After information reviews that President-elect Donald Trump was prone to decide U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as his secretary of state, one social media consumer shared a video of Rubio talking on the Heritage Basis.
A Nov. 11 Threads publish’s caption mentioned, “BREAKING: Donald Trump simply introduced that Senator Marco Rubio will likely be his Secretary of State. Right here is Rubio admitting the Trump Presidency will lean closely into the Heritage Basis’s Challenge 2025 plans. Retweet so each American sees this clip.”
The Threads publish was flagged as a part of Meta’s efforts to fight false information and misinformation on its Information Feed. (Learn extra about our partnership with Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and Threads.)
The publish sought to tie the incoming Trump administration to Challenge 2025, a sweeping coverage proposal the Heritage Basis produced for a Republican administration. A video within the publish performed a clip of Rubio talking on the conservative assume tank.
However the publish inaccurately describes what Rubio mentioned within the clip, and ignores that Rubio was chatting with the group in 2015 — eight years earlier than Challenge 2025 was revealed.
Join PolitiFact texts
(Screenshot from Threads)
Within the Threads video, Rubio mentioned, “Thanks to Heritage for inviting us right here, giving us a chance, and for all of the scholarship that they do right here. That actually serves as a guidepost for lots of the general public coverage we select to make.”
He didn’t point out Challenge 2025, nor did he within the full video of the April 15, 2015, occasion, at which Rubio joined fellow Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to debate tax reform.
Rubio couldn’t have talked about Challenge 2025 in 2015 as a result of the plan wasn’t revealed till April 2023. The video additionally exhibits a “Street to the White Home 2016” emblem. (Two days earlier, Rubio had introduced his personal presidential run, which he would later finish in March 2016 after Trump beat him within the Florida Republican main.)
Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats equally tried to make Challenge 2025 a serious marketing campaign problem and tried to tie it to Trump.
Trump sought to distance himself from Challenge 2025 through the marketing campaign, calling some elements of the plan “ridiculous.” The New York Instances reported that about 175 former Trump administration officers and advisers helped write the plan, and a few of its coverage proposals, akin to eliminating the Schooling Division, mirror Trump’s.
Trump to this point has named Tom Homan, previously his appearing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, as his “border czar.” Homan, a visiting fellow on the Heritage Basis, is listed as considered one of dozens of Challenge 2025 contributors.
A CBS Information evaluation of Challenge 2025 discovered greater than 700 particular coverage proposals. Its assessment discovered that no less than 270 matched Trump’s previous insurance policies or current marketing campaign guarantees.
Challenge 2025 requires in depth overhauls within the govt department and attracts on long-held conservative ideas, akin to tax cuts that Trump has agreed with or might agree with. Trump, on his personal, revealed a much less particular agenda throughout his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
When requested about Challenge 2025 in a July CNN interview, Rubio mentioned he likes the Heritage Basis and a few issues it stands for. However he described Challenge 2025 as a assume tank’s work, not as one thing talking for Trump.
There could also be some overlap between Challenge 2025 and the insurance policies Trump will search to enact, however the declare that this 2015 video exhibits Rubio “admitting” that Trump will lean closely on the plan is False.
RELATED: How correct are warnings by Democrats, Kamala Harris about Donald Trump’s ‘Challenge 2025 agenda?’
