The statement prompted a sharp rebuke from Heritage Foundation staff and board members, as well as Republican senators and top Jewish leaders.
Mark Goldfeder, the chief executive of the Heritage Foundation’s national task force to combat anti-Semitism, resigned on X, writing: “I cannot serve under someone who thinks Nazis are worth debating.”
Addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Summit in Las Vegas last Thursday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz said: “If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool and that their mission is to combat and defeat ‘global Jewry’ — and you say nothing — then you are a coward.”
He added that while anti-Semitism has been on the rise on the Left, “in the last six months, I’ve seen more anti-Semitism on the Right than I have in my entire life”.
In the interview, Carlson and Mr Fuentes spoke amiably for over two hours, during which the latter claimed that the US cannot be held together unless “organised Jewry in America” is defeated and raised doubts about Jewish people’s loyalties to the US.
He further claimed Jews “resist assimilation” and that “their real home is Israel”.
Carlson responded to the white supremacist’s comments by declaring his own opposition to “Christian Zionists” such as Israel Ambassador Mike Huckabee and Mr Cruz “more than anybody”.
‘Fuentes is fomenting Jew hatred’
Ben Shapiro, the Jewish Conservative podcaster, excoriated Carlson for attempting to make Mr Fuentes’s views “palatable” for his audience.
“Tucker Carlson decided that it was important not only to host Fuentes but to smooth over his views, water them down and make them far more palatable to a normal audience,” The Daily Wire editor said in a recent episode of his show. “This is what Tucker Carlson does for a living.”
Responding to the backlash on Friday evening, Mr Roberts accused the political commentator of “fomenting Jew hatred”.
“First, the Heritage Foundation and I denounce and stand against his vicious anti-Semitic ideology, his Holocaust denial, and his relentless conspiracy theories that echo the darkest chapters of history. We are disgusted by his musings about rape, women, child marriage, and abusing his potential wife,” Mr Roberts wrote on X.
“Nick Fuentes’s anti-Semitism is not complicated, ironic, or misunderstood. It is explicit, dangerous, and demands our unified opposition as conservatives. Fuentes knows exactly what he is doing. He is fomenting Jew hatred, and his incitements are not only immoral and un-Christian, they risk violence.”
In an email to staff obtained by The Hill, Mr Roberts underscored efforts by the think tank to “combat anti-Semitism” under his leadership. He added: “Our position on Israel is principled and balanced: there’s a great deal of space between believing Israel can do no wrong and blaming it for every wrong.”
‘Anti-Semites must not be welcomed’
Following claims from Preston Brashers, a Heritage Foundation fellow, that he was being pressured to resign for opposing Mr Roberts, numerous staff, fundraisers and board members at the think tank shared messages of support for him online.
Robert P George, a Heritage Foundation trustee, said: “I will not—I cannot—accept the idea that we have ‘no enemies to the Right’.
“The white supremacists, the anti-Semites, the eugenicists, the bigots, must not be welcomed into our movement or treated as normal or acceptable.”
Much attention has focused on the role of Ryan Neuhaus and Evan Myers, two senior advisers to Mr Roberts who were allegedly responsible for crafting his initial response, a Heritage insider told The Telegraph.
Mr Neuhaus had angered Heritage staff after reposting messages of support for Mr Roberts’s defence of Carlson on social media, including one suggesting staff should “resign if so outraged”.
In an apparent effort to contain the fallout, Mr Neuhaus left the think tank on Monday afternoon, with a Heritage spokesman confirming he was not fired but had resigned.
Founded in the 1970s, The Heritage Foundation is viewed as one of the intellectual pillars responsible for the resurgence of the Right in American politics. Since the rise of Mr Trump, it has become heavily associated with political activism, culminating with its involvement in Project 2025.
‘Playing footsie with Nazis’
In internal messages seen by The Telegraph, Heritage Foundation staff railed against Mr Roberts’s endorsement of Carlson, who they accused of “playing footsie with literal Nazis”.
“There’s a strong moral argument for shaming people like Nick Fuentes and not associating with them. We should not be considering literal Nazis as part of the movement,” one staff member wrote.
Another Heritage Foundation fellow warned that endorsing Carson’s interview “gives credence to the protesters who call us Nazis”.
A Heritage Foundation source told The Telegraph that Mr Roberts’s actions had allowed the think tank “to be identified with anti-Semites”.
“I think by being so deluded and aligning himself with Tucker Carlson, Roberts has shown he doesn’t have any political judgment and he’s allowing us to be identified with anti-Semites,” the insider said.
They added that internal meetings have taken place in which staff have called for the chairman to resign, and that board members are expected to follow suit at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Fuentes has long been a thorn in the side of mainstream Republicans. The 27-year-old is leader of the so-called groyper movement, a loose network of white nationalist activists and internet trolls. He has spoken about needing to have “white men in charge of everything” and said “blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part”.
In 2022, Mr Trump came under intense criticism for hosting the commentator for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The following year, organisers of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) physically prevented him from attending events.
Carlson’s decision to platform Mr Fuentes has stoked concerns about a growing number of influential figures on the Right expounding views that are critical of the Jewish people and of Israel.
Carlson has previously been criticised for his controversial comments about Jews, including claims that Ashkenazi Jews are immune to Covid, and that Benjamin Netanyahu openly tells Israelis: “I control the United States. I control Donald Trump.”
Following his speech at Charlie Kirk’s funeral in September, he was widely condemned for comparing the assassin’s decision to kill the conservative activist to “a bunch of guys sitting around eating hummus” plotting to kill Jesus.
Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, was criticised earlier this year for warning that “the number one enemy to the people in Israel are American Jews that do not support Israel and do not support Maga”.
Firebrand Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has previously rowed back on claims that “Jewish space lasers” were the cause of the 2018 wildfires, but has in recent times spoken about how Israel exerts “unique influence and control” over Republican politicians.
