WASHINGTON — Former Donald Trump staffer and Project 2025 co-author 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 a hidden-camera video of the conversation between the influential Trump and Heritage insider and two reporters pretending to be relatives of a wealthy right-wing donor were 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 disclosed that his MAGA think tank, the Center for Renewing America (CRA), would propose “doing it from the back door” by “making pornography websites legally liable if minors use them.”
Vought expressed satisfaction that age verification laws “lead pornography companies to stop doing business.”
As XBIZ reported, the Center for Renewing America was founded in 2021 by former Trump staffers, with the explicit purpose of helping 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 the CRA 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,” and described his work as “creating ‘shadow’ agencies.”
Vought also claimed that Trump has “blessed” the CRA and is “very supportive” of its work.
CRA spokesperson Rachel Cauley 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.
An Anti-Porn Trump Insider Who is ‘Pretty Close to Christian Nationalism’
In contrast to attempts by Trump and his campaign to distance themselves from Project 2025, CNN noted that Vought recently served as policy director for the Republican National Convention committee that formulated the party’s new official platform, calling that task “a sign of how central he is to Republicans’ policy goals.”
In the video, CNN reports, Vought also complains that conservatives have “lacked the ability to argue we are a Christian nation” and advocates for 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.”
Vought stresses, “I want to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation. 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.”
In a Washington Post article, columnist Philip Bump contends that 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.
“That’s why Trump can’t escape Vought and the Heritage Foundation,” Bump adds. “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
