Former White House speechwriter and policy aide Darren Beattie is joining Rep. Matt Gaetz’s team on Capitol Hill, according to a new report.
Beattie, who was fired from the White House after it was revealed he attended a conference that attracts white supremacists, will join Gaetz’s office as a speechwriter, Axios reports. The second-term congressman is a Florida Republican.
Gaetz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Beattie was ousted from the White House in August after CNN reported he was designated a speaker at the H.L. Mencken Club Conference in 2016. White supremacists, including Richard Spencer, have attended in the past.
In 2016, Beattie joined speakers including white nationalist Peter Brimelow, John Derbyshire, and Robert Weissberg. Derbyshire and Weissberg were fired from their jobs at National Review, a conservative magazine, for promoting white supremacist viewpoints.
Beattie told CNN that although he did speak at the 2016 conference, he did not say anything controversial.
“In 2016 I attended the Mencken conference in question and delivered a stand-alone, academic talk titled ‘The Intelligentsia and the Right.’ I said nothing objectionable and stand by my remarks completely,” he said. “It was the honor of my life to serve in the Trump Administration. I love President Trump, who is a fearless American hero, and continue to support him one hundred percent. I have no further comment.”
