Last January, prominent political strategist Cliff Maloney was terminated from his role at Young Americans for Liberty. “Allegations against me are 100% false. Serious accusations and misconduct will always be addressed at YAL. Character assassinations against a team of liberty advocates who work around the clock for our cause must stop,” Maloney announced in a statement at the time.
Since then, Cliff Maloney has said absolutely nothing publicly about the situation, prompting many to question what truly happened at YAL. Though he has not commented on the matter, Maloney’s social media accounts have remained active. Furthermore, numerous posts have gone viral since departing YAL.
Maloney has also launched numerous new projects in an effort to “make liberty win,” which was the branding he implemented at YAL.
Now, Maloney’s attorney, David Warrington, has provided this exclusive update to National File:
“As publicly stated in January 2021, YAL’s board of directors chose to move on from Cliff’s tenure and in doing so thanked him for his service and acknowledged YAL’s achievements under Cliff’s leadership. Since that time, and after a full investigation, YAL has shared nothing to corroborate the unsubstantiated allegations against Cliff. Cliff has maintained his innocence throughout and has gone on to continued success in the fight for Liberty.”
Though Cliff Maloney is now vindicated, critics say the circumstances surrounding his ouster have become all too familiar.
Maloney’s saga with YAL, which was documented by the “#YALtoo” hashtag, played out very similarly to a situation involving Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. Without evidence, Portnoy was accused of sexual assault. This led to thousands of Twitter users — many of whom dislike Portnoy and wanted to see him fail — flooding the app.
The situation played out almost exactly the same with Cliff Maloney and Yal. Though Maloney was never accused of any misconduct, and unsubstantiated allegations against him never came close to being verified, the hashtag was flooded by Twitter users with various motives.
Tthe board still points to Maloney losing the confidence of the staff as the reason for the separation.
Critics have questioned how a supposed libertarian organization could discard the core American principle of due process, especially after Maloney made massive contributions to the organization. Maloney has been credited with “revolutionizing” YAL, taking the group from a fledgling student organization interested in libertarianism to a legitimate force in statewide elections.
When Cliff Maloney took over YAL in 2016, the annual budget was $1.9 million. At YAL’s height under his leadership, records show the organization brought in just short of $13 million in 2020 alone.
Cliff Maloney is known nationally for his vision to go all in and launch Operation Win at the Door, which is changing the makeup of state legislatures throughout America with 179 wins.
So where does Maloney go from here? Liberal journalist Kyle Spencer has announced she is going to reveal a full behind the scenes look at the life of Cliff Maloney in her book being released this summer: Raising Them Right.
Spencer describes her book as: “A riveting behind-the-scenes account of the new stars of the far right—Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens and Cliff Maloney—and how they’ve partnered with billionaire donors, ideologues, and political insiders to build the most powerful youth movement the American right has ever seen.”
“And there is the young, rough-and-tumble libertarian Cliff Maloney, who built the Koch-affiliated organization Young Americans for Liberty into a political force to be reckoned with, while solidifying his own power and pull inside conservative circles,” Spencer goes on to say.
When asked for comment on the situation Maloney, referred National File to his attorney, David Warrington. Despite the slanderous conduct directed against him, Maloney has refrained from lashing out at YAL directors.
Time will tell if YAL reaches Maloney’s goal of electing 250 liberty legislators by the end of 2022.