Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans

By LISA MASCARO
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — An outside group is quietly investigating scores of federal employees suspected of being hostile to the conservative policies promised by Republican Donald Trump. With a $100,000 grant from the influential Heritage Foundation, the American Accountability Foundation is digging into the backgrounds of key high-ranking government employees, starting with Department of Homeland Security. It shows the lengths Trump’s allies are willing to go to make sure no one can stop a potential second-term agenda. Democracy experts and a government federal employees union say the move conjures up the McCarthy-era “red scare.” Heritage’s Project 2025 has a plan to make it easier to fire federal workers, but the Biden administration instituted a new rule to try to prevent that.