Economist Stephen Moore, who has advised President Donald Trump, announced his resignation from the conservative Heritage Foundation on Thursday, as the think tank deals with significant controversy over its handling of antisemitism.
Moore, an evangelist of lower taxes and supply-side economics, said in a brief statement that he was resigning to focus more of his energy on his group Unleash Prosperity, which supports free markets, repealing regulations, and more.
“After 12 happy and productive years, I have decided to resign my position as senior visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation in order to concentrate my work load on continuing to build up @Comm4Prosperity and the mounting influence of our daily Hotline,” Moore said on social media.
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The resignation comes at a turbulent time for the Heritage Foundation, which is perhaps the most influential conservative think tank in the United States.
The Heritage Foundation was thrust into the spotlight recently when President Kevin Roberts posted a video where he defended former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who recently had white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, drawing condemnation from many on the Right.
The resulting backlash culminated in an all-hands meeting at the think tank where Roberts apologized. The Washington Free Beacon published a video of the event.
“I made a mistake and I let you down and I let down this institution. Period. Full Stop,” Roberts told the staff in the meeting.
Heritage Foundation Executive Vice President Derrick Morgan addressed the resignation in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
“Steve Moore is a gifted communicator for free markets,” Morgan said. “He’s been an important partner to Heritage, and we look forward to other opportunities to work with Steve in the future.”
Amid the fallout of the video, Roberts’s chief of staff Ryan Neuhaus resigned from his position at the think tank. Roberts said Wednesday that Neuhaus was behind the remarks in question.
“Our former chief of staff had the pen,” Roberts said. “When the script was presented to me … I understood from our former colleague that it was approved, it was signed off on by the handful of colleagues who are part of that. Still my fault, I should have had the wisdom to say, ‘Time out, let’s double check this.’”
Two members from the group’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which is a coalition dubbed Project Esther, resigned this week.
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Joel Griffith is a senior fellow at Advancing American Freedom, a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence. Griffith previously worked at the Heritage Foundation and criticized both Carlson’s and Roberts’ ties to Carlson during a phone call.
“This guy, Tucker, he’s not a conservative,” Griffith said. “He should not be home in the conservative movement, and Dr. Roberts has been, I think, tarnishing the reputation of the Heritage Foundation ever since he entered into that partnership with Tucker Carlson. So I’m just deeply disappointed.”
