Ryan Neuhaus, who was chief-of-staff to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts until Friday, has left the organization as it struggles with the fallout from Mr. Roberts’ defense of Tucker Carlson’s softball interview with far-right influencer Nick Fuentes.
Mr. Neuhaus resigned after being replaced Friday as chief-of-staff and reassigned to a senior advisor position following an outcry on the right over Mr. Roberts’ stunning video statement Thursday blasting a “venomous coalition” for condemning Mr. Carlson over his decision to provide a friendly platform to Mr. Fuentes.
A Heritage spokesperson confirmed Monday a report in The Hill about Mr. Neuhaus’s departure.
“Ryan was not fired. He offered his resignation, which was accepted,” the spokesperson said in an email to The Washington Times. “Ryan is a good man, we appreciate his service, and we have no doubt he will serve the movement in another capacity.”
Mr. Neuhaus had no public comment on his decision to leave the conservative movement’s premier policy institute, but he had come under criticism for his reaction to Heritage staffers who condemned Mr. Roberts’ video statement.
Mr. Neuhaus reposted Friday a message from a former Heritage hand that said “virtue signaling employees of [the Heritage Foundation] should resign if so outraged by statement. Would be addition by subtraction.”
Mr. Roberts made appearances Friday with radio host Dana Loesch and podcaster Ben Domenech after being pilloried by fellow conservatives for the video, which started out by saying that “Christians can critique the state of Israel without being anti-Semitic, and of course antisemitism should be condemned.”
He defended Mr. Carlson for hosting Mr. Fuentes, known for his antisemitic and anti-Israel comments and for some admiring words about dictators Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, and said neither conservative figure should be “cancelled.”
That stance prompted pushback from those who argued that criticism isn’t cancellation, and that the conservative movement needs to draw the line at figures like Mr. Fuentes.
Whether Mr. Roberts survives the uproar remains to be seen.
Several figures on the right, including Middle East Forum founder Daniel Pipes, have called for him to resign or be removed by Heritage’s board of trustees.
Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Heritage trustee, released a statement Sunday taking on the “cancellation” issue without mentioning Mr. Roberts.
“I will not — I cannot — accept the idea that we have ‘no enemies to the right,’” said Mr. George. “The white supremacists, the antisemites, the eugenicists, the bigots, must not be welcomed into our movement or treated as normal or acceptable.”
He continued: “Is this a call for ‘cancelation’? No. It’s a reminder that we conservatives stand for something — or should stand for something. We have core principles that are not negotiable.”
Mr. Neuhaus joined Heritage as Mr. Roberts’ chief-of-staff in January after four years of working for Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He had previously worked as Florida regional coordinator for Students for Life of America and as director of the Invictus Men’s Fellowship.
