Ousted Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint was defiant Tuesday, saying that his work at the conservative think tank helped shape many of President Donald Trump's core ideas.
"When I came to Heritage in 2013, I told our staff and millions of members around the country that over the next four years, we had the opportunity to lead a resurgence of conservative policies and communications to win the hearts and minds of the American people," DeMint, 65, a former South Carolina Republican senator, told Politico in an interview.
"I’m grateful to have worked with some of the greatest minds and talents in America and believe we’ve accomplished together what we set out to do."
Heritage's 22-member board voted to remove DeMint Tuesday, capping speculation since last week about his future with the organization.
He later released, through a spokesman, his own assessment of his helm at the foundation, Politico reports.
DeMint's scorecard included Heritage's role in President Trump develop his list of potential Supreme Court nominees, including Justice Neil Gorsuch; four new research institutes he established, and Heritage's American Perceptions Initiative that conducts research on how conservatives should present policy issues to Americans.
He also slammed the board for terminating him.
"The public statement released earlier is puzzling given that the board of trustees has praised our work for four years and approved performance bonuses for the entire management team each year for a job well done," he told Politico.
Heritage Board Chairman Thomas Saunders III said in a statement that DeMint was released because of "significant and worsening management issues."
Four DeMint allies were also dismissed Tuesday, according to Politico and The Daily Beast.
They were Bret Bernhardt, executive vice president; Wesley Denton, vice president of communications; Ed Corrigan, vice president of policy promotion; and Cameron Seward, DeMint's chief of staff.
In addition, James Wallner, Heritage's vice president of research, was placed on "administrative leave" on Monday, sources told the Daily Beast.
He was led out of the foundation's Washington offices in what one Heritage staffer described as a "perp walk," according to that report.
As many as 30 DeMint supporters could end up leaving, the Beast reports.
Bill Walton, a Heritage board member, explained the shake-up this way to Politico: "We did an independent review of the Heritage organization, and we determined that there was significant and worsening management issues that we need to address.
"There were too many layers in management," he added. "It caused processes to slow down, and there was trouble getting research papers out in a timely fashion.
"We felt like the organization was not geared up for the needs of what it was doing," Walton said. "We really like Jim DeMint. He is a hero to the conservative movement.
"It was just necessary to make a change."