Trump Speechwriter Fired for Speaking at Conference With White Nationalists

A White House speechwriter was fired Friday after CNN questioned his attendance and speech at conferences attended by prominent white nationalists like Richard Spencer and Peter Brimelow, according to a Sunday report from The Washington Post. CNN’s investigative KFile reported Sunday that it had reached out to the White House early last week about Darren Beattie’s speaking appearances and that the White House asked it to delay publication for a few days. During that time, Beattie was reportedly asked to resign. Beattie refused, reportedly noting that the points he made at the conferences were “uncontroversial” and “academic.” He was fired soon after. The major appearance in question, the Post notes, was the 2016 H.L. Mencken Club conference, at which Beattie spoke on a panel with Brimelow, a self-described believer in “racial nationalism” who runs an anti-immigrant website. In the past, the conference had also been attended by Spencer, one of the most prominent names in the alt-right movement. The White House did not attribute Beattie’s speaking engagement to his dismissal, telling the Post that “we don’t comment on personnel matters.”