The far-right think tank behind the controversial pro-Trump Project 2025 plan is filing a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to find out what employees at NASA said privately about former President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, Reuters reported on Friday.
This plan, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, "is part of that organization's ongoing push to help Trump weed out uncooperative civil servants if he is reelected to the White House in November," an executives told Reuters.
The Heritage Foundation also wants to determine "in the conservative group's view, whether agencies like NASA are thwarting progress for private companies like SpaceX, Musk's rocket and satellite venture" or whether they are improperly basing policy on "cultural and identity politics," according to the report.
This comes after previous reporting that the Heritage Foundation was similarly filing other FOIA requests with other agencies.
The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which has become a key focal point in the election, advocates for Trump to replace the civil service with GOP loyalists, seize direct control of independent agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, enshrine Christian nationalism in law, and terminate or defund a broad range of federal programs.
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As the program has become known to voters and polling found it to be unpopular, Trump has sought to distance himself from it.
Trump said he had nothing to do with Project 2025 — even though many of its advisers came to Heritage from his administration, and even though Trump himself sought to implement similar policies on his way out of office.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is a massive government contractor that plays a key role in the U.S. space program.
In recent years, Musk has moved far-right, reportedly engaging with white nationalists on X and endorsing Trump.
Trump has proposed putting Musk in charge of a government efficiency commission that would potentially oversee mass layoffs of civil servants.
