Mass resignations from the Heritage Foundation continued on Monday, as more than a dozen former staffers from the conservative think tank announced they were joining former vice president Mike Pence’s policy organization.
The moves come amid the ongoing fallout from Heritage president Kevin Roberts’s decision to defend media personality Tucker Carlson for giving a friendly interview to neo-Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes, which Roberts said later was a “mistake” but that he would stick by Carlson.
Pence stated that 13 former staffers from Heritage’s Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law and the Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise would join his Advancing American Freedom foundation.
“Advancing American Freedom is honored to welcome these principled conservative scholars to the team,” Pence said. “They bring a wealth of experience, a love of country and a deep commitment to the constitution and conservative movement that will further the cause of liberty.”
The Heritage Foundation told JNS that two of those staffers at the Meese center—its director, John Malcolm, and deputy director of programs, Jessica Reinsch—were fired for cause.
“John Malcolm and Jessica Reinsch were terminated for conduct inconsistent with Heritage’s mission and standards,” Andrew Olivastro, Heritage’s chief advancement officer, told JNS. “Breach of fiduciary duty and intellectual property removal led to immediate actions. Others who departed were closely aligned with them. Their departures clear the way for a stronger, more focused team.”
“Heritage has always welcomed debate, but alignment on mission and loyalty to the institution are non-negotiable,” he added. “A handful of staff chose a different path—some through disruption, others through disloyalty.”
JNS sought comment from Advancing American Freedom.
Heritage’s leaders have repeatedly invoked the need for loyalty to the organization and accused its naysayers of treachery, with Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at Heritage, describing Heritage staffers who leaked information to the press as “a Judas” at an in-house staff meeting in November.
Many of those who have resigned from Heritage have condemned the organization for failing to stand against Jew-hatred.
Josh Blackman, a professor of constitutional law at South Texas College of Law Houston, wrote in his resignation letter as senior editor of the “Heritage Guide to the Constitution” on Sunday that Roberts’ actions had made his position “untenable.”
“Heritage came to a crashing halt after your infamous video,” Blackman said. “Your initial remarks were indefensible. Your apology was underwhelming, and the lack of any meaningful follow-up over the past three months has been telling. For reasons only you know, you aligned the Heritage Foundation with the rising tide of antisemitism on the right.”
Blackman, who is Jewish, told JNS on Sunday that it’s regrettable that “it falls to Jewish people to speak up against antisemitism.”
“I wish more people in the conservative movement took action and spoke up,” Blackman said. “But given there was no change at Heritage, I felt compelled to step down. On this final night of Chanukah, may light spread where there is darkness.”
Amy Swearer, who is one of the senior legal fellows departing Heritage for Advancing American Freedom, delivered one of the most blistering criticisms of Roberts at the November town hall.
“Dr. Roberts, over the last week, you have shown a stunning lack of both courage and judgment,” Swearer said. “There’s nothing ambiguous about what we saw happen. Tucker Carlson invited a Holocaust-denying neo-Nazi onto his show and then spent roughly two hours doing little more than flirting with him.”
Other members of Heritage who have resigned in recent weeks include three of its trustees, Shane McCullar, Abby Spencer Moffat and Robert George, professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University. Heritage’s antisemitism task force has also separated from the conservative think tank “for a season.”
A source at the Heritage Foundation told JNS that Roberts has “lost control of the organization” in an effort to transform the once-storied think tank into “his own personality cult” with the help of board chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby and chief operating officer Eric Korsvall.
“The Heritage board of trustees under Barb Van Andel-Gaby has failed in their fiduciary obligation to protect the staff from harm, and they should all be sued in a massive class-action lawsuit and we are in discussions with lawyers about that now,” the source said.
“The bullying we have suffered at the hands of Kevin and his minions, such as Eric Korsvall, over the past two months has been intolerable,” the source added. “There is no excuse for Kevin Roberts’s antisemitism, and he must go.”
