Carl Higbie, a top staffer at a non-profit group closely aligned with President Donald Trump, resigned his post this week after companies said they’d no longer contribute to the group in part due to his past comments.
Higbie served as the director of advocacy for America First Policies, a non-profit closely aligned with the White House that reportedly raised $26 million to support president Trump’s agenda.
Higbie formerly served as the public face of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that runs AmeriCorps. He resigned in January after a KFile story revealed a history of racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-gay comments. Higbie joined America First Policies in March.
Higbie was initially apologetic for his remarks but in recent weeks backtracked on his apology, saying his comments were a “statistical observation.”
Higbie said he left to join another organization, which would be announced next week.
“I resigned to join the other organization,” Higbie emailed CNN. “That release will have all the details next week.”
America First Policies did not respond to a request for comment.
Last week, three corporate donors to America First Policies – CVS Health, Southern Company and Dow Chemical – said they would no longer donate to the group after CNN and other outlets reported racist comments by Higbie and other advisers. Maplight, a non-partisan research group that tracks the influence of money in politics, first reported on the donations.