Project 2025 Contributors Are Abandoning Ship as Trump Turns Against Them

The Trump campaign has sent a clear message to the Heritage Foundation and others leading Project 2025: Shut up or “it will not end well for you.”

Some former Trump administration officials who contributed to Project 2025’s controversial 900-page manifesto seem to have gotten the signal. The Intercept found Project 2025 recently tweaked its list of individual contributors, removing two names entirely and modifying two more to eliminate their employment affiliations with prominent firms.

For weeks, former President Donald Trump has been trying to distance himself from Project 2025. In recent months, some conservative organizations have quietly exited the Project 2025 advisory board, including some that were extensively involved in drafting the playbook.

After the Tuesday ouster of the director of Project 2025, Paul Dans, who previously served in the Trump administration, the Washington Post reported that “there had been requests from people to get their names taken off the work.” A campaign spokesperson reportedly threatened to blacklist other Project 2025 affiliates from posts in the Trump administration.

All four individuals identified by The Intercept had been listed as Project 2025 contributors since April 2023, when the Heritage Foundation first put out the playbook. All four changes were made quietly on different dates in July, including three after Trump issued a statement saying he had “no idea who is behind” the project. Heritage did not respond to questions about these changes, including whether other contributors had asked for their names or affiliations to be removed.

“The contributors listed below generously volunteered their time and effort to assist the authors in the development and writing of this volume’s 30 chapters,” reads a disclaimer on the Project 2025 contributors list, which currently includes more than 250 names. “The policy views and reform proposals herein are not an all-inclusive catalogue of conservative ideas for the next President, nor is there unanimity among the contributors or the organizations with which they are affiliated with regard to the recommendations.”

The most prominent name to disappear from Project 2025 is David Moore, dean of Brigham Young University Law School. As recently as July 16, Moore was listed among the contributors, along with his BYU affiliation, but his name was no longer there on July 17.

Before leading BYU Law, Moore served in the Trump administration as acting deputy administrator and general counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Moore, who did not respond to questions, was named dean in June 2023, two months after the Project 2025 playbook’s release.

The second former Trump official whose name evaporated from the Project 2025 list is attorney Sohan Dasgupta, who served as special counsel to the Department of Education and deputy general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. Dasgupta’s name and affiliation with the law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, where he is a partner, appeared as recently as July 27. By July 28, it was gone. Dasgupta also did not answer questions about his involvement in Project 2025.

Two other individuals remain listed as Project 2025 contributors, but their entries were recently modified to eliminate their employers.

Earl Comstock, an attorney who served as senior adviser in the Trump Department of Commerce, is now senior policy counsel at the law firm White & Case in Washington, D.C. As of July 27, Comstock’s name appeared along with his employer, but by July 28 the firm’s name was gone.

“White & Case is not affiliated with Project 2025,” said a firm spokesperson. “Earl Comstock contributed to the project as a private citizen. The change was made for accuracy.”

The final tweak on Project 2025’s contributor list was for Joel Frushone, who served during the Trump years as a spokesperson for the Peace Corps and U.S. Economic Development Administration. As of July 2, Frushone was credited as a Project 2025 contributor along with his current employer, the accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young. By July 3, only his name appeared. Frushone declined to speak with The Intercept, and Ernst & Young did not respond to questions.

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