Heritage Foundation: Trump's Team in the shadows

• Super PACs Related to the Heritage Foundation
  • Heritage Action for America
    • Description: A sister organization of the Heritage Foundation, focused on turning policy research into actionable legislation. Does not make direct donations to candidates but supports conservative policies and candidates through advocacy.
• Sentinel Action Fund
  • Description: A super PAC created by Heritage Action for America to support conservative candidates.

• Timothy Mellon
  • Connection: Donated $4 million to Sentinel Action Fund, a super PAC created by Heritage Action.
  • Donations to Trump:
  • 2020: $20 million to America First Action Inc.
  • 2024: $76.5 million to MAGA Inc.
• Linda McMahon
  • Connection: Associated with America First Inc., which has ties to Trump & Project 2025
  • Donations to Trump:
  • 2020: More than $15 million to America First Action Inc.
  • 2024: Part of $11 million given to Republican candidates and causes.
• Miriam Adelson
  • Donations to Trump:
  • 2020: $90 million to Preserve America (with late husband Sheldon Adelson).
  • 2024: Planning significant contributions to Preserve America.
  • 
    

• Key Individual Donors
  • Timothy Mellon: Over $95 million across 2020 and 2024 cycles.
  • Linda McMahon: Over $25 million across 2020 and 2024 cycles.
  • Miriam Adelson: $90 million in the 2020 cycle.

• Timothy Mellon: $20 million to America First Action Inc.
• Linda McMahon: More than $15 million to America First Action Inc.
• Miriam Adelson: $90 million to Preserve America.

• Timothy Mellon: $76.5 million to MAGA Inc.
• Linda McMahon: Part of $11 million 
• Miriam Adelson: Planning significant contributions to Preserve America.

The Heritage Foundation has had a significant influence on Trump's administration, with many former Heritage employees and affiliates taking up key roles in his government. Additionally, many of these individuals have continued their association with Heritage post-administration, contributing to initiatives like Project 2025.

While the document provides a glimpse into the connections between Trump and the Heritage Foundation. The individuals listed represent some of the most notable figures who have bridged the gap between Heritage and Trump's administration.

Former Cabinet Members and Senior Officials Currently at Heritage

Mike Pence

• Role in Trump Administration: Vice President
• Connection to Heritage: Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Heritage post-administration

Chad Wolf

• Role in Trump Administration: Acting Secretary of Homeland Security
• Connection to Heritage: Visiting Fellow at Heritage

Robert L. Wilkie

• Role in Trump Administration: Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Connection to Heritage: Visiting Fellow at Heritage

Andrew Wheeler

• Role in Trump Administration: Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Connection to Heritage: Advising Heritage on energy and environmental issues

• Ken Cuccinelli
  • Role in Trump Administration: Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
  • Connection to Heritage: Visiting Fellow at Heritage
• Mark Morgan
  • Role in Trump Administration: Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
  • Connection to Heritage: Visiting Fellow at Heritage
• Elan S. Carr
  • Role in Trump Administration: U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism
  • Connection to Heritage: Joined Heritage post-administration
• Dustin Carmack
  • Role in Trump Administration: Chief of Staff for the Director of National Intelligence
  • Connection to Heritage: Joined Heritage post-administration
• Tim Murtaugh
  • Role in Trump Administration: Communications Director at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Director of Communications for the Trump re-election campaign
  • Connection to Heritage: Joined Heritage post-administration
• Michael J. Ellis
  • Role in Trump Administration: Special Assistant to the President, Senior Associate Counsel to the President, and Deputy National Security Council Legal Advisor
  • Connection to Heritage: Joined Heritage post-administration

Many former Trump administration officials are heavily involved in Project 2025. This includes six former Cabinet secretaries, four ambassador nominees, and approximately 140 individuals who were part of Trump's administration.

Approximately 140 individuals who worked in the Trump administration played a role in Project 2025, reflecting a significant overlap between Trump's circle and the initiative

• Project 2025 is closely aligned with Trump's agenda, despite his public disavowal
• Many former Trump administration officials are involved in the project
• The project is seen as preparation for a potential second Trump term or another Republican presidency
• Trump’s name is mentioned in Project 2025 no less than 312 times

• 31 out of 38 creators of Project 2025 had connections to the Trump administration, including six former Cabinet secretaries and four ambassador nominees.

Key Figures from Trump's Administration Involved in Project 2025

1. Paul Dans
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Chief of Staff at the Office of Personnel Management; Senior Adviser at the Department of Housing and Urban Development
   2. Role in Project 2025: Director
2. Spencer Chretien
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Special Assistant to President Trump; Associate Director of Presidential Personnel
   2. Role in Project 2025: Associate Director
3. Troup Hemenway
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Associate Director of Presidential Personnel
   2. Role in Project 2025: Associate Director
4. Russ Vought
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Former Director of the Office of Management and Budget
   2. Role in Project 2025: Contributed to the project and serves as the policy director for the RNC platform committee.
5. Stephen Miller
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Former Senior Advisor to Trump
   2. Role in Project 2025: Involved in the project and appears in its educational materials.
6. Rick Dearborn
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Implementation
   2. Role in Project 2025: Contributor
7. Ben Carson
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
   2. Role in Project 2025: Involved in the project.
8. Christopher Miller
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Former Acting Secretary of Defense
   2. Role in Project 2025: Contributed to the project.
9. Johnny McEntee
   1. Role in Trump Administration: Former Director of the Presidential Personnel Office
   2. Role in Project 2025: Senior advisor for Project 2025.
10. Gene Hamilton
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributor
11. Peter Navarro
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributed to economic policy recommendations
12. Roger Severino
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Director of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributed to health policy recommendations
13. Johnny McEntee
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Director of the Presidential Personnel Office
    2. Role in Project 2025: Senior Advisor
14. Steven Groves
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Deputy Press Secretary; Assistant Special Counsel
    2. Role in Project 2025: Co-editor
15. Spencer Chretien
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Special Assistant to President Trump; Associate Director of Presidential Personnel
    2. Role in Project 2025: Associate Director
16. Mandy Gunasekara
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Chief of Staff at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributed to EPA recommendations
17. William Perry Pendley
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributed to Interior Department recommendations
18. Ken Cuccinelli
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributor
    3. Connection to Trump: Played a significant role in Trump's immigration policies and enforcement
19. Roger Severino
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Director of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributor
    3. Connection to Trump: Influential in shaping health policy and civil rights enforcement under Trump
20. Stephen Moore
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Nominated by Trump to the Federal Reserve (withdrawn)
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributor
    3. Connection to Trump: Economic advisor and nominee for a key financial position
21. William Walton
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Key member of Trump's transition team
    2. Role in Project 2025: Co-author of the chapter on the Department of the Treasury
    3. Connection to Trump: Involved in transition planning and policy development
22. Max Primorac
    1. Role in Trump Administration: Acting Chief Operating Officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
    2. Role in Project 2025: Contributor
    3. Connection to Trump: Played a role in international development policy and promoted Trump's re-election

More Lead Authors to Project 2025 from Trump's Administration

1. Jonathan Berry is managing partner at Boyden Gray & Associates PLLC. He served as acting Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, overseeing all aspects of rulemaking and policy development. At the U.S. Department of Justice, he assisted with the development of regulatory policy and with the nominations of Justice Neil Gorsuch and dozens of other judges. He previously served as Chief Counsel for the Trump transition and earlier clerked for Associate Justice Samuel Alito and Judge Jerry Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is a graduate of Yale College and Columbia University School of Law. 
2. Adam Candeub is a professor of law at Michigan State University. His scholarly research focuses on telecommunication, antitrust, and Internet issues. He served as acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department during the Trump Administration. He received his BA magna cum laude from Yale University and his JD magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
3. Ken Cuccinelli served as Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2019 and then, from November 2019 through the end of the Trump Administration, as Acting Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. During his tenure as Acting Deputy Secretary, Ken also served as the Chief Regulatory Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. He also has served the Commonwealth of Virginia, first as a state senator and then as Virginia’s 46th Attorney General.
4. Thomas F. Gilman served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Trump Administration. Currently, he is a Director of ACLJ Action and Chairman of Torngat Metals. Tom is the former CEO of Chrysler Financial and has had a 40-plus year career as a senior executive and entrepreneur in the global automotive industry, including roles at Chrysler Corporation, Cerberus Capital Management, Asbury Automotive Group, TD Auto Finance, and Automotive Capital Services. He holds a BS in finance from Villanova University. 
5. Mora Namdar is an attorney and Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. She speaks fluent Farsi and is an expert on U.S. national security, human rights, global communications, the Middle East, and international law. Mora served as senior advisor for critical issues at the U.S. State Department and was appointed by President Donald Trump to perform the duties of the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs. She also served as Vice President of Legal, Compliance, and Risk at the U.S. Agency for Global Media
6. William Perry Pendley was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He earned a BA and an MA from George Washington University, was a U.S. Marine Corps captain, and earned his JD from the University of Wyoming College of Law. He was an attorney on Capitol Hill, a senior official for President Ronald Reagan, and leader of the Bureau of Land Management for President Donald Trump. For 30 years, he was president of Mountain States Legal Foundation where he argued and won cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. He authored five books, including Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today.
7. Brooks D. Tucker served in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs from 2017 to 2021 and as Acting Chief of Staff from 2020 to 2021. He helped to craft the policy framework for President-elect Trump’s transition team and served as the Senior Policy Adviser for National Security and Veterans Affairs to Senator Richard Burr from 2010 to 2015. A retired Marine lieutenant colonel, Brooks served in Afghanistan, Iraq, North Africa, the Caucasus, and the Western Pacific. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Marine Corps Infantry Officer Course, and Marine Corps Command and Staff College and holds a Certificate in Legislative Studies from Georgetown University. 
8. Hans A. von Spakovsky is Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative in the Edwin Meese Center III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He is a former member of President Donald Trump’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. From 2006 to 2007, von — xxii — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise Spakovsky was a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission. He served as career Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2002 to 2005.
9. William L. Walton is Chairman of the Resolute Protector Foundation and host of The Bill Walton Show. In 2016 and 2017, Mr. Walton served in President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team as Agency Action Leader for all the federal economic agencies. He served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Allied Capital Corporation, a $6 billion NYSE-traded private investment firm, from 1997 to 2010. He is the immediate past President of the Council for National Policy. His extensive board service includes The Heritage Foundation, American Conservative Union, American Enterprise Institute, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Venture Capital Association, and Financial Services Roundtable.
10. Paul Winfree is Distinguished Fellow in Economic Policy and Public Leadership at The Heritage Foundation. Before rejoining Heritage in 2018, Paul was Deputy Assistant to the President, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Director of Budget Policy at the White House. During the 2016 presidential transition, he led the team responsible for the Office of Management and Budget. He also has served as a senior staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. Paul served in both the Biden and Trump Administrations for three terms as the Chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board that oversees the Fulbright program and educational exchanges sponsored by the Department of State.

Project 2025 is closely tied to his administration through the involvement of many former officials and the alignment of its policy goals with his campaign positions. The Heritage Foundation spearheaded the project to create a detailed conservative policy roadmap for the next Republican presidency, aiming to avoid the challenges faced during Trump's first term. Despite Trump's public disavowal, the connections between his administration and Project 2025 remain strong, reflecting a shared vision for conservative governance.

Kevin Roberts

• Role: President of the Heritage Foundation
• Connection: Linked to Opus Dei, a secretive far-right Catholic group known for its far right conservative religious policy and beliefs 

Paul Dans - Director of Project 2025

Brooke Rollins - Former domestic policy chief for Trump, CEO of America First Policy Institute

Doug Hoelscher - Involved in Project 2025 leadership

Kevin Roberts - President of the Heritage Foundation

Heritage Foundation - Conservative think tank leading Project 2025

America First Policy Institute - Involved in Project 2025

• Under Kevin Roberts' leadership, Heritage has shifted towards a more populist and nationalist orientation
• This transformation has led to internal conflicts and reevaluation of alliances within the conservative ecosystem
• Some scholars at Heritage have distanced themselves from certain conservative manifestos due to policy alignment issues

• Initial Inclusion: Featured on Trump's campaign website as part of Agenda 47.
• Recent Removal: Removed in mid-2024 due to scrutiny and controversy.
• Reason for Removal: Strategic distancing from controversial elements of Project 2025.