(NewsNation) —The director of the controversial Project 2025 is stepping down from his position at conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation amid escalating criticism of the plan by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his campaign.
Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at the organization, released a statement Tuesday on his decision to resign in August to “direct efforts” towards the presidential election.
“We completed what we set out to do, which was create a unified conservative vision, bringing together over 110 leading organizations, united behind the cause of deconstructing the administrative state,” he wrote. “It has been a great honor to work with you on this endeavor, and it is my fervent wish, as my namesake St. Paul encourages us, that you not grow weary in doing good, for that out of our efforts, our nation will one day reap a great harvest. Fight! Fight! Fight!”
It’s unclear what the next steps for Project 2025 will be, but Dans added that others at the organization will continue to make its recommendations useful to the “new Conservative Administration.”
The Heritage Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment by NewsNation.
Dans stepped down amid escalating criticism of the plan by former President Donald Trump and his campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Trump’s campaign issued a scathing cautionary statement shortly after Dans’ announcement Tuesday.
“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign…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,” it said.
Dans is considered one of the main architects of the plan, “organizing policy and personnel recommendations and training for appointees in the next presidential administration,” according to a bio still listed on the group’s website.
Critics have called the plan extremist, “authoritarian” and even dystopian.
Prior to joining The Heritage Foundation, Dans served in the Trump administration as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management as well as the agency’s White House liaison. Trump appointed Dans to serve as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission in 2021, according to the group.
The Heritage Foundation wrote the nearly 1,000-page Project 2025 as a blueprint to overhaul the federal government for the next Republican administration.
Trump has continually disavowed the plan, posting on his social media site that he has “no idea” who is behind Project 2025 and knows “nothing” about it. Dozens of people who worked closely with him and helped shape his administration are involved in the plan.
“I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal,” Trump wrote. “Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
Project 2025 suggests firing as many as 50,000 federal workers who conservative groups say will impede the president’s agenda.
A so-called top-to-bottom “overhaul” of the Department of Justice would end FBI efforts to stop misinformation under the plan. The Pentagon would “abolish” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives if Project 2025 is adopted, and service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine would be reinstated.
On abortion, Project 2025 calls for restricting the procedure through a limit on mail-order pills and penalizing providers. Other health care services and social services like Medicare and Social Security would be scaled back and privatized, and all of the Biden administration’s climate change policies would be reversed.
