A wave of departures from the Heritage Foundation has sent shockwaves through the conservative world. More than a dozen staff members, many from the organization’s legal and economic centers, left to join Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a new think-tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
The Exodus
Heritage President Kevin Roberts first disclosed the exodus in an all-staff email sent late Sunday. AAF announced the addition the following Monday, effectively doubling the 4-year-old organization’s size. Roberts noted that the departures included most of the staff from Heritage’s legal and economic centers. “We wish them well, though the manner of their departures speaks volumes,” Roberts wrote, a statement that The Hill obtained.
The move comes on the heels of a massive internal blow-up that erupted after Roberts defended Tucker Carlson’s interview with antisemitic commentator Nick Fuentes. Roberts later apologized for that defense. The staff’s growing discontent had been simmering long before the October video, as Roberts steered Heritage toward a more Trump-oriented, populist agenda, embracing non-interventionist foreign policy and warming to tariffs that the organization had previously opposed.
Key Movers
The 13 staff moves are led by:
- John Malcolm – former vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government and director of Heritage’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
- Richard Stern – former acting director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.
- Kevin Dayaratna – former director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis and chief statistician.
Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III announced that AAF will now house the new Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, headed by Malcolm. Stern will lead the Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise at AAF, and Dayaratna will head the Center for Statistical Modeling & Scientific Analysis.
Heritage’s Response
Andy Olivastro, Heritage’s chief advancement officer, issued a statement saying the organization had fired two staff members, Malcolm and Jessica Reinsch, last week for “conduct inconsistent with Heritage’s mission and standards,” citing “fiduciary duty and intellectual property removal.” He added:
> “Heritage has always welcomed debate, but alignment on mission and loyalty to the institution are non-negotiable. A handful of staff chose a different path-some through disruption, others through disloyalty.”
Heritage’s board has also been hit by resignations: Shane McCullar and Abby Spencer Moffat stepped down last week, with McCullar accusing the board of being “unwilling to confront the lapses in judgment that have harmed its credibility” and Moffat saying the organization had drifted “from the principles that once defined its leadership.” A third board member, Robert P. George, resigned a month earlier.
Roberts also announced that E.J. Antoni, nominated by Trump to be commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, will serve as acting director of Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis and the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.
AAF’s Rapid Expansion
For AAF, the exodus presented a sudden growth opportunity. AAF President Tim Chapman said talks to absorb the Meese legal center team began several weeks ago. The board approved the expansion on the condition that the organization raise at least 60 percent of a $15 million fundraising goal, sufficient to fund the new project at $5 million a year for three years. After approaching a small number of donors, AAF raised $12 million in just two weeks.
With the new hires, the four-and-a-half-year-old think-tank is doubling in size and is already working to expand its downtown Washington, D.C. office space. More staff additions are expected.
Chapman remarked:
> “This is a reorganization of the conservative movement. People are voting with their feet as to where they think they are best suited to be, and these scholars who have come over from Heritage feel the best place for them to be in order to be principled conservatives and continue to do the work that they’ve been doing, is AAF.”
Additional Departures
Other Heritage-to-AAF moves include Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow who had told Roberts at a leaked all-staff meeting in November that she did not have confidence in his leadership; and senior research fellow Rachel Greszler, who also doubted Roberts’s leadership and said Heritage’s policy positions are “decided in closed-door meetings … often in utter disregard to the policy experts.”
Pence welcomed the new scholars, saying:
> “AAF is honored to welcome these principled conservative scholars to the team. 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.”
Reaction from Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. took to the social platform X to criticize the shift. He wrote:
> “I think it’s great news for Heritage that a bunch of Trump-hating RINOs are leaving. Anyone who would want to work for Mike Pence’s globalist never-Trump organization isn’t MAGA and definitely doesn’t put America First!”
Key Takeaways
- Over a dozen Heritage staffers, including senior legal and economic scholars, have joined AAF, nearly doubling the think-tank’s size.
- The move follows internal turmoil over Roberts’s defense of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes and a broader shift toward a more Trump-oriented agenda.
- AAF’s rapid fundraising and expansion plans are already underway, with $12 million raised in two weeks to support the new projects.
The exodus signals a significant realignment within the conservative movement, as scholars choose new platforms that align more closely with their principles and policy priorities.
