Paul Dans is an American lawyer and conservative political operative best known for leading

Project 2025 Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in ...

, the

Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose polic ...

's 2025 presidential transition project intended to reshape the United States federal government to reflect right-wing policies. Dans was fired by the Heritage Foundation on July 25, 2024.

Early life and education

Dans' father was a professor at

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, th ...

, and his mother had worked for

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

and then became a schoolteacher. Dans has three siblings. His ancestors' roots are in the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

faith. Dans received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

with a major in economics and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in city planning from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. Dans worked at architecture and planning firms before attending law school at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, where he was president of the law school's

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

chapter. He later practice law in New York City.

Career

Law

Following law school, Dans worked at multiple law firms, including LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and

Debevoise & Plimpton Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is an international white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City, with offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Luxembourg. The firm specializes in intellectual ...

, before running a solo law practice for a number of years.

Trump administration

Dans worked as a senior advisor in the

Office of Community Planning and Development The Office of Community Planning and Development is an agency within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The office administers the grant programs that help communities plan and finance their growth and development ...

at the

US Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It administers federal ...

. Dans then served in the

first Trump administration Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...

as chief of staff at the U.S.

Office of Personnel Management The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the United States federal civil service. The agency provides federal human resources policy, oversight, and support, a ...

, where he managed the federal agency in charge of human resources policy for the more than two million federal workers. He also served as the Office of Personnel Management's White House liaison and worked with the White House Office of Presidential Personnel to staff the approximately 4,000 presidential appointees across the federal government. Dans worked closely with John McEntee to remove longtime public servants from government. Dans was hired without the knowledge of Dale Cabaniss, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, who resigned abruptly in 2020.

Project 2025

Dans helped to launch Project 2025 in April 2022 and led it until August 2024. Dans described the project as "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army faligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the

deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...

". In 2023, Dans stated that Project 2025 had a "great" relationship with President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. However,

RealClearPolitics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator. It was founded in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. It features selected polit ...

reported that Dans had, in fact, repeatedly clashed with the 2024 Trump campaign. On July 30, 2024, Dans announced he was stepping down from his position as project director, the following month following public criticism by Trump. However, RealClearPolitics reported that Dans was terminated from his position after Heritage had concluded an investigation into his alleged abusive and demeaning behavior, especially towards women. His request for a $3.1 million lump sum, following the termination of his tenure, was rejected.

Family

Paul Dans's twin brother Thomas Emanuel (Tom) Dans is a venture capitalist and was an official in Donald Trump's first administration. In 2025, his organization American Daybreak coordinated controversial trips to Greenland by Donald Trump Jr. and

Usha Vance Usha Bala Chilukuri Vance (née Chilukuri; born January 6, 1986) is an American lawyer who has been the Second ladies and gentlemen of the United States, second lady of the United States since 2025, being married to Vice President JD Vance. A ...

, which were criticized for their promotion of the second Trump administration's Greenland policy.

Early life and education

Career

Law

Trump administration

Project 2025

Family

References

Further reading