Latest news with #whiteSupremacists
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump fired him over white supremacist links. Now he's leading the US Institute of Peace
Darren Beattie, a top State Department official who was fired from the first Trump administration after speaking at a conference attended by white supremacists, has been appointed to lead the U.S. Institute for Peace, an independent nonprofit funded by Congress. Beattie, who will continue serving as U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy while leading the institute as acting president, has a history of inflammatory views. The former academic has lauded eugenics-style population control and mass sterilization, praised the Chinese Communist party and dismissed its repressive campaign against the Uyghurs, claimed the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol was a conspiracy by federal agents, and wrote on social media last year that 'competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.' 'We look forward to seeing him advance President Trump's America First agenda in this new role,' the State Department said in a statement on Friday. The Trump administration has tried to exert control over the peace-keeping organization as part of the president's radical restructuring of federal agencies and diplomacy. In February, the president signed an executive order slashing most of the group's staff, part of a wider effort to drastically change U.S. tools of foreign influence and diplomacy that also saw the administration gut the U.S. Agency for International Development. The following month, Elon Musk's so-called DOGE initiative seized the peace institute's headquarters with the help of police and the FBI, ejecting staff from the building. Staff members then sued over the takeover and mass firings, and a federal judge in May temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the institute. The administration then appealed, and a federal appeals court in Washington last month returned control of the building to the administration as the legal process plays out. In March, Democratic members of Congress wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sits on the board of the U.S. Institute for Peace, expressing alarm over Beattie's appointment in February to his diplomatic post. 'Darren Beattie's white nationalist loyalties and public glorification of our adversaries' authoritarian systems make him unqualified to serve as the top diplomat representing American values and culture to foreign audiences,' the members wrote. The Independent has requested comment from the State Department and U.S. Institute for Peace for comment. After his dismissal from the Trump administration in 2018, Beattie returned to the government two years later, with the White House appointing him to the Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, a body that preserves historical sites, including those related to the Holocaust. The Biden administration forced Beattie's resignation from the commission in 2022. Beattie isn't the only Trump staffer welcomed back into the government after controversy over their views. Marko Elez, a DOGE staffer who previously praised eugenics, declared himself 'racist before it was cool,' and said he wanted to 'normalize Indian hate,' according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, resigned from the administration in February, but soon found a new position in the Social Security Administration.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump fired him over white supremacist links. Now he's leading the US Institute of Peace
Darren Beattie, a top State Department official who was fired from the first Trump administration after speaking at a conference attended by white supremacists, has been appointed to lead the U.S. Institute for Peace, an independent nonprofit funded by Congress. Beattie, who will continue serving as U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy while leading the institute as acting president, has a history of inflammatory views. The former academic has lauded eugenics-style population control and mass sterilization, praised the Chinese Communist party and dismissed its repressive campaign against the Uyghurs, claimed the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol was a conspiracy by federal agents, and wrote on social media last year that 'competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.' 'We look forward to seeing him advance President Trump's America First agenda in this new role,' the State Department said in a statement on Friday. The Trump administration has tried to exert control over the peace-keeping organization as part of the president's radical restructuring of federal agencies and diplomacy. In February, the president signed an executive order slashing most of the group's staff, part of a wider effort to drastically change U.S. tools of foreign influence and diplomacy that also saw the administration gut the U.S. Agency for International Development. The following month, Elon Musk's so-called DOGE initiative seized the peace institute's headquarters with the help of police and the FBI, ejecting staff from the building. Staff members then sued over the takeover and mass firings, and a federal judge in May temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the institute. The administration then appealed, and a federal appeals court in Washington last month returned control of the building to the administration as the legal process plays out. In March, Democratic members of Congress wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sits on the board of the U.S. Institute for Peace, expressing alarm over Beattie's appointment in February to his diplomatic post. 'Darren Beattie's white nationalist loyalties and public glorification of our adversaries' authoritarian systems make him unqualified to serve as the top diplomat representing American values and culture to foreign audiences,' the members wrote. The Independent has requested comment from the State Department and U.S. Institute for Peace for comment. After his dismissal from the Trump administration in 2018, Beattie returned to the government two years later, with the White House appointing him to the Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, a body that preserves historical sites, including those related to the Holocaust. The Biden administration forced Beattie's resignation from the commission in 2022. Beattie isn't the only Trump staffer welcomed back into the government after controversy over their views. Marko Elez, a DOGE staffer who previously praised eugenics, declared himself 'racist before it was cool,' and said he wanted to 'normalize Indian hate,' according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, resigned from the administration in February, but soon found a new position in the Social Security Administration.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump fired him over white supremacist links. Now he's leading the US Institute of Peace
Darren Beattie, a top State Department official who was fired from the first Trump administration after speaking at a conference attended by white supremacists, has been appointed to lead the U.S. Institute for Peace, an independent nonprofit funded by Congress. Beattie, who will continue serving as U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy while leading the institute as acting president, has a history of inflammatory views. The former academic has lauded eugenics-style population control and mass sterilization, praised the Chinese Communist party and dismissed its repressive campaign against the Uyghurs, claimed the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol was a conspiracy by federal agents, and wrote on social media last year that 'competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.' 'We look forward to seeing him advance President Trump's America First agenda in this new role,' the State Department said in a statement on Friday. The Trump administration has tried to exert control over the peace-keeping organization as part of the president's radical restructuring of federal agencies and diplomacy. In February, the president signed an executive order slashing most of the group's staff, part of a wider effort to drastically change U.S. tools of foreign influence and diplomacy that also saw the administration gut the U.S. Agency for International Development. Staff members then sued over the takeover and mass firings, and a federal judge in May temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the institute. The administration then appealed, and a federal appeals court in Washington last month returned control of the building to the administration as the legal process plays out. In March, Democratic members of Congress wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sits on the board of the U.S. Institute for Peace, expressing alarm over Beattie's appointment in February to his diplomatic post. 'Darren Beattie's white nationalist loyalties and public glorification of our adversaries' authoritarian systems make him unqualified to serve as the top diplomat representing American values and culture to foreign audiences,' the members wrote. The Independent has requested comment from the State Department and U.S. Institute for Peace for comment. After his dismissal from the Trump administration in 2018, Beattie returned to the government two years later, with the White House appointing him to the Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, a body that preserves historical sites, including those related to the Holocaust. The Biden administration forced Beattie's resignation from the commission in 2022. Beattie isn't the only Trump staffer welcomed back into the government after controversy over their views. Marko Elez, a DOGE staffer who previously praised eugenics, declared himself 'racist before it was cool,' and said he wanted to 'normalize Indian hate,' according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, resigned from the administration in February, but soon
New York Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Fired Speechwriter From First Trump Term Appointed to Lead the Institute of Peace
A senior State Department official who was fired as a White House speechwriter during the first Trump administration for attending a gathering of white supremacists has been appointed acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to the State Department. Darren Beattie, who will lead the institute, is responsible for leading 'public diplomacy outreach, which includes messaging to counter terrorism and violent extremism' at the State Department, according to its website. He will continue in that role, a State Department official said on Friday. Mr. Beattie did not immediately respond to questions about what his plans are for the Institute of Peace, an independent nonprofit that supports diplomatic solutions to global conflicts. It receives funding from Congress, but it is not a federal agency. Earlier this year, the Trump administration moved to gut the historically bipartisan entity as part of its wide-ranging effort to shrink the federal government. The administration and employees of the Department of Government Efficiency, the office formerly led by Elon Musk, seized control of the institute's building in March, citing an executive order from President Trump that ordered the institute to cut its staffing to a bare minimum. The confrontation, facilitated by Washington's Metropolitan Police Department, was one of the more shocking attempts by the administration to assert power over the capital's institutions. The institute's ousted staff sued, and a federal judge in May overturned both the takeover and the mass firings, calling the moves unlawful and a 'gross usurpation of power.' The headquarters, which had been transferred to the executive branch, was restored to the institute. But the administration appealed that ruling, and last month, a federal appeals court in Washington returned control of the building to the administration while the case was under review. A senior State Department official said in a statement on Friday that Mr. Beattie was appointed by the institute's board of directors, which includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Mr. Beattie drew scrutiny during Mr. Trump's first term. In 2018, Mr. Beattie was fired by the White House for attending a gathering with white nationalists two years prior. He had appeared on a panel with Peter Brimelow, the founder of the anti-immigrant site VDare, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a 'hate website.' But in 2020, the White House appointed Mr. Beattie to a commission that helps preserve sites related to the Holocaust. The decision was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish group. Mr. Beattie, who is Jewish, brushed off the criticism at the time. 'I consider it an honor to be attacked by the far-left ADL,' he said. Mr. Beattie, formerly a visiting professor at Duke University, also founded a website called Revolver News that has amplified conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. On his own social platforms, Mr. Beattie has also cheered on white nationalist views and inflammatory rhetoric on race. 'Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work,' he said on social media last year. Alan Feuer contributed reporting.
Sky News
09-06-2025
- Sky News
Rhianan Rudd: How mother's boyfriend played 'significant' role in radicalising youngest UK girl to face terror charges
Rhianan Rudd, who took her own life at the age of 16, was the youngest girl in the UK to be charged with terrorist offences. The inquest into her death, which concluded today, revealed shocking details about her radicalisation by two American white supremacists, one of whom was her mother's boyfriend, who the coroner said "played a material role in her radicalisation". Rhianan gouged a swastika into her forehead, downloaded a bomb-making manual and told her mother she planned to blow up a synagogue. Investigated by anti-terrorism police and MI5, charges against her were later dropped, but five month later on 19 May 2022, she was found dead in her shower in a children's home in Nottinghamshire. Hours earlier she had posted on Instagram: "I'm delving into madness." The evidence heard in Chesterfield Coroner's Court from police, social services and even an MI5 operative, raised questions over the state's part in her death - and whether, despite her obvious radicalisation, this vulnerable, autistic girl should have been treated with more care by the authorities. Judge Alexia Durran said: "I'm not satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, Rhianan intended to take her own life. Rhianan's death... was the result of a self-inflicted act but it is not possible to ascertain her intention. "Rhianan was known, to family and professionals, to be vulnerable, to have autistic traits and have a history of self-harm." The coroner added: "I find she was highly affected by her arrest and was concerned about being sent to prison." It was not known what Rhianan was told by her legal team when the charges were dropped but this may have had a "psychological impact" on her, the coroner said. In an interview released at the verdict, Rhianan's mother Emily Carter said her daughter "should never have been charged", that she was failed by those investigating her, including MI5 and counter terrorism police, as well as being let down by mental health services and those caring for her at the home. This was the most complex of cases, set at a time when our security services are seeing a growing number of children being arrested and charged for terrorist offences, while parents often seem oblivious to the radicalising material they are consuming online in their bedrooms. Ms Durham's ruling reflected this complexity, finding that while there were some failings the actions of the police and MI5 were "reasonable and proportionate". The coroner concluded today that she was satisfied that missed opportunities in her case were "not systemic". Judge Alexia Durran said: "In the circumstances I do not consider I should make a prevention of future deaths report." At the same she was unequivocal about the "significant" role played by two extremists in radicalising her. It was her mother's former boyfriend, an American she'd befriended though a US pen-pal prison scheme, who first introduced Rhianan to far-right ideology. Dax Mallaburn had been part of a white supremacist prison gang in the US and subsequently came to the UK to live with Rhianan's mother in September 2017, a year after she'd been to visit him in the US. In the autumn of 2019, Rhianan alleged that he had touched her inappropriately but later withdrew the allegation and, after a social services assessment, Mr Mallaburn returned to the family home. Ms Carter says: "In hindsight, he was a bad person but I never saw him talking Nazi stuff with her." Before Rhianan was arrested, Mr Mallaburn's relationship with her mother had broken down and he returned to the US and then Mexico. However, during COVID, Rhianan appeared to contact another far-right extremist, Christopher Cook, and began an online relationship with him. Cook, who was roughly 18 and living in Ohio, shared far-right texts with Rhianan along with a bomb-making manual, and during this time she became fixated with Adolf Hitler. Cook's lawyer, Peter Scranton, says he too was radicalised online, and he came up with a plan to blow up power stations in the US, for which he was eventually arrested in August 2020, and in February 2022 he pleaded guilty to terrorism offences. Cook, who was a misfit at school, suffering from "severe depression" according to his lawyer and was "essentially lashing out" as he tried to form a group to carry out his plan. Mr Scranton told Sky News, "It was white nationalism, and they had this idea, and I don't know why anyone would feel this way or how they thought it would work, that if they tore down the government and started over they could create a new United States of America that could look like the image that they would want - a white nationalist image." Downtown LA a scene of 'pandemonium' Day Of The Jackal author dead Mr Scranton says Cook told him he didn't radicalise Rhianan, and it was the former boyfriend, Dax Mallaburn, who'd initially got her into neo-Nazi ideology. However, the coroner found Cook was "a significant radicaliser of Rhianan" at a time when she was "isolated and unsupervised". Ms Carter says Rhianan was interested in German history because she was doing it at school and Cook was able to "pull her in", to racial hatred and antisemitism. She says she didn't know what was happening, despite having parental controls on Rhianan's devices. She said: "I could hear her talking to people on there and I'd say who are you talking to and she'd say - just someone from school - and in fact I found out it wasn't at all. "When this person she was talking to disappeared, that's when she sat down on my lap like a baby and cried. She told me this guy Chris had left her, and she was totally in love with him - then she came down and told me she had downloaded a bomb manual and I was like 'Oh my god, what have you been doing'." Ms Carter decided to contact Prevent - a national program in the UK designed to stop individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism She says: "I thought putting her in a deradicalisation programme would be a fairly easy undo 'brain pick', But it wasn't until the police turned up that I thought 'hang on a minute this is a lot deeper than I actually thought it was at first'." Ms Carter and her lawyers have argued that the police were heavy-handed, that there should have been a psychological assessment before she was even questioned over terrorism offences. "There were 19 police officers to arrest a 5ft 1, 14-year-old girl who weighs seven stone. It was over the top," says Ms Carter. Once Rhianan was charged, the deradicalisation work under Prevent was put on hold. Ms Carter thinks this was a mistake. She says: "Leaving her with her own thoughts throughout the entire time of going through the police interviews and everything else - the deradicalisation would have changed the way she was seeing things - I believe she would have been able to handle it all so much better." The coroner described the police arrest and interview as "necessary and conducted appropriately" and that, while ceasing the Prevent intervention was an "unfortunate consequence" of the police investigation, it was "an appropriate step". During police interviews, Rhianan described being coerced and groomed, including sexually, and having sent explicit images of herself to Cook. Lawyers representing the family say police and MI5 knew she was the victim of child sexual exploitation but failed to refer her to the relevant body - the National Referral Mechanism. It was only after a social worker made the referral, that she was identified as a child victim and then the charges were dropped, by which time she had been subject to investigation and prosecution for 15 months. The coroner agreed that there was a "systems failure" due to a lack of training both within the police and the Derbyshire council who both had had "significant information" that she was a potential victim of modern slavery. However, she also said it "was impossible to know" whether this would have led to the CPS dropping their charges sooner, "nor that if had more than minimal impact on Rhianan's death". Ms Carter says if she'd been treated differently "she'd be troubled, but I do think she'd still be alive". Rhianan's family say the security services knew her vulnerabilities and that she had a tendency to self-harm, but they failed to take this into account. Ms Carter said: "I admit my mistakes and I want the organisations to admit their mistakes. There were failings and they need to admit them." This ruling however found that the state did not play a role in Rhianan's death under article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. For the most part, her vulnerabilities were known and taken into consideration. It does however show how extremists will exploit children with mental health problems, young people who are struggling with life who may be a danger to society, but also a risk to themselves. Counter Terrorism Policing said it offered "sincere condolences to Rhianan's family and loved ones for their terrible loss". Assistant Chief Constable Di Coulson, speaking on behalf of Counter Terrorism Policing in the East Midlands (CTPEM) and Derbyshire Constabulary, said: "This was a complex case involving a very vulnerable young person, who had been subjected to radicalisation. "Rhianan's tragic death was clearly devastating for her family. It was felt profoundly by the officers directly involved, but also across Counter Terrorism Policing as a whole. "Rhianan's case was a stark moment for our management of the growing numbers of children and young people in our casework - so often presenting vulnerability as well as risk and threat to the public. "Since Rhianan's death, we continue to work alongside our partners to evolve the way we approach cases involving children and, where feasible, attempt to rehabilitate and deradicalise, rather than investigate and convict. "We welcome the findings of the Chief Coroner today, and while we have already made substantial improvements to the way we manage these cases, we will carefully review the findings and make any further changes in order to improve our protection of the public against terrorism."
