Months afterRepublicanSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sparked controversy by admitting in her memoir to killing her dog, another disturbing story involving animal cruelty has emerged withinGOP ranks. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and the architect of Project 2025, is now at the center of allegations that he admitted to killing a neighbor’s dog with a shovel in 2004.
According to a report from The Guardian, Roberts allegedly confessed to the act during a dinner party with colleagues while working as a history professor atNew Mexico State University.
Kenneth Hammond, who led the history department at the university during that period, told The Guardian, “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.”
Roberts, who denies the allegations, called the story “patently untrue and baseless.” He claimed that the dog in question had attempted to jump into his backyard while he was gardening with his daughter but was restrained before causing harm. However, several of his former colleagues have corroborated the recollection that Roberts openly spoke about killing the dog at the time.
Daniel Aran lived next door to Roberts at the time. His pit bull, Loca, went missing in 2004, around the time of the alleged incident. Aran told The Guardian, “I’m not here to make up stories or to say he did it. But it was right around 2004 when all that happened, that Loca was missing… I wish I could say, yeah, I know this fool did that. But I can’t tell you that. But what I can tell you is that my dog went missing, and we never found her.”
It is not the first time Republicans have shared unsettling stories involving animals. This spring, Noemy faced significant backlash after revealing in her book No Going Back that she killed her dog Cricket, after it became too unruly. She also described killing a family goat under similar circumstances.
Roberts is a key architect of Project 2025—a more than 900-page policy blueprint to “institutionalize Trumpism” in a second Trump administration. The plan includes dismantlingLGBTQ+ rights, banning abortion, and implementing far-right policies across the federal government, as well as loyalty tests for government employees. Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have attempted to distance themselves from the controversial plan involving dozens of former Trump administration officials.
