DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, AND REPLACING MUCH OF THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE WITH DONALD TRUMP LOYALISTS JOINING ME NOW IS A NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST, ROBERT DRAPER. ABOUT 140 PEOPLE OR SO INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT 2025 , FORMER DONALD TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS. YOU HAVE SEEN DONALD TRUMP TRYING TO DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION AND ITS POLICY BLUEPRINT. I WILL PLACE A NEWLY DISCOVERED VIDEO OF DONALD TRUMP FROM 2022 WHICH REPUDIATES HIS CLAIM THAT HE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT PROJECT 2025 . AND WHO IS BEHIND IT. TAKE A LISTEN. >> HERITAGE DOES SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB, THEY WILL LAY THE GROUNDWORK AND DETAIL PLANS FOR WHAT OUR MOVEMENT WILL DO AND WHAT YOUR MOVEMENT WILL DO, AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE GIVE US A COLOSSAL MANDATE TO SAVE AMERICA. THAT IS COMING. >> THAT WAS NOT VERY LONG AGO. WHY IS DONALD TRUMP DISAVOWING THIS GROUP AND ITS PLANS FOR A SECOND TERM? >> ALEX, SO YOUR VIEWERS KNOW, PROJECT 2025 IS THE BRAINCHILD OF THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION, THE CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK THAT DONALD TRUMP WAS REFERENCING HE IS TRYING TO DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM IT FOR A COUPLE REASONS, ONE IS POLITICAL AND THE OTHERS PERSONAL, THE POLITICAL REASON BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT THERE ARE STRIDENT THINGS RELATING TO THE GUTTING OF THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY RELATING TO DEFUNDING THE ABORTION PILL, TO SLASHING FUNDING FOR GREEN ENERGY, AND HE IS CONCERNED THAT MADE ALIENATE SUBURBAN VOTERS. HE WOULD RATHER GET BY WITH THE MINIMUM. THAT IS THE POLITICAL PART. THE PERSONAL PART, DONALD TRUMP LIKES TO TAKE CREDIT FOR THE THINGS THAT COME FROM HIS ADMINISTRATION OR HIS CAMPAIGN, HE WANTS PEOPLE TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING CAME FROM HIM AND HE DOES NOT LIKE THE IDEA THAT ANYONE ELSE IS GIVING CREDIT FOR HIS POLICY NOTIONS. WHEN HE DOES HAVE POLICIES IN PLACE, HE WILL CLAIM FULL CREDIT FOR THEM AND DOES NOT WANT IT TO LOOK LIKE SOMEBODY'S WHISPERING WHAT HIS ADMINISTRATION IS GOING TO BE PROFOUND IN. >> BUT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION, TO YOUR POINT, IT HAS SHAPED THE POLICIES OF REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATIONS SINCE THE RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENCY. IF YOU LOOK AT 2025, CONTAINS POSITIONS MUCH FURTHER RIGHT THAN PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS. GIVE US AN EXAMPLE OF SOME OF ITS MOST EXTREME PROPOSALS, WHO THEY WOULD IMPACT, AND IS THE JOE BIDEN TEMPLATE ACCURATE WHEN HE CALLS THE PROJECT ON AUTHORITARIAN BLUEPRINT ? >> YOU MENTIONED A COUPLE YOURSELF, TO REITERATE, BASICALLY ELIMINATING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, THERE IS MORE INSIDIOUS STUFF RELATING TO GUTTING THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY, BUT ALSO SO-CALLED DE-POLITICIZING THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND USING THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AS A WEAPON TO GO AFTER -- TO ENABLE A PRESIDENT TO GO AFTER HIS OPPONENTS. THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. YOU ARE CORRECT, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION HAS PLAYED A ROLE IN A LOVE CONSERVATIVE PRESIDENCY, MOST RECENTLY DONALD TRUMP'S, IN 2017, THEY PLAYED A VERY BIG ROLE IN STAFFING MIDDLE- MANAGEMENT. FOR HIM TO SUGGEST THAT HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS DESPITE THE FACT THAT 140 FORMER DONALD TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAPPERS HAVE WORKED ON THIS IS A BIT DISINGENUOUS. >> THIS WEEK YOU HAVE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ADOPTED THE PLATFORM OF DONALD TRUMP, AS IT'S 2024 POLICY PLATFORM AS WE HAVE THE CONVENTION ON MONDAY. YOU WRITE ABOUT THAT, SAYING, THE VERY 15 PAGE DOCUMENT READS LIKE A TRANSCRIPT FROM A DONALD TRUMP RALLY OPENING WITH 20 STATEMENTS INCLUDING, STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION, STOP INFLATION, KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN SPORTS, ARE THE RNC PLATFORM AND PROJECT 2025 SIMILAR IN TONE OR DETAIL AT ALL ? >> THEY ARE SOMEWHAT SIMILAR IN TONE BUT IN DETAIL THEY COULD NOT BE MORE DIFFERENT , AT LEAST INSOFAR AS THE PLATFORM IS A SO-CALLED SHORT FORM. THE LAST REPUBLICAN PLATFORM WE SAW WAS WRITTEN IN 2016, SOMETHING LIKE 67 PAGES. THIS IS LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF THAT AMOUNT AND VERY DELIBERATELY. MUCH TO THE CONSTERNATION OF SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES, PEOPLE IN THE ANTIABORTION MOVEMENT, WHO WANTED TO SEE VERY STRONG LANGUAGE AND VERY UNAMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE SUPPORTING THE PRO- LIFE MOVEMENT, THAT IS NOT IN THERE. THERE ALSO IS NOT A LOT OF LANGUAGE IN THE PROJECT 2025 DOCUMENT RELATING TO ABORTION, THERE IS SOME. AGAIN, THE PEOPLE WHO CRAFTED PROJECT 2025 ARE PROMINENT SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES LIKE THE HEAD OF OFFICE AND MANAGEMENT OF BUDGET IN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AND HIS FEELINGS REGARDING ABORTION ARE QUITE CLEAR. >> THE RNC PLATFORM, WHY IS IT SO DELIBERATELY VAGUE? IS THERE SOMETHING MORE SINISTER BEHIND IT? THE WORD ABORTION APPEARS ONCE IN THE ENTIRE PLATFORM FOR THE RNC. >> AGAIN, THERE WERE I THINK 112 REPRESENTATIVES FROM ALL OF THE STATES AND TERRITORIES WHO GATHERED IN MILWAUKEE TO SIT DOWN FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS AND PRODUCE A DOCUMENT. ONE HOUR AFTER THEY SAT DOWN, THEY WERE HANDED A DOCUMENT, IN OTHER WORDS, A CAKE THAT WAS OUR DEBATE THAT SAID, HERE IS THE PLATFORM AND WE ARE ABOUT TO VOTE ON IT IT WAS QUITE SHOCKING TO A LOT OF THEM EXPECTING TO SEE VERY SPECIFIC LANGUAGE. ALEX, THE DIRECT ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WANTS TO GET BY WITH A MINIMUM, THEY DON'T WANT A DOCUMENT THAT WOULD CIRCULATE THAT THEY CANNOT DISTANCE AND THEMSELVES FROM. THEY HAVE A PLAUSIBLE DENIAL ABOUT PROJECT 2025 AS IT WAS NOT WRITTEN BY THE CAMPAIGN THE WAY THE PLATFORM WAS BUT IT IS A BIT SPECIOUS TO SUGGEST THERE IS NO ASSOCIATION WHATSOEVER. THE PLATFORM IS CLEARLY TIED TO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN, SO THEY WANTED A SMALL DOCUMENT THAT WOULD NOT GIVE ANYONE ANYTHING TO WEAPON EYES AGAINST THEM. >> ONE MAJOR CONCERN IS THE SHAKEUP OF THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE, MAKING IT MORE LOYAL TO DONALD TRUMP, DO YOU HAVE EXPECTATIONS THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION COULD MAKE THEIR WAY INTO POSITIONS WITHIN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION? >> I DON'T JUST HAVE EXPECTATIONS OR SUSPICIONS, I AM CONFIDENT THEY WILL, THAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME COME IN 2017, AND THEY WERE PROUD OF THE FACT THEIR PAC ARM WERE PROUD OF THE DIRECT ROLE OF PLACING THEIR OWN AND THAT AD
