Trump Thanks Jim DeMint Over Gorsuch Fight Amid Report He’s Out at Heritage
President Donald Trump thanked Jim DeMint during his Friday speech to the NRA for his role during the battle over the Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination. However, the former South Carolina senator may be on his way out from his current role as president of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The President included DeMint in a list of groups and individuals who, along with the gun rights organization, had helped out in the confirmation fight.
“And also, from Heritage, Jim DeMint — it’s been amazing. I mean, those people have been fantastic. They’ve been real friends,” Trump said.
Earlier in the afternoon, Politico cited “three people with knowledge of the situation” regarding DeMint’s possible departure from Heritage (where, full disclosure, this writer worked between 2003 and 2006).
The Friday report claimed that the former politician had “a dispute with board members about the direction of conservative think tank”:
Some Heritage board members believe that DeMint has brought in too many Senate allies and made the think tank too bombastic and political — to the detriment of its research and scholarly aims.
The publication later adds that former Heritage president Ed Feulner “is expected to take over as interim president.”
Some conservatives criticized Politico on Twitter over their initial language in their write-up. The article had originally labeled the organization “far-right leaning.” This was later modified as “conservative.”
Politico changed its description of Heritage from “far-right” to “conservative” pic.twitter.com/ibpkhALyEd
— Alex Pappas (@AlexPappas) April 28, 2017
You can watch Trump’s brief remarks giving DeMint a shoutout above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
