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Democracy & Rule of Law · Report · File No. 261111-758

Guardian: Trump team altered or erased hundreds of datasets, following Project 2025

A Guardian analysis found the administration has carried out most of nearly 100 Project 2025 proposals to change or remove government data. Older Americans rely on that data for health, retirement and economic information.

By the Investigations Desk · · 2 min read

Every quote in this story (2) was matched word for word against its source. How we work

My clippings

The Guardian reported Wednesday that the Trump administration has terminated or altered hundreds of federal datasets in less than two years. It also said thousands of government webpages on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the climate crisis and other issues have been quietly revised or wiped 1.

The Guardian says much of this traces to Project 2025, the 900-page Heritage Foundation blueprint for a rightwing overhaul of the federal government. Its reporters reviewed the whole document and found nearly 100 proposals to distort government data, research and guidance. The administration has already carried out most of them, the Guardian found 1.

What experts say

Gretchen Gehrke co-founded the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, a non-profit that tracks the suppression of scientific information. She said the administration is using data control to advance its goals 1.

This administration is using information control as a means of achieving their agenda
Gretchen Gehrke, co-founder, Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (non-profit)1

James Goodwin of the Center for Progressive Reform said the data is an easy target. He called it a "horrifying realization" of the second Trump term how much control presidents have over federal data systems 1.

The White House did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment. The Guardian also asked the Heritage Foundation for comment and received no response 1.

How the Guardian did its analysis

The Guardian used a language-processing program to scan Project 2025 for passages likely about deleting or changing data. Reporters then reviewed more than 500 entries by hand. They checked whether each proposal had been carried out using news reports, executive orders and agency documents 1.

A pattern that began in 2025

The removals began in late January 2025. Human Rights Watch reported that pages and datasets disappeared from agencies including the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They included HIV/AIDS pages and racial disparity data 2. Some pages were later restored, but Human Rights Watch said there was no full accounting of what was removed or brought back 2.

ABC's Good Morning America reported in February 2025 that the federal data portal Data.gov listed nearly 308,000 datasets on Jan. 19, 2025. The count was about 305,500 three days later. The article noted that this is only a rough measure of the loss 3.

What happens next

The Guardian says Democrats regained control of the House and Senate in last week's midterm elections. Experts told the paper that gives Congress a chance to examine how the information was taken down and what gaps in data protection were exploited 1.

Goodwin said Project 2025 could serve as a guide for that work 1.

Project 2025 will be a useful diagnostic tool for leading congressional oversight because it allows them to reverse engineer everything that’s transpired over the past two years
James Goodwin, policy director, Center for Progressive Reform1

That matters because families, doctors, businesses and retirees use federal numbers to make decisions. Good Morning America cited a Commerce Department estimate that industries heavily reliant on government data reached nearly $800 billion in revenue in 2022 3. When a dataset disappears or changes without notice, the public loses a way to check what officials say.

The Guardian is asking readers to report deleted or altered government materials at deleted-data@theguardian.com 1.

The Record

  1. Data.gov listed nearly 308,000 datasets the day before Trump took office; about 305,500 by Jan. 22 3.
  2. Removals of pages and datasets from agencies including the Census Bureau and CDC began late this Friday 2.
  3. The Guardian reports the administration has carried out most of nearly 100 Project 2025 data proposals 1.
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Sources

  1. The Guardian, “Project 2025 had a plan to target federal data. The Trump administration obeyed” (2026-11-11). theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/nov/11/project-2
  2. Human Rights Watch, “US information erasure hurts everyone” (2025-02-07). hrw.org/news/2025/02/07/us-information-erasure-hurts-everyon
  3. Good Morning America, “Why it matters that Trump is deleting government data” (2025-02-20). goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/matters-trump-deleting-gov

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