A United Kingdom-based climate activist group is admittingly attempting to interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election on behalf of the Democratic Party, attacking former President Donald J. Trump over the much-maligned Project 2025. The Centre for Climate Reporting, founded by radical environmentalists Lawrence Carter and Tom Costello, has released a heavily edited ten-minute expose on the Heritage Foundation-housed presidential transition project featuring former Trump administration official Russ Vought and others speaking to an undercover reporter.
The Centre for Climate Reporting video uses an overly dramatic music score and ominous voice-over work to portray comments by Vought and other individuals involved in Project 2025 as evidence of a nefarious plot. However, the clandestinely shot video, in truth, offers nothing new. The comments made by Vought echo statements he has made in the past and are readily available in the public record—something the filmmakers tacitly admit by recycling clips of Vought’s appearances on programs like Stephen K. Bannon‘s War Room.
In one moment that is meant to be ‘shocking’ to viewers, Vought discusses plans to deport illegal immigrants and defund Planned Parenthood. These are two policy areas where the entirety of the Republican Party has been very vocal—and, in the case of the former, has mass public support according to election polls.
Vought, who served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under former President Trump, is a major force behind efforts to reform the federal government’s administrative powers and end the undemocratic deep state. The former Trump official’s views and policy goals are no secret, though the Centre for Climate Reporting certainly attempts to mislead viewers on this.
FOREIGN ELECTION INTERFERENCE.
However, the UK-based environmental group could be excused for not knowing that it is common for individuals and organizations on both sides of the American political aisle to begin planning presidential transitions several months, if not years, in advance—including drafting hundreds of policy proposals. The lack of understanding of common practices in American politics, though, raises a secondary concern other than their misleading portrayal of Vought and Project 2025.
The Centre for Climate Reporting’s video is obviously meant to build on Democratic Party and progressive activists‘ attacks on Project 2025 and the Republican presidential nominee. Yet, unlike the domestic American reporting, the Centre is a foreign entity employing British and Canadian nationals who are not allowed to legally participate in U.S. elections as voters. Carter and Costello’s video certainly appears to be the sort of foreign election interference that Democrats have lambasted since 2016.
Aside from being misleading foreign-produced propaganda, the Centre for Climate Reporting’s undercover video appears to be something the group can present to donors in an attempt to boost their funding. The high production value and media push—including coverage by CNN—have all the hallmarks of a work product meant to court American progressive financial backers.
NEW
We went undercover in Project 2025.
Our investigation uncovered details of the secretive second phase of Project 2025 being led by a Trump insider, with plans to feed hundreds of highly-confidential battle plans directly into the Trump transition team.
Watch here. pic.twitter.com/je9qHpjAns
— Centre for Climate Reporting (@ClimateReport_) August 15, 2024