Heritage Foundation Says Project 2025 Director Was Fired for Professional Misconduct, Not Trump Fallout

The breakup between the Heritage Foundation and the former head of its controversial effort to establish a policy agenda for the next Republican presidential administration is becoming increasingly bitter.

Heritage parted ways in July with Project 2025 director Paul Dans, a split that appeared amicable when it was first announced. Dans, a former Trump administration official, joined Heritage to run Project 2025, the polarizing personnel and policy blueprint that’s become a critical focus for Democrats, even as the Trump campaign and former president Trump himself take pains to distance themselves from the agenda.

Dans’s departure from Heritage was widely seen as a reflection of the public-relations failure around Project 2025, but it appears he was fired after an internal investigation into allegations of repeated incidents of unprofessional behavior and demeaning treatment of colleagues, National Review has learned. Dans’s termination and sour relationship with Heritage was first reported by RealClearPolitics.

“Paul Dans was terminated from the Heritage Foundation due to a number of related issues, including his dismissive and unprofessional approach to interacting with a number of his colleagues.  After some specific disconcerting interactions were brought to the attention of senior management, an internal review was conducted and a decision was made to separate Mr. Dans’ employment as amicably as possible,” Kelly Adams, Heritage’s director of people operations, told National Review in a statement.

The Harris campaign and elected Democrats at all levels have repeatedly pointed to Project 2025 to paint Republicans as extremists, while Trump maintains he has no idea what’s in the policy agenda and has no intention of following its recommendations if elected. Dans told National Review that Heritage is scapegoating him for the project’s rocky reception and denied the allegations of professional misconduct.

“I was made a scapegoat by The Heritage Foundation to cover up for their own mishandling of the public relations fiasco over Project 2025,” Dans said in a statement.

“These statements that you have provided to me are false and it appears that the Heritage Foundation continues to trash my name and professional reputation for their benefit.  This attack is coming because I dared to speak out against Kevin Robert’s [sic] violent rhetoric,” he added.

Heritage, meanwhile, is accusing Dans of spreading false accusations about his termination and the organization’s employees.

“We are deeply disappointed that Mr. Dans is using the liberal media to attack Heritage’s decision to terminate him, thereby making the rationale behind his dismissal public. We will not allow him to falsely attack Heritage and its people, without defending the difficult decision to terminate Paul’s employment based on facts. We will continue to defend our staff and our institution from false narratives and disgruntled former employees,” Adams added.

Dans’s emotional behavior reached a tipping point at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee two months ago, sources within the Heritage Foundation told NR. At the time, Democrats had recently begun attacking Project 2025’s bold agenda and turning it into campaign fodder.

Several interactions at the RNC left staffers concerned about his abrupt and demeaning conduct, prompting Heritage to launch an internal investigation. Dans’s behavior left staffers unable to fully perform their responsibilities as Project 2025 suddenly found itself navigating a media firestorm. Those interactions were part of a pattern for Dans, whose conduct became verbally abusive at times, particularly to female colleagues, sources said.

During one meeting at the RNC described by Real Clear Politics, Dans berated and swore at colleagues over their poor performance, until Heritage president Kevin Roberts stepped in and gave him a warning.

Heritage sought to split from Dans amicably and offered a generous severance agreement, but Dans’s legal counsel requested a $3.1 million lump-sum payment, an offer Heritage rejected, RealClearPolitics reported.

In June, Roberts appeared on pro-Trump podcaster Steve Bannon’s show and said conservatives are waging a “second American revolution” to defeat the left. Roberts insisted the revolution “will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” a statement many interpreted as having violent undertones.

Dans denounced Roberts’s remarks during an interview with CNN earlier this month, but stood by the ideas Project 2025 is putting forward. Recently, Dans spoke to the New York Times about what he considers the Trump campaign’s poor strategic decisions. He attributed the mistakes to top advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he blames for the close presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

LaCivita, for his part, has called Project 2025 a “pain in the ass” for the Trump Campaign.

“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,” LaCivita said in a statement issued after Dans’s departure from Heritage was announced.

Trump’s running mate, Senator J. D. Vance (R., Ohio), wrote the foreword for Roberts’s upcoming book, Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America. The book’s publication was delayed until after the election because of the controversy surrounding Project 2025, and its title was changed from a more inflammatory version.