Top Heritage Officials Flee to Mike Pence's Nonprofit as Think Tank Fractures

[Zorro]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s political group is poaching top officials from the conservative Heritage Foundation amid growing ideological fights within the conservative movement and backlash at the think tank.

Pence’s Washington-based group, started in 2021 and called Advancing American Freedom, is slated to hire about 15 of Heritage’s employees including several of its prominent leaders, the group’s officials said.

In an interview, Pence told the Journal he had long admired the Heritage Foundation but sees the group now “abandoning its principles.” He said the foundation had “fallen” because it had embraced elements of isolationism, stopped backing Ukraine in the war with Russia, supported some tariffs and backed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, among other things.

“Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate antisemitism,” Pence said.

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