Overview

• Darren Beattie, acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, deleted tweets calling Marco Rubio 'low IQ' and referencing unfounded claims about his sexuality.
• Beattie previously attended a white nationalist conference and was fired from the Trump administration in 2018 before founding a far-right media outlet.
• The deleted tweets included references to conspiracy theories about Rubio's teenage years and sarcastic remarks about his political positions.
• Beattie’s appointment has drawn criticism from Democrats and advocacy groups for his history of inflammatory and offensive rhetoric.
• Rubio has declined to comment on Beattie’s past remarks but stated that Beattie’s focus in his role would be on addressing concerns about online censorship.