A Princeton University professor said on Monday that he had resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation, saying the conservative think tank’s president had refused to take down a video in which he defended the right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with Nick Fuentes, an openly antisemitic white nationalist.
Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence, is the first such board member to resign over the actions of the Heritage Foundation’s president, Kevin Roberts. Mr. George had served on the group’s board since 2019.
“I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30th,” Mr. George wrote in a post on Facebook. “Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.”
Mr. George did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Heritage Foundation did not immediately respond to questions about his resignation.
On Oct. 27, Mr. Carlson, a former Fox News host who was dismissed by the network in 2023, posted an interview in which Mr. Fuentes blamed “organized Jewry” for undermining American cohesion.
After other Republicans criticized Mr. Carlson for giving Mr. Fuentes a platform, Mr. Roberts filmed a video saying those opposed to Mr. Carlson were “the globalist class” and a “venomous coalition.” He quickly faced a backlash from other conservatives and even members of the Heritage Foundation staff, who said those words could be read as coded references to Jews.
Mr. Roberts has apologized and claimed ignorance, telling staff members that he did not know much about Mr. Fuentes because “I don’t consume a lot of news.” He said that an aide had written the script for the video and that he had simply read it. The aide was reassigned and then left the Heritage Foundation.
Some Jewish Republicans have asked Mr. Roberts to take down his original video defending Mr. Carlson. But as of Monday evening, it was still visible on X.
In the Facebook post explaining his resignation, Mr. George urged the Heritage Foundation not to forget “the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.” He wrote that “each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal.’”
David A. Fahrenthold is a Times investigative reporter writing about nonprofit organizations. He has been a reporter for two decades.
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