WASHINGTON — Former Donald Trump staffer and co-author of Project 2025 Russell Vought told undercover reporters last month that the Heritage Foundation-led initiative has entered its second, more secretive phase with different tactics, including banning pornography “from the back door” through age verification legislation.
Portions of the hidden camera video of last month’s conversation between the influential Trump and Heritage insider and two climate news reporters pretending to be relatives of a wealthy right-wing donor was published by CNN and the U.K.-based Centre for Climate Reporting on Thursday.
Regarding Project 2025’s proposal to criminalize the production and distribution of adult content, CNN reports that “instead of an unpopular new law banning all pornography” Vought admitted that his MAGA think tank Center for Renewing America would propose “doing it from the back door” by “making pornography websites legally liable if minors use them.”
Vought celebrated that age verification laws “lead pornography companies to stop doing business.”
As XBIZ reported, the Center for Renewing America is a Trumpist think tank founded in 2021 by former staffers of the Republican nominee with the explicit purpose to help him return to the White House in 2025.
One of the CRA’s senior fellows, Michigan State University law professor Adam Candeub, told the National Conservatism Conference last month that American conservatives “should avoid porn altogether.”
“Bad men, bad male libido,” Candeub, raising his voice, reportedly told a panel audience.
According to CNN, Vought spoke candidly to the undercover reporters for nearly two hours, revealing details of “his behind-the-scenes work to prepare policy for former President Donald Trump, his expansive views on presidential power, his plans to restrict pornography and immigration, and his complaints that the GOP was too focused on ‘religious liberty’ instead of ‘Christian nation-ism.’”
Vought told the reporters that his Center for Renewing America is “secretly drafting hundreds of executive orders, regulations, and memos that would lay the groundwork for rapid action on Trump’s plans if he wins, describing his work as creating ‘shadow’ agencies.”
Vought also claimed that Trump has “blessed” the CRA and is “very supportive of what we do.”
Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for the CRA told CNN, “Thank you for airing our perfect conversation emphasizing our policy work is totally separate from the Trump campaign, as we have been saying.”
Last month, the Trump campaign issued a statement attempting to distance itself from Project 2025 and echoing the Republican presidential nominee’s previous claims denying that he was familiar with the initiative or even knows the many former Trump staffers directly associated with it.
Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement Tuesday, “President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way. Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.”
Given Trump’s documented history of stating outright, easily debunked falsehoods, his allegation that he has “no idea who is behind” Project 2025 surprised few commentators.
Also notable was the former president’s vagueness about exactly which of Project 2025’s proposals he disagrees with.
An Anti-Porn Trump Insider Who is ‘Pretty Close to Christian Nationalism’
The hidden camera video also complicated Trump and his campaign’s attempts to distance themselves from Project 2025, since Vought recently “served as the policy director of the Republican National Convention committee that rewrote the GOP’s official platform this year,” CNN reported, calling that task “a sign of how central he is to Republicans’ policy goals.”
During the video, Vought also complained that conservatives have “lacked the ability to argue we are a Christian nation” and reportedly said they should “push to have debates over whether to allow mosques to be built in America’s downtowns, and whether Christian immigrants should be prioritized over those of other faiths — ideas that run contrary to First Amendment protections.”
“I want to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation,” Vought stressed. “And my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism. That’s pretty close to Christian nationalism because I also believe in nationalism.”
According to CNN , Vought “argued that it was important to pursue some of the culturally conservative policy goals listed in the Project 2025 blueprint — including abortion restrictions and making pornography illegal.”
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump said Vought’s candid, truthful conversation with the fake donors in the video show that “the real focus” of groups like his is “to saturate the government” with people sympathetic to Project 2025.
“And that’s why Trump can’t escape Vought and the Heritage Foundation,” Bump added. “It’s not about the book — it’s about the people. And in 2025, unlike 2017, the right is determined not to be caught flat-footed by a Trump victory.”
Main Image: Republican platform and Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought and former boss Donald Trump
