(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign lashed out against the group behind the conservative plan Project 2025, issuing an ominous warning to anyone attempting to link him to the controversial document.
“It will not end well for you,” the campaign said in a statement Tuesday.
Trump’s campaign released the statement minutes after Paul Dans, the director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, announced he would be stepping down from the group in August.
His departure comes amid escalating criticism of the plan by former President Donald Trump and his campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“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,” the Trump campaign 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.”
Dans had been a close ally of Trump, serving in the former president’s administration as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and as the agency’s White House liaison. According to the group, in 2021, Trump appointed Dans to serve as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission.
Individuals employed by The Heritage Foundation gave Trump more than $16,000 this election cycle, more than $6,000 in 2020 and almost $2,000 in 2016. More than half of the contributions made during this cycle came personally from Dans.
“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!,” Dans said in a statement announcing he would be stepping down.
Dans added that while the work on Project 2025 is “winding down,” the remaining members of the organization will continue to put the plan and its recommendations in a position to assist the “new Conservative Administration in November.”
Trump had disavowed Project 2025, but many top officials and political advisers who worked under his administration and some who are currently involved in his campaign have contributed to the plan.
In an earlier statement on his social media platform, Trump wrote, “Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” He added, “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”
Since then, criticism has mounted against the plan deemed “extremist, “authoritarian” and even “dystopian,” by Democrats and others who oppose it.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has repeatedly blasted Project 2025, warning voters that it would be implemented under Trump.
“There is so much at stake this November, our most fundamental freedoms,” Harris said at a recent event while talking about the controversial conservative plan.
Among other initiatives, Project 2025 calls for an “overhaul” of the Department of Justice and would end FBI efforts to stop misinformation. It would direct the Pentagon to “abolish” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives while reinstating service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
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.
