Donald Trump’s disavowal of Project 2025 is another of the Republican presidential candidate’s lies, according to the man who is the brains behind the controversial plan to reshape the federal government into a theocracy.
Russell Vought told a pair of British journalists, who secretly recorded a two-hour conversation with him, that Trump’s disavowal of Project 2025 is “graduate-level politics.”
Vought told the men his Center for Renewing America is still secretly drafting hundreds of executive orders, regulations and memos for rapid action if Trump returns to the White House. He said Trump has “blessed” his organization and “he’s very supportive of what we do.”
And he proudly bears the title of Christian nationalist: “I want to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation. And my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism. That’s pretty close to Christian nationalism because I also believe in nationalism.”
Russ Vought,, 2019 (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The video was made by the Center for Climate Reporting, which published it online today. CNN offered a lengthy report on the contents of the video and how it came to be.
CNN also said a Center for Climate Reporting journalist secretly recorded a separate conversation with one of Vought’s aides, Micah Meadowcroft, who went into more detail about the secretive work of the massive Project 2025 network.
The conversation took place last month at a five-star hotel in Washington, D.C., and represents a kind of “gotcha” journalism frowned upon by mainstream media in the U.S. and generally considered unethical if not illegal.
“Eighty percent of my time is working on the plans of what’s necessary to take control of these bureaucracies,” Vought said of Project 2025’s intent to reshape the federal government. “And we are working doggedly on that, whether it’s destroying their agencies’ notion of independence … whether that is thinking through how the deportation would work.”
Among other highlights of the conversation, Vought said:
- The mass deportation of undocumented immigrants could help “save the country.”
- He has a team of staffers drafting regulations and executive orders that would help rapidly enact the ideals of Project 2025.
- Conservatives have been “too focused on religious liberty, which we all support, but we’ve lacked the ability to argue we are a Christian nation. Our laws are built on the Judeo-Christian worldview value system.”
- Elected leaders should debate whether to allow mosques to be built in America’s downtowns and whether Christian immigrants should be prioritized over those of other faiths.
- His goal is to restrict abortion nationwide and make pornography illegal.
CNN reported that Vought’s nonprofit downplayed the video, saying it did not reveal any new comments from him.
Vought is no stranger to Trump or Republican politics. He served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump, then started the Center for Renewing America, which is committed to Trump’s “America First” agenda. He more recently has been a key player in developing Project 2025 through the Heritage Foundation. And, he served as policy director of the Republican National Convention committee that rewrote the GOP’s official platform this year.
Related articles:
Trump officially disavows Project 2025, but does he reject its vision for America? | Analysis by Robert P. Jones
Project 2025’s plan for mass deportations would make food prices soar
Want to know who’s behind Project 2025? Follow the money through the swamp | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim
You’ve heard of Project 2025? Now meet Agenda 47 | Analysis by Steve Rabey
Du Mez, Bass and Tisby warn: Project 2025 is a Christian nationalist blueprint
Heritage Foundation: Reagan’s favorite think tank reborn for Trump 2.0