While Democrats continue to play the debunked “Project 2025” narrative on a loop, their ties to a similar but wildly progressive organization are coming to light.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is considered the most influential think tank during the Biden administration. The group says it has helped turn ten policy ideas into new laws and actions. Patrick Gaspard, the president of CAP, has visited the White House more than 20 times between December 2021 and January 2024, including five meetings with top Biden officials.
According to visitor logs, CAP director Navin Nayak has visited the Biden White House at least 20 times. Ron Klain, Biden’s former chief of staff on the CAP Action Fund, praised their work with the Biden administration on his X account.
Many former CAP employees, including former president Neera Tanden, have joined the Biden administration in various roles.
According to a White House press release, Tanden was promoted to Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor, taking over from Susan Rice in May 2023.
In late 2020, six people from CAP joined Biden’s team during the transition to his presidency, working in different government positions in the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Labor departments. In 2022, President Biden hired CAP founder John Podesta as a senior advisor on clean energy. Podesta was in charge of managing about $370 billion in climate funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. Later, Biden chose Podesta to be his climate diplomat after John Kerry left the role.
Some top Republicans criticized Podesta because of his past connections with China when he was at CAP. Fox News Digital reported that Podesta had a close relationship with a top Chinese official named Tung Chee-hwa, whom he called his “friend.”
CAP has supported several progressive ideas, such as controlling speech it thinks is “misinformation,” using tax money to help with student loan payments, paying for reparations, requiring diversity and inclusion rules, using federal funds for abortion by removing the Hyde Amendment, and getting rid of gas-powered cars.
CAP supports ideas like setting term limits for Supreme Court justices and adding more justices, which are also goals of Demand Justice, a left-wing group co-founded by Harris’ former senior campaign adviser, Brian Fallon.
CAP’s influence on Biden affected his campaign messages before leaving the race. In 2022, the Washington Post reported that Biden’s decision to call Trump “ultra MAGA” came from a six-month research project by the CAP Action Fund, led by Biden’s top aide and former CAP worker, Anita Dunn.
VP Harris has worked with the Center for American Progress (CAP) since her time as California’s attorney general, when she joined the group for a phone press conference. She has also been involved in several CAP events, and her sister, Maya Harris, joined CAP as a senior fellow, as noted in a 2013 press release. Tanden praised Maya Harris for her efforts to make the U.S. more inclusive and was excited about her role at CAP.
Even with its strong connections to the Biden administration, CAP criticizes Project 2025 on its website, calling it a “far-right attack on America” that will guide a “far-right presidential administration.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, a CAP spokesperson also said that the Heritage Foundation is “no longer a think tank.”
Democrats have frequently criticized Trump over Project 2025, even running an ad connecting him to the project last week. Although many high-level people involved with Project 2025 have worked with Trump before, he has denied involvement with the group.
Earlier this year, Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez told Fox News Digital that the only policies Trump supports for a second term are “Agenda 47” and the Republican National Committee (RNC) platform.
A spokesperson for Project 2025 told Fox News Digital that the group does not represent Trump or his campaign. They said the group continues its long history of preparing policy and personnel ideas for future conservative presidents. They pointed out that the Heritage Foundation has been creating similar policy recommendations since 1980, with President Reagan using their book for cabinet meetings.
While Harris continues to tout fictitious connections between Trump and Project 2025, her own administration’s deep ties to the rabidly progressive CAP have gone unnoticed. CAP is showing no signs of slowing down, and if Harris takes the Oval Office in November, the organization’s sky is the limit.