Email Cited in Congressional Hearing Details Project 2025 Recruitment 

At the opening of today’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) highlighted an email uncovered by American Oversight in which a representative of the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 appears to suggest that contributors to the effort could be recommended for political appointments in a second Trump administration. 

The email, obtained by American Oversight in response to a public records request, provides further evidence of the close links between Project 2025 — an agenda created by the Heritage Foundation to serve as a playbook for a second Trump administration — and right-wing figures who may expect to be in positions of power should former President Donald Trump retake the White House. 

In March 2023, a Heritage Foundation fellow emailed Trent McCotter, a former Trump Department of Justice official and then an adjunct professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, seeking his assistance drafting “detailed regulatory items” for Project 2025. While the position would be unpaid, the fellow noted that “real commitment” to the project would be “recognized” by project leaders “whose recommendations are likely to carry influence with those who make personnel decisions for any future administration that embraces our policy proposals.” 

Raskin cited the email in his opening remarks at a hearing which featured as witnesses several Project 2025 advisory board members and contributors, including: Brendan Carr, Mark Krikorian, and Mandy Gunasekara. Of the witnesses, two had previously been appointed by Trump to positions in his administration, including Gunasekara, who was a senior advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency under disgraced former administrator Scott Pruitt. 

While Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, at least 140 people from his former administration reportedly worked on the plan — and American Oversight has obtained additional records that suggest that at least some contributors to the project believe they will be welcomed in a second Trump administration. 

In Dec. 2023 Adam Candeub — a Michigan State University School of Law professor, Project 2025 contributor, and former Trump administration official — seemingly encouraged an individual to submit his name to Project 2025’s Presidential Personnel Database, writing that “if things go as planned…There will be need for you to be a political operative in an agency for a few years.” 

Although it is no secret that Project 2025 has been in the works since at least April 2022, details about the project’s recruitment efforts have been scarce.  Records obtained by American Oversight show that the Heritage Foundation was recruiting Project 2025 contributors as far back as October 2022. Then-director of Project 2025 Paul Dans emailed Patrick Pizzella — the mayor of Pinehurst, North Carolina, and a former Trump administration official — inviting him to contribute his “expertise” to two chapters to be included in Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership.

Project 2025’s clearly outlined plans for a second Trump administration are so unpopular that the former president has sought to disavow the agenda — despite close connections to its creators. Notwithstanding his efforts, the public views Trump as tightly linked with Project 2025; according to USA Today, a recent poll found that 75 percent of likely voters closely associate Project 2025 with the former president.

American Oversight spent years investigating the Trump administration’s abuses of power, and our research and public records we obtained have been used by allied organizations to inform the public about the potential dangers posed by a second Trump presidency. You can explore our investigations and learn more here.