Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts apologized to staff for his controversial video defending Tucker Carlson, and faced brutal criticism from the think tank’s scholars for how he handled the matter, in a leaked all-staff meeting on Wednesday.
“I made a mistake, and I let you down, and I let down this institution. Period. Full stop,” Roberts said while opening the all-staff meeting. The Washington Free Beacon published video of the meeting.
The meeting was followed by another direct-to-camera statement from Roberts, saying he would challenge Carlson: “Everyone has the responsibility to speak up against the scourge of antisemitism, no matter the messenger. Heritage and I will do so, even when my friend Tucker Carlson needs challenging.”
The Wednesday statements are the latest effort to clean up the turmoil that has followed Roberts’ forceful defense of Carlson after he interviewed antisemitic commentator Nick Fuentes last week, asserting that Heritage would not bow to the “venomous coalition” trying to “cancel” Carlson over the interview with Fuentes.
That video sparked outrage from Republican politicians, Heritage’s allies in the conservative movement, and from staff within the organization — many of whom voiced their deep concerns at Wednesday’s meeting.
Explaining how the video came to be, Roberts said that there were “vectors” coming into Heritage in the wake of Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, calling on the think tank — which has hosted Carlson and sponsored his podcast — to distance itself from the former Fox News commentator.
“I didn’t know much about this Fuentes guy. Still don’t — Which underscores the mistake,” Roberts said.
“The process was rushed. It involved too few people. Our former chief of staff had the pen. I’m the one who recorded the video. The buck stops on the desk in my office,” Roberts said. “So, whatever accountability comes from this, I get and I deserve.”
Roberts had reassigned his chief of staff in the wake of uproar over the video, who later resigned.
He said that “venomous coalition” was a “terrible choice of words, especially for our Jewish colleagues and friends.”
Roberts said he had spoken to members of the think tank’s board of trustees in “informal conversations — not emergency board meetings,” he said, in reference to rumors that an emergency meeting was called over the weekend. And he said that Yoram Hazony, an Israeli philosopher and author of the book The Virtue of Nationalism, had flown to Washington, D.C., to assist with the crisis.
He fielded brutal comments and questions over more than an hour and a half that exposed a civil war within the institution, with some staff members saying they had no confidence in his leadership in the wake of the video, while others argued that he should stay on.
Those included Robert Rector, one of the longest-serving senior research fellows at the Heritage Foundation, who said that Carlson’s show “is like stepping into a lunatic asylum.”
Amy Swearer, senior legal fellow, told Roberts he showed “a stunning lack of both courage and judgement,” adding: “I don’t know how I can stand here with a straight face and tell you that I have confidence in your leadership.”
Senior research fellow Rachel Greszler voiced concerns about the organization’s policy positions, “are increasingly being decided in closed-door meetings among a few elite people … often in utter disregard to the policy experts themselves and to decades of longstanding Heritage positions.”
The video defending Carlson was the “final straw,” Greszler said, telling Roberts: “I do not believe you are the right person to lead the Heritage Foundation.”
Senior fellow Mike Gonzalez, on the other hand, asked Roberts not to resign — saying it would be “disastrous to those of us who want to fight Mamdani,” in reference to New York City’s Democratic socialist mayor-elect.
Roberts later said in response to Gonzalez in a post on X that he would not resign. “I took your advice, went back to my office, and thought about it. I’m staying. I’m all in. I’m here for you. I’m here for the team. Let’s go win!”
The meeting was not fully a tear-down of Roberts. One unidentified younger female staffer spoke in support of Roberts and his original statement — underscoring the generational divide on Israel on the right.
“I would like to point out that some of the most vocal people against Tucker Carlson have been calling him an antisemite since he started to hold more anti-interventionalist views. A handful of young colleagues and I had no issue with the points you made in the original video,” the young staffer said.
Several staff members decried the leaks of Heritage messages and group chats that came out in the last week, with leaders warning that those caught leaking would be fired and Gonzalez saying that those who did “know in your heart you’re a Judas.”
In response to the leak, the Heritage Foundation provided a statement from the organization’s chief advancement officer, Andy Olivastro, “At today’s scheduled monthly staff town hall, our Heritage team engaged in discussion with our usual spirit of candor. We are grateful for a team that can handle productive and challenging discourse.”
“Our work at Heritage is difficult—but necessary—and requires open dialogue like the one we had today. Lest anyone be misled, this leak is about the Swamp and Establishment trying to dislodge Heritage, Kevin Roberts, and the broader America First movement, off the battlefield. Our commitment to fight for the American people is unwavering. We will never give up,” Olivastro said.
