Buttigieg: Trump campaign ‘might not recover from’ Project 2025

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that former President Trump’s campaign “might not recover from” Project 2025.

“I think it’s incredible that actually the biggest scandal of the year is a policy scandal … is Project 2025,” Buttigieg said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “Most people say elections aren’t really about policy anymore, but if you think about it, the biggest scandal, the one that actually has the Republicans the most afraid, the one that has the president doing damage control, it’s not a criminal cover up, although they had one of those too.”

“It’s not a sex tape,” Buttigieg continued. “It’s the simple fact that they wrote down their own policies. That is the thing that they might not recover from.”

Project 2025 is a 900-page “governing agenda” from The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. It describes conservative aims in the event that Republicans capture the White House in the fall. Trump has tried to distance himself from it in the past, saying last month he isn’t aware of anything “about Project 2025.”

“I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

However, Project 2025 contributors include ex-Trump administration officials Ben Carson and Ken Cuccinelli. CNN also reported last month that it found a minimum of 140 people who had been part of the Trump administration being involved in Project 2025.

Trump went after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the Democratic vice presidential nominee, on Thursday morning for linking him to Project 2025. 

“They know I have nothing to do with it. I had no idea what it was. A group of people got together, they drew up some conservative values, very conservative values,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.” “In some case perhaps they went over the line, perhaps they didn’t. I have no idea what Project 25 is.”

In his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, Walz said he “coached high school football long enough to know and trust me on this: When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re going to use it.”

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on Buttigieg’s remarks.