President Donald Trump’s administration is filling one of many State Division’s high positions with a controversial conservative journalist who has promoted conspiracy theories associated to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and was fired as a speechwriter by the primary Trump administration when it was revealed that he had spoken at a convention tied to White nationalists, sources acquainted with the transfer instructed ABC Information.
The sources stated that the person, Darren Beattie, will now be the appearing Below Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a so-called “High 10” place that, because the State Division’s web site describes it, “leads America’s public diplomacy outreach, which incorporates messaging to counter terrorism and violent extremism.”
“The Below Secretary oversees the bureaus of Academic and Cultural Affairs and International Public Affairs, and participates in international coverage improvement,” the web site provides.
An indication for the U.S. Division of State is captured on the skin of the Harry S. Truman Federal Constructing on Oct. 8, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures
Beattie is slated to begin within the place on Monday, sources stated. He was already serving in one other senior position inside the State Division, however the brand new transfer to such a high-level place has raised considerations amongst a lot of its workers, sources stated.
Greater than two years in the past, Beattie launched a right-wing media outlet known as Revolver Information, which has raised funds partly by promoting pro-Trump attire and merchandise.
“It’s OK to disclaim 2020,” reads two shirts nonetheless being offered on the outlet’s web site. One other shirt promotes the refuted declare that Jan. 6, 2021, was an “FBI setup to border Trump supporters as insurrectionists,” because the shirt says.
And Beattie has turn into a frequent visitor on different right-wing media, usually selling conspiracy theories associated to Jan. 6.
On Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast final month, Beattie repeated his claims that the FBI is aware of who’s behind the pipe bombs left at DNC and RNC places of work on Jan. 6 however “what they discovered was profoundly embarrassing to the federal government and to the narrative that the Biden regime wished to advertise, and so as a substitute of following that investigation additional, they mainly simply killed it,” Beattie stated.
Beattie additionally claimed that surveillance video launched by the FBI to hunt assist in figuring out the perpetrator was “clearly tampered with.”
In mid-August 2018, he made nationwide headlines, with the Washington Publish reporting then that he “was terminated final week after revelations that he had spoken at a convention attended by well-known white nationalists” two years earlier.
In accordance with the Washington Publish, Beattie – who’s Jewish – insisted that he was not racist and stated in a press release.
“In 2016 I attended the [H.L. Mencken Club] convention in query and delivered a stand-alone, educational speak titled ‘The Intelligentsia and the Proper.’ I stated nothing objectionable and stand by my remarks utterly,” the assertion stated. “It was the respect of my life to serve within the Trump Administration. I really like President Trump, who’s a fearless American hero, and proceed to help him a hundred percent.”
On the finish of the Trump administration, in November 2020, the Trump White Home appointed Beattie to a three-year time period with the Fee for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Overseas, which helps protect websites associated to the Holocaust.
The Anti-Defamation League strongly objected to the appointment, issuing a press release on the time saying, “It’s completely outrageous that somebody who has consorted with racists would even be thought of for a place on a fee dedicated to preserving Holocaust memorials in Europe.”
The New York Instances then requested Beattie for remark, and he instructed the paper: “The ADL pretends to be a company that protects Jews, nevertheless it actually exists to guard Democrats. As a Jewish Trump supporter, I think about it an honor to be attacked by the far-left ADL and its disgraced chief, Jonathan Greenblatt.”
Requested about Beattie’s new place on the State Division, a White Home spokesperson referred ABC Information to the State Division. First reached on Friday, the State Division has thus far not commented.
On Sunday, Beattie didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark by ABC Information.
