More than a dozen staffers at The Heritage Foundation are leaving the conservative think tank to join a nonprofit led by former Vice President Mike Pence as the embattled organization continues to reel from ongoing turmoil.

Advancing American Freedom — founded by Pence in 2021 “to defend liberty and advance policies that build a stronger America” — announced Monday that three senior officials who led the legal, economic and data teams at Heritage would be joining the group next year, along with several members of their teams.

The departures, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, mark the latest sign of upheaval at Heritage, which has seen dozens of staffers flee the organization since it became engulfed in a scandal involving Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and the ongoing debate within the conservative movement over antisemitism.

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, the architect behind the “Project 2025” blueprint for President Donald Trump’s second administration, drew sharp rebukes from conservative voices, including commentator Ben Shapiro, after standing by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with Fuentes in October.

In the wake of the initial backlash, Roberts told staffers he’d make a “mistake,” but asked for the chance to “clean it up” during a November all-staff meeting, according to a leaked video first published by the Washington Free Beacon.

The hires by Advancing American Freedom signal that the organization is looking to position itself as a key player within the broader conservative movement.

“AAF is honored to welcome these principled conservative scholars to the team,” Pence, who has been the target of Trump’s ire since the former vice president certified the 2020 election results, said in a statement. “They bring a wealth of experience, a love of country, and a deep commitment to the Constitution and Conservative Movement that will further the cause of liberty.”

Andrew Olivastro, chief advancement officer at The Heritage Foundation, said in a Monday statement that the think tank’s “mission is unchanged, and our leadership is strong and decisive.”

“Heritage has always welcomed debate, but alignment on mission and loyalty to the institution are non-negotiable. A handful of staff chose a different path — some through disruption, others through disloyalty,” Olivastro said.

In his statement, Olivastro said several of the departing staffers were “terminated for conduct inconsistent with Heritage’s mission and standards” last week, adding that “Their departures clear the way for a stronger, more focused team.”

Former Heritage Vice President John Malcolm is slated to lead AAF’s new Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, which is being relocated from Heritage. Jessica Reinsch, formerly deputy director of programs at the Meese Center, will serve as director of programs, and five other former employees at Heritage will also join AAF’s Meese Institute.

Five staffers from Heritage’s economic policy institute and its federal budget center will join AAF’s Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise, and former Heritage’s Chief Statistician Kevin Dayaratna will lead its Center for Statistical Modeling & Scientific Analysis.

Josh Blackman, a legal scholar who contributed to Project 2025, also resigned his post as senior editor of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution on Sunday. In his resignation letter, Blackman wrote that Roberts’ remarks “were a huge unforced blunder, and gave aid and comfort to the rising tide of antisemitism on the right,” in addition to undermining the work of the Meese Center.

“Your initial remarks were indefensible. Your apology was underwhelming. And the lack of any meaningful followup over the past three months has been telling,” Blackman wrote in his letter to Roberts.

Still, some Heritage staffers have remained loyal to the organization, with conservative activist Robby Starbuck sharing Monday that he would be extending his stay as a visiting fellow at the think tank. Starbuck wrote on social media that “these resignations have a lot more to do with 2028 than it does with anything else,” accusing Blackman and others who stepped down of yearning for “a return to the Pence/Ryan GOP.”

The shock waves from the infighting at Heritage, once a key player in the MAGA coalition, have continued to reverberate throughout the GOP, with Republican firebrands like Carlson, Shapiro, Vivek Ramaswamy and Steve Bannon sparring over Fuentes and whether he had a place in the party this weekend at Turning Point’s AmericaFest in Phoenix.

George Conway, a conservative lawyer and vocal critic of President Donald Trump, filed paperwork on Monday to run as a Democrat for the seat Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is vacating.

News of Conway entering the race began surfacing last month, especially after Conway confirmed he had hired a Democratic pollster to weigh his chances.

Conway was previously married to Kellyanne Conway, who helped manage Trump’s 2016 presidential bid and then served in the White House during Trump’s first term.

Though George Conway was also offered a position with the administration during Trump’s first term, he declined. The relationship between the president and Conway turned contentious, with Conway often criticizing Trump and the president in turn commenting on the Conways’ marriage.

The feud ultimately culminated in Trump calling Conway a “stone cold LOSER & husband from hell” and Conway calling Trump a “fascist.” Conway went on to pen an essay that called Trump “unfit for office.”

The lawyer eventually co-founded The Lincoln Project, a PAC of former Republicans with a self-described purpose of defeating Trump, and has continued to criticize the president.

Conway will join an increasingly crowded primary race for Nadler’s seat. At least 10 hopefuls — including Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of John F. Kennedy — have filed to run for the position since Nadler announced in September he would not seek reelection.

March for Our Lives organizer Cameron Kasky, Assemblymen Alex Bores and Micah Lasher and Councilmember Erik Bottcher have also filed to run for the Manhattan-based seat.

CBS News abruptly pulled a “60 Minutes” investigation featuring Venezuelan men deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison on Sunday, sparking swift backlash within the newsroom, including from the story’s veteran correspondent.

The canceled segment, yanked at the behest of newly appointed editor in chief Bari Weiss, focused on the notorious El Salvador prison that President Donald Trump has deported immigrants to despite reports of human rights violations within the prison. Several men now released from the prison were featured in the segment describing the conditions they endured within CECOT.

But Weiss nixed the segment just hours before it was set to air after calling for multiple additions, according to The New York Times, including an interview with top Trump adviser Stephen Miller or another top official in the Trump administration.

CBS said in a statement that the segment will air at a later date, and Weiss defended the decision to hold the segment in a statement to The New York Times.

“My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be,” Weiss said. “Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

But Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran correspondent on the story, condemned Weiss’ decision.

In an email obtained by The New York Times and later shared on social media by Times reporter Michael M. Grynbaum, Alfonsi told her CBS colleagues that reporters on the segment had requested comment from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. She added that the segment had also already undergone a rigorous review and fact-checking process.

To pull the story so close to airtime, Alfonsi said, is “not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi wrote. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

She continued, “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find convenient.”

Alfonsi added that if CBS’ new standard for airing a segment requires government interviews, then the government “effectively gains control over the ’60 Minutes’ broadcast.”

“We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it,” Alfonsi wrote. “When it airs without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of ‘Gold Standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet.”

CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cancellation of “Inside CECOT” is the latest in a string of controversial moves made by the media giant this year.

In July, CBS announced a $16 million settlement with Trump, who sued the company as a private citizen following his own appearance on “60 Minutes.” It was after that settlement that the Trump administration approved Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of CBS.

Weiss, founder of The Free Press, was appointed as editor in chief by Paramount owner David Ellison in October to overhaul the newsroom.

Trump has continued to express his displeasure with CBS, but that hasn’t stopped Ellison from courting the administration’s favor as he seeks to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.