Trump picks people who worked on Project 2025 despite distancing himself

In one of his earliest interviews as a leader of Donald Trump’s transition team, Howard Lutnick was emphatic.

“Absolutely zero. No connection. Zero,” Lutnick said on CNBC, referring to ties between the transition team and Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a second Trump term that had become a political liability for the Republican nominee.

“I won’t take a list from them,” Lutnick added in the Sept. 16 interview. “I won’t take a topic from them. I won’t touch them. They made themselves nuclear.”

But just over two months later, Trump has won the presidency and is assembling an administration that includes some picks for key positions that stand in stark contrast to his repeated efforts to distance himself from Project 2025.

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