Project 2025 mastermind clashes with reporter during book launch: "Go to hell!"

New York, New York - During a recent event, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and Donald Trump surrogate, went off on a reporter for asking him about Project 2025.

Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, recently clashed with a reporter from The Guardian who asked about Project 2025.
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, recently clashed with a reporter from The Guardian who asked about Project 2025.  © IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

On Tuesday, Adam Gabbatt – a reporter with The Guardian – attended a launch event at the Kimberly Hotel in midtown Manhattan for Roberts' new book, Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.

Gabbatt was granted a brief interview with Roberts, whose staff member introduced him as "our best friend Adam from the Guardian."

But Roberts was clearly not thrilled to speak with the outlet, as he demanded Gabbatt make his first question good, or "you're going to pound sand."

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The interview quickly grew more contentious, with Roberts calling the outlet "liars," and as Gabbatt began asking about Project 2025 – the Heritage Foundation's extremely conservative policy blueprint for a second Trump term that emphasizes Christian Nationalist values and the separation of powers – Roberts clapped back, "Go to hell!"

He then abruptly ended the discussion, telling Gabbatt, "No, we're done, I'm not talking to you."

Gabbatt was ejected from the event soon after by security without explanation.

What got Kevin Roberts so upset?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (l.) speaking with Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts during an event in National Harbor, Maryland on April 21, 2023.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (l.) speaking with Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts during an event in National Harbor, Maryland on April 21, 2023.  © Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Throughout the presidential race, Trump repeatedly claimed he has no ties to Project 2025, but a CNN report found that at least 140 people who either previously worked for him or under his first presidential administration had contributed to it.

Robert's new book actually features a forward written by Trump's current running mate, JD Vance, who described Roberts as an important figure in the "new future for conservatism."

Earlier this year, while speaking about Project 2025, Roberts said the country was "in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

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While it's not clear why Roberts had so much vitriol for the Guardian reporter, it may have something to do with the outlet's reporting on him in recent months.

Back in July, the Guardian revealed that Roberts has close ties to a radical Catholic group named Opus Dei, and in September, the outlet reported that he once bragged about killing his neighbor's dog.

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

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