White House Official Fired for Anonymous Twitter Account He Used to Criticize Gov't Over Issues Like Benghazi

A member of the White House's National Security Council was fired last week when it was revealed he operated an anonymous Twitter account on which he criticized the very administration for which he worked.

Jofi Joseph (Image source: LinkedIn)

The Daily Beast was first to report Jofi Joseph -- who worked as the director of nonproliferation for the National Security Council, specifically working with Iran's negotiations -- was terminated from his position with White House staff due to the trolling nature of his Twitter account.

Joseph had also previously worked for the State Department and for Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).

According to The Daily Beast Joseph used the handle @natsecwonk to criticize officials that included former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Secretary of State John Kerry, among others.

Here's more from The Daily Beast detailing some of the tweets saved from the Twitter account, which was shut down last week:

“I'm a fan of Obama, but his continuing reliance and dependence upon a vacuous cipher like Valerie Jarrett concerns me,” he once tweeted.

“Was Huma Abedin wearing beer goggles the night she met Anthony Wiener? Almost as bad a pairing as Samantha Powers and Cass Sunstein ....,” he tweeted on another occasion, insulting a top Clinton aide, a then Congressman, and two White House senior officials in one tweet.

Joseph's snark was not confined to his Obama administration colleagues. He also took aim at senior Republican figures and lowly GOP Hill staffers.

“So when will someone do us the favor of getting rid of Sarah Palin and the rest of her white trash family? What utter useless garbage .... ,” he tweeted last October.

During the 2012 Presidential campaign, he lashed out at conservative journalists and members of the presidential campaign staff of Mitt Romney

“@MiekeEoyang Come on, I expected better of you. @jrubinblogger is CRAZY unhinged while @noonanjo is an overweight paid Romney shill,” he tweeted, referring to the Washington Post's conservative blogger Jen Rubin and Romney campaign national security staffer John Noonan.

The investigation into this account, according to Politico, began after it tweeted doubts about the information coming from the administration regarding the Benghazi attacks on Sept. 11, 2012.

“Look, Issa is an a**, but he's on to something here with the @HillaryClinton whitewash of accountability for Benghazi," @natsecwonk once tweeted, according to Politico (redacted).

One of the tweets reported by Politico read (redacted): “’Has sh***y staff.’ #ObamaInThreeWords.”

White House officials confirmed with both publications that Joseph was no longer with the staff.

Joseph apologized to the administration for his actions.

“It has been a privilege to serve in this Administration and I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me,” Joseph wrote to Politico.

"What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments," he continued. "I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted."

Politico also noted officials said they investigated Joseph's potential involvement with handle @dchobbyist. This account is still active, but it recently locked/hid all of its content "due to a bunch of strange tweets aimed at me."

This screenshot shows the current status of the Twitter handle @dchobbyist. (Image source: @dchobbyist/Twitter)

Joseph did not give comment about this other Twitter account.

Featured image via PiXXart / Shutterstock.com.

(H/T: Gawker)

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