A group of 44 House Democrats is demanding that the State Department immediately fire Darren Beattie, the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, who has come under bipartisan criticism for past offensive comments and far-right affiliations.

Beattie, who was fired from the first Trump administration for attending a white nationalist event, has voiced white supremacist views, demeaned Black people, women and other minorities and promoted a series of stances at odds with U.S. policy, including brushing off Chinese aggression and genocide of the Uyghur population and expressing support for Russia. Beattie had also personally attacked Secretary of State Marco Rubio online.

“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,” a group of House Democrats led by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) wrote to Rubio. “Darren Beattie’s position is an affront to U.S. public diplomacy efforts and he is unfit for any role at the State Department. We ask that you immediately and permanently dismiss him from the Department.”

The controversial commentator is only filling the position temporarily, but the lawmakers argued that “he could retain” the current role “for months” until the full-time official is confirmed.

The letter highlights the Anti-Defamation League’s concerns about Beattie’s affiliations with extremists and his promotion of antisemitic and white supremacist theories and ideologies, with the Democrats calling his views “categorically destructive to U.S. global standing” and “fundamentally incompatible with the mission of public diplomacy.”

The lawmakers also said that they “have serious concerns that Beattie’s loyalty to white nationalist ideology supersedes his duty to advance the foreign policy interests of the United States,” pointing to his comments praising China and Russia and saying that it is a positive development that they are rising as competitors with the United States.

“We urge you to dismiss Darren Beattie from the State Department. Beattie’s racist and pro-CCP [Chinese Communist Party] worldview disqualifies him outright for any U.S. public diplomacy job. His opposition to U.S. global leadership and glorification of U.S. adversaries make him actively dangerous to U.S. interests,” the Democrats continued. “His above quotes only begin to scratch the surface of a deep repertoire of racist, fascist beliefs. We urge you to protect U.S. national security and immediately remove him from the highest echelons of American diplomacy.”

“For him to come back just shows how openly supportive this administration is of vulgar, dangerous and truly unpatriotic people,” Kamlager-Dove said in an interview with Jewish Insider. “Having someone in a very prominent position that’s really focused on public diplomacy out here jeopardizing our national security and our domestic policy issues is really frightening. He’s a vulgar person and he should be fired.”

She called the issue an opportunity for various communities that Beattie has targeted and demeaned to come together to “oppose someone who is incredibly dangerous.” 

Kamlager-Dove said that Beattie would jeopardize the U.S.’ ability to form partnerships with other countries and that Beattie’s ideology appears to supersede his commitment to the United States.

Signatories to the letter include Reps. Greg Meeks (D-NY, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Bill Keating (D-MA), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Ami Bera (D-CA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Jim Costa (D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), Julie Johnson (D-TX), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Nikema Williams (D-GA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI, Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), John Larson (D-CT), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Seth Moulton (D-MA), George Latimer (D-NY), Andre Carson (D-IN), Gabe Amo (D-RI), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Mike Levin (D-CA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Sean Casten (D-IL), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA).