Rubio says Project 2025 doesn't speak for Trump

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump, on Sunday distanced the former president from comments made by the leader of the Pro-Trump Project 2025.

“Think tanks do think tank stuff. They come up with ideas, they say things,” Rubio said in an interview with host Dana Bash on CNN’s "State of the Union." “But our candidate for president is Donald Trump.”

Rubio was specifically asked about comments from the leader of Project 2025, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts. In an interview with Steve Bannon’s "War Room," Roberts said a “second American Revolution” will be bloodless “ if the left allows it to be .”

“Well, he's not running for president, is he?” Rubio said when asked if he was comfortable with Roberts’ comments. “Our candidate’s Donald Trump. I didn't see Donald Trump say that.”

A number of the most prominent figures in the Project 2025 ecosystem were prominent members of Trump's campaign or his tenure in the White House, including Paul Dans, Ben Carson, John McEntee and Russ Vought, who is also helping to write the Republican Party's platform. Despite that, Trump said on social media about the project designed to offer a blueprint for a second Trump term: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it."

Rubio said that he likes Heritage Foundation and agrees with “some of the things they stand for” but that this is ultimately just a think tank doing its job. “I think it's the work of a think tank — of a center-right think tank and that's what think tanks do,” Rubio said.

The Florida Republican also claimed the policies under the Biden administration are from the work of “ideological lunacy” from liberal think tanks.

As for his own potential vice presidential possibilities, Rubio said he had no news to share eight days before the Republican National Convention. He also said it was “presumptuous” to talk “publicly” about whether he would move from Florida and give up his Senate seat if picked as Trump’s running mate, since, according to the Constitution, the two cannot be residents of the same state.

“That's presumptuous,” Rubio said when asked about the residency situation. “I have no idea who he's going to pick and those, like I said, we will confront those issues when they come.”