President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition team is reportedly now using Project 2025 to assist in staffing the upcoming administration, shifting from an earlier stance where it was seen as a potential liability. During the campaign, Democrats demonized Project 2025, and Trump’s team — at the instruction of co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita — distanced their candidate from the initiative.
However, the transition team is now utilizing Project 2025’s personnel database to aid in filling more than 4,000 political positions expected to be vacant in 2025. Those involved in the transition process are reportedly reaching out to individuals cataloged within the database, which seeks to streamline the staffing of a new, America First administration.
Key individuals linked to Project 2025 are being considered for roles in the administration. Noteworthy names include Tom Homan for border czar, Brendan Carr for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, John Ratcliffe for CIA director, and Russ Vought.
Project 2025, led by former Trump administration official Paul Dans, compiled a list of over 20,000 vetted candidates. The aim was to have a ready pool of candidates suitable for implementing Trump’s agenda quickly.
“There’s a lot of positions to fill and we continue to send names over, including ones from the database as they are conservative, qualified and vetted,” a source who worked on Project 2025 said of the transition team’s use of the database.
“Hard to find 4,000 solid people, so we are happy to help,” they added.