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.”
Other employees offered support for Mr. Roberts and his video, revealing a split at the foundation on Israel.
Mike Gonzalez, Heritage senior fellow, said he “hated the video,” but that “I’m asking you not to resign,” prompting applause from other staff.
One unidentified female staffer said that a “handful of young colleagues and I had no issue with the points you made in the original video,” saying they believe that “Christian Zionism is a modern heresy” and that Generation Z has “an increased unfavorable view of Israel.”
Mr. Roberts apologized for his description of Mr. Carlson’s critics as a “venomous coalition,” calling that phrase a “terrible choice of words.”
He acknowledged that Heritage had a “paid media partnership” over the summer with Mr. Carlson, but that the foundation also had a partnership with pro-Israel commentator Mark Levin “right when they were going at it.”
He also professed ignorance about the views of Mr. Fuentes, a 27-year-old podcast host with one million followers on X known for his outrageous views, including praise for Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
“I didn’t know much about this Fuentes guy. I still don’t, which underscores the mistake,” Mr. Roberts said. “I realized in prayer and in conversations with a lot of friends and colleagues that, in fact, if I made the mess, my moral obligation is to clean it.”
He still has some work to do.
The Israel Innovation Fund said Wednesday that it will withdraw from the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism over “the continued defense of Tucker Carlson by Kevin Roberts,” joining more than a half-dozen other pro-Israel and Jewish groups that have cut ties with the Heritage initiative.
The U.S. group StopAntisemitism called Wednesday for Mr. Roberts to step down “immediately,” describing his decision to align with Mr. Carlson as a “grave failure of leadership.”
Mr. Roberts has said before that he “made a mistake.” He did so during his Monday speech at Hillsdale College, where he reiterated that he won’t “cancel” people and referenced “loyalty toward friends.”
During the staff meeting, Mr. Roberts appeared to pin the blame for the video on Ryan Neuhaus, his former chief of staff, who resigned Monday.
Mr. Roberts said that Mr. Neuhaus “had the pen” and led him to believe that the script had been approved by others at the foundation.
“Still, my fault, I should have had the wisdom to say, ‘Time out, let’s go double check this,’” he said.
Now that this month’s all staff meeting has been leaked, I hope the so-called journalists report on this part, too. pic.twitter.com/rTGXo8lCFJ
— Mike Gonzalez (@Gundisalvus) November 5, 2025
He took questions and listened to criticism from staff, including Victoria Coates, Heritage vice president and one of four co-chairs of its antisemitism task force.
The four co-chairs have called on Mr. Roberts to take down the video from social media, apologize to conservative Jews and Christians who support Israel, condemn Mr. Carlson’s “antisemitic content,” and hold a conference on the fracture in the conservative movement.
The memo posted by National Review also said the task force would like to host Shabbat dinners to promote conversation on the Judeo-Christian tradition with junior staff members and interns, prompting one young employee to push back.
Evan Myers, an advisor for the president’s office, said he worried that the Friday Shabbat dinners would conflict with his own Christian worship, asking if they were a “demand,” which Ms. Coates denied.
“It was made in generosity of spirit and in the hopes of increased dialogue on this issue,” Ms. Coates said. “Evan, I’m deeply sorry that you could not see that as a generous offer, but rather a personal attack on you. It was not.”
Heritage Foundation Chief Advancement Officer Andy Olivastro said in a statement afterward that the 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,” he said.
“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,” Mr. Olivastro added.
