Project 2025 architect accused of telling colleagues he killed a pit bull with a shovel: report

The head of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative group behind Project 2025, allegedly told colleagues decades ago that he killed a neighbor’s dog with a shovel, according to a report.

Former colleagues recalled to The Guardian that Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, told them that he had killed his neighbor’s pit bull around 2004 because the dog’s barking was bothering his family. Roberts, now the architect of the right-wing blueprint for a second Trump presidency, was an assistant professor of history at New Mexico State University from 2003 to 2005.

Kenneth Hammond, the history department chair at the time, told the outlet: “My recollection of his account was that he was discussing in the hallway with various members of the faculty, including me, that a neighbor’s dog had been barking pretty relentlessly and was, you know, keeping the baby and probably the parents awake and that he kind of lost it and took a shovel and killed the dog. End of problem.”

Five others — four professors and one professor’s spouse — also shared similar accounts with The Guardian. The sources never mentioned whether the pit bull had ever posed a threat to his family.

Roberts vehemently denied the claims and shared a very different version of events.

“This is a patently untrue and baseless story backed by zero evidence,” he told the outlet. “In 2004, a neighbor’s chained pit bull attempted to jump a fence into my backyard as I was gardening with my young daughter. Thankfully, the owner arrived in time to restrain the animal before it could get loose and attack us.”

He also claimed that the city — Las Cruces — later removed “more than ten dogs” from his neighbor’s property due to animal abuse. Las Cruces Animal