Posted on 11/05/25
| News Source: Washington Times
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told staffers Wednesday that he “made a mistake” with his much-criticized video defending anti-Israel host Tucker Carlson, but that he wants to stay and clean up what he called “the mess.”
“I made a mistake and I let you down and I let down this institution, and I am sorry for that. Period. Full stop,” Mr. Roberts said during the internal staff meeting, as shown on a video posted on YouTube by the Washington Free Beacon.
The nearly two-hour gathering was private, but the video of Mr. Roberts’ remarks and questions from employees was leaked almost immediately afterward to multiple news outlets.
All indications are that Mr. Roberts plans to brazen it out despite rising calls for him to step down over his Oct. 30 video statement defending Mr. Carlson’s softball interview with antisemitic provocateur Nick Fuentes.
He said he told Heritage’s board of trustees that “I made the mess, I want to clean it up,” describing it as a “moral obligation.”
Not everyone wants him to stick around.
Amy Swearer, Heritage senior legal fellow, told Mr. Roberts that some employees would like to see him quit, but are afraid to say so, according to the Jewish News Syndicate.
“Dr. Roberts, over the last week, you have shown a stunning lack of both courage and judgment,” Ms. 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.”