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After Trump's Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles

News

After Trump's Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles
News

News

After Trump's Project 2025 denials, he is tapping its authors and influencers for key roles

2024-11-24 06:22 Last Updated At:06:30

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House.

As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face. He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies.

Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy.

Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump's election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society.

Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone.

“President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps' Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.”

Here is a look at what some of Trump's choices portend for his second presidency.

The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president's proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration's agenda across agencies.

The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power.

“The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.”

Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy — and would help “restore fiscal sanity.”

In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.”

The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025's and Trump's campaign proposals. Vought's vision is especially striking when paired with Trump's proposals to dramatically expand the president's control over federal workers and government purse strings — ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration — as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government's roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's changes. Trump can now reinstate them.

Meanwhile, Musk's and Ramaswamy's sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president — not Congress — is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary.

Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.”

Trump's choice immediately sparked backlash.

“Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman.

Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans' health care to Social Security benefits.

“Pain itself is the agenda,” they said.

Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas. Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various U.S. immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example.

Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in U.S. history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump's West Wing inner circle.

“America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27.

“America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention.

Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump's “family separation policy.”

Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.”

John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA, was previously one of Trump's directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document's chapter on U.S. intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe's chief of staff in the first Trump administration.

Reflecting Ratcliffe's and Trump's approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a U.S. adversary that cannot be trusted.

Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter and is now Trump's pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.”

He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.”

Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts.

FILE - Acting OMB Director Russel Vought speaks during a press briefing at the White House, March 11, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Acting OMB Director Russel Vought speaks during a press briefing at the White House, March 11, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - A copy of Project 2025 is held during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - A copy of Project 2025 is held during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. was reeling from snow and rain on Saturday with a second round of bad weather threatening to disrupt holiday travel ahead of Thanksgiving. A person was found dead in a vehicle submerged in floodwaters in California, which braced for more precipitation while still grappling with flooding and small landslides from a previous storm. And thousands in the Pacific Northwest remained without power after multiple days in the dark.

A winter storm warning in California's Sierra Nevada on Saturday was in effect through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service's Sacramento office, with heavy snow expected at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 55 mph (88 kph). Total snowfall of roughly 4 feet (1.2 meters) was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations coming Monday and Tuesday.

Forecasters said the Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow Monday, and the East Coast will be the most impacted on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

A low pressure system will bring rain to the Southeast early Thursday before heading to the Northeast, where areas from Boston to New York could see rain and strong winds. Parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and the Adirondacks could get snow. If the system tracks further inland, the forecast would call for less snow for the mountains and more rain.

The storm on the West Coast arrived in the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, mostly in the Seattle area, before its strong winds moved through Northern California. The system roared ashore on the West Coast on Tuesday as a “ bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. It unleashed fierce winds that toppled trees onto roads, vehicles and homes.

Santa Rosa, California, saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 12.5 inches (32 centimeters) of rain falling by Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service in the Bay Area. On Saturday vineyards in Windsor, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) to the north, were flooded.

To the west, rescue crews in Guerneville recovered a body inside a vehicle bobbing in floodwaters around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Rob Dillion, a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy and spokesperson. The deceased was presumed to be a victim of the storm, but an autopsy had not yet been conducted.

Dominick Conti, a 19-year-old volunteer firefighter, and a friend drove around the Santa Rosa area Friday helping people whose vehicles were swamped. With his 2006 Dodge Ram pickup truck and a set of ropes, they were able to rescue the driver of a sedan that stalled out in water, a truck stuck in a giant mudhole and a farmer stranded on a dirt road.

Some 80,000 people in the Seattle area were still without electricity after this season’s strongest atmospheric river — a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows over land. Crews worked to clear streets of downed lines, branches and other debris, while cities opened warming centers so people heading into their fourth day without power could get warm food and plug in their cellphones and other devices.

The power came back in the afternoon at Katie Skipper’s home in North Bend, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the city in the foothills of the Cascades, after being out since Tuesday. It was tiring to take cold showers, rely on a wood stove for warmth and use a generator to keep the refrigerator cold, Skipper said, but those inconveniences paled in comparison to the damage other people suffered, such as from fallen trees.

“That’s really sad and scary,” she said.

Another storm brought rain to New York and New Jersey, where rare wildfires have raged in recent weeks, and heavy snow to northeastern Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were under a blizzard warning through Saturday morning, with up to 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow and high winds making travel treacherous.

Despite the mess, the precipitation was expected to help ease drought conditions after an exceptionally dry fall.

“It’s not going to be a drought buster, but it’s definitely going to help when all this melts,” said Bryan Greenblatt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, New York.

Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains. Higher elevations reported up to 17 inches (43 centimeters), with lesser accumulations in valley cities like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Less than 80,000 customers in 10 counties lost power, and the state transportation department imposed speed restrictions on some highways.

Parts of West Virginia also experienced their first significant snowfall of the season Friday and overnight Saturday, with up to 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) in the higher elevations of the Allegheny Mountains. Some areas were under a blizzard warning.

The precipitation helped put a dent in the state’s worst drought in at least two decades. It also was a boost for West Virginia ski resorts preparing to open their slopes in the weeks ahead.

Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Hallie Golden in Seattle; Janie Har in San Francisco; Manuel Valdes in Issaquah, Washington; Sarah Brumfield in Washington, D.C.; Michael Rubinkam in Pennsylvania; John Raby in West Virginia; Lea Skene in Baltimore; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed.

A vineyard remains flooded after heavy storms Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A vineyard remains flooded after heavy storms Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A person crosses a street during a break in rain Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Andy Bao)

A person crosses a street during a break in rain Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Andy Bao)

A vineyard remains flooded after heavy storms Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A vineyard remains flooded after heavy storms Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A vineyard remains flooded following heavy storms in Windsor, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A vineyard remains flooded following heavy storms in Windsor, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A vineyard remains flooded after heavy storms Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A vineyard remains flooded after heavy storms Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

An apple orchard remains flooded following heavy storms in Windsor, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

An apple orchard remains flooded following heavy storms in Windsor, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Dave Edmonds, right, and Mike Raasch ride their bicycles on a flooded road Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Dave Edmonds, right, and Mike Raasch ride their bicycles on a flooded road Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Windsor, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A man looks at a tree that fell on power lines during a major storm in Issaquah, Wash., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

A man looks at a tree that fell on power lines during a major storm in Issaquah, Wash., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Firefighter Eugene Stipanov walks through floodwaters while responding to a rescue call in unincorporated Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Firefighter Eugene Stipanov walks through floodwaters while responding to a rescue call in unincorporated Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A person uses an umbrella while crossing a street in the Meatpacking District neighborhood of Manhattan, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A person uses an umbrella while crossing a street in the Meatpacking District neighborhood of Manhattan, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

People wait in line to enter the Whitney Museum of American Art, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

People wait in line to enter the Whitney Museum of American Art, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Property off River Road floods as the Russian River overflows in Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Property off River Road floods as the Russian River overflows in Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Wohler Road off River Road is closed off as the Russian River floods in Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Wohler Road off River Road is closed off as the Russian River floods in Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Craig Latham checks out the flooding at Johnson's Beach in Guerneville, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Craig Latham checks out the flooding at Johnson's Beach in Guerneville, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Firefighters walk through floodwaters while responding to a rescue call in unincorporated Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Firefighters walk through floodwaters while responding to a rescue call in unincorporated Sonoma County, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

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