Marco Rubio Dismisses Concern Over Project 2025's Influence On Trump's Potential Second Term

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) -- Donald Trump's potential running mate -- said Sunday that the former president was not connected to the comments made by the head of the Pro-Trump Project 2025.

Rubio dismissed worries about Project 2025 affecting a possible second Trump term, calling it just "the work of a think tank." He agreed with Trump, who criticized the Heritage Foundation's plan as "ridiculous and abysmal" on Friday, even though some of Trump's former officials helped create it.

"Think tanks do think tank stuff, they come up with ideas, they say things...I like [the] Heritage Foundation. I agree with some of the things they stand for," Rubio said on CNN's "State of the Union" about the plan, which has repeatedly come under fire from Democrats as an extremist playbook to undermine democracy," he said, Axios reported.

"Donald Trump is running on common sense, on restoring common sense versus the lunacy of the last four years and the far left and the shadow government that now is running our country."

The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, organized by The Heritage Foundation, builds on their influential "Mandate for Leadership" used by presidential administrations since the Reagan era. The Trump administration adopted almost two-thirds of Heritage's proposals in its first year.

This project is a combined effort of many conservative groups aiming to ensure a strong administration starts in January 2025. They plan to take back the government with the right policies and well-prepared staff.

The project focuses on four key areas to create an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day plan, as per the official website.

If put into action, Project 2025, detailed in a 922-page handbook, would greatly increase executive power and allow the president to fill the federal workforce with loyal supporters.

The project has gone viral, but former president Trump has not endorsed it.

However, the former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office and a senior adviser for Project 2025, John McEntee, a Trump aide, said in April that the campaign and the project team plan to "integrate a lot of our work" this summer.