In response to Donald Trump’s campaign actively planning to collaborate with architects of Project 2025, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Don’t take it from us: Donald Trump and his campaign are literally inviting the architects of Project 2025 to discuss ‘collaborat[ion]’ next week as they go fully mask off on their close ties to the drafters of this extreme and out-of-touch policy agenda. Trump and his allies have been trying and failing to distance themselves from the unpopular Project 2025 platform for months, but that’s only because they know the truth is if Trump wins next November, then the far-right nightmare of Project 2025 will become a reality for millions of Americans.”

NEW: Donald Trump and his campaign are literally inviting Project 2025 architects like an arm of the Heritage Foundation to coordinate next week in Palm Beach.

Politico: “On Tuesday, the Trump campaign sent a letter to pro-Trump, external organizations asking them to attend an ‘entirely off-the-record, private,’ and “invite-only” meeting with senior campaign officials, according to a copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO. The sit-down, which the letter describes as a ‘meeting of the political minds,’ is aimed at discussing “collaborat[ion]” and “priorities and plans” for the general election. […]

“By holding the meeting, the Trump operation and the third-party entities could conceivably get on the same page about their plans. Two people familiar with the planning for the event said Heritage Action and Turning Point Action were among the pro-Trump groups invited.”

Make no mistake: Project 2025 is “undeniably a Trump-driven operation.”

Axios: “This is undeniably a Trump-driven operation. The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee — one of Trump’s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer — is a senior adviser to Project 2025. One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration.”

Politico: “Many of the authors of the blueprint are former Trump officials, and the Heritage Foundation has spent the past year-plus recruiting people to implement the plans within the administration, Scott said.

“‘So they don’t just have a long, sprawling policy document,’ he said, ‘they also have a growing list of staff who are being tested to see if they are loyal to Trump and if they are willing to administer this in his potential administration.’

“While groups like Heritage have put forward conservative policy proposals in the past, Scott said Project 2025 is distinct in that it’s so comprehensive and far-reaching.

“‘It has so many groups contributing to it. It’s the whole conservative policy movement gathered together,’ he said.”

Vox: “Many of the authors of Mandate are members of the first Trump administration who would likely have roles in a second.

“Roger Severino, the author of the HHS chapter, was the director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights under Trump, a role in which he oversaw the removal of nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans in health care settings. Gene Hamilton, the author of the Justice Department chapter, served in Trump’s DOJ and Department of Homeland Security and worked on the ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy that separated children from their parents at the border.

“‘These are all people that, in theory, Trump listens to,’ Ziegler told Vox.”

The Week: “Former Trump staffers involved with Project 2025 include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s former senior adviser Stephen Miller, the latter of whom has been described as a white nationalist. […] 

“However, as New York Magazine said, many of Trump’s indicated plans for a second term fall in line with the Project 2025 outline. This includes giving the president unchecked power over federal agencies and the total ability to bypass Congress. He has also pledged to appoint a special prosecutor to go after the Biden family and other political opponents, as well as the installation of loyalists throughout the government.”

The New Republic: “Johnny McEntee, who is helping lead the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025—an especially ambitious initiative that has already published a 920-page ‘manual’ for Trump’s second term—had come to be known as ‘deputy president’ by late 2020.”

New York Times: “Roberts told me that he views Heritage’s role today as ‘institutionalizing Trumpism.’ This includes leading Project 2025, a transition blueprint that outlines a plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, dismantle federal agencies and recruit and vet government employees to free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power. The lesson of Trump’s first year in office, Roberts told me, is that ‘the Trump administration… simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.’”