid escalating attacks by Democrats, prompting speculation that Trump’s campaign forced the exit.

Democrats for the past several months have made Project 2025 a key election-year cudgel, pointing to the ultraconservative policy blueprint as a glimpse into how extreme another Trump administration could be.

The nearly 1,000-page handbook lays out sweeping changes in the federal government, including altering personnel rules to ensure government workers are more loyal to the president.

Yet Trump has repeatedly disavowed the document, saying on social media he hasn't read it and doesn't know anything about it.

“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way," Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement. "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.”

Many Trump allies and former top aides contributed to the project, which proposes a mass firing of government employees and sweeping changes to American life. Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign and top Democrats have repeatedly tied Trump to Project 2025 as they argue against a second term for the former president.

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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

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