Darren Beattie, a devout right-wing activist and unhinged conspiracy theorist, has officially been forced out of his position on the commission that oversees US Holocaust memorials abroad, where he was appointed to by former President Donald Trump, following a brutal insider report revealing that Beattie was serving on the panel while continuing to push January 6th conspiracy theories, per a recent report from Business Insider.
The Washington Post reports that deputy director of the White House Office of presidential personnel Gautam Raghavan penned a stern letter to Beattie, demanding the staunch Trump ally’s resignation from his role on the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. Raghavan was crystal clear that Beattie’s resignation should be submitted by the end of the business day yesterday, or he would officially be fired from his position.
Tweeting out an image of the letter he received from Raghavan demanding his resignation, Beattie sarcastically wrote, “Better than a Pulitzer…”
Better than a Pulitzer… pic.twitter.com/Rp1agfJkP8
— Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) January 14, 2022
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Just recently, Business Insider discovered and reported that Darren was still serving on the panel more than a year after his controversial Trump appointment to the position— a move on the now-ex-president’s part that ignited quite a lot of backlash at the time of his decision.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a statement to Insider earlier this week, saying that Beattie should have “no place on a commission that plays a special role preserving Jewish heritage sites from before the Holocaust.” The ADL goes on to note Beattie’s promotion of “deeply harmful” lies and conspiracy theories regarding the infamous January 6th Capitol siege as well as his attendance at a conference alongside white nationalists.
Beattie was ultimately fired as a speechwriter by the Trump administration in 2018 after it was discovered that he attended the 2016 HL Mencken Club conference alongside white nationalist Peter Brimelow. Trump would then go on to still appoint Darren to the commission.
The staunch Trump ally has been a huge proponent of the baseless Right-wing conspiracy theory claiming that the FBI was responsible for the Jan. 6th insurrection — so much so, in fact, that ex-President Trump himself has praised Beattie’s relentless promotion of the claim, writing in a recent statement, “Congratulations to Darren Beattie and Revolver News, who have exposed so much of the Fake News’ false narrative about January 6th.”
Darren Beattie’s term on the commission was set to expire in February, however, members are allowed the option of serving past their term should they choose to. The Post reported that in addition to Beattie, six other Trump-appointed members of the same commission were forced to resign by the Biden administration on Friday.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
