New Zealand's second-ranked diplomat to the United States has been censured for an profanity-laced tweet about U.S. Democrats and their presidential prospects for 2020.
Caroline Beresford, the deputy head of mission at New Zealand's embassy in Washington, issued a dismissive response to an opinion piece on the political news website The Hill suggesting that a Democratic presidential ticket with liberal senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren could defeat President Donald Trump.
"They've learned nothing," Beresford wrote. "Please get your (expletive deleted) together or we will all die."
Beresford later deleted the tweets and made her account private. She told the news website Newsroom that she "realized very quickly" the tweets were inappropriate.
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it "does not in any way endorse the content or tone of the tweets," and that Beresford violated its expectation that diplomats maintain political neutrality. The ministry said it was taking appropriate action against Beresford.
