House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy fended off questions and near-accusations from the Capitol Hill press corps Monday about the morality of Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Breitbart executive Steve Bannon to a top White House position.
Reporters read McCarthy headlines from Breitbart that appeared insulting to women and Jews and asked him if, by supporting Bannon, House GOP leaders were somehow ceding the moral high ground.
But McCarthy defended Trump’s decision, and said that as president-elect, he is allowed to chose his own team. He said GOP insiders told him that Bannon is backed by Reince Preibus, the Republican National Committee chairman who was just appointed to serve as Trump’s chief of staff.
“I do not know Steve Bannon,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said, adding that Preibus told him the divisive headlines in Breitbart do not reflect “the Steve Bannon that he knows.”
McCarthy said he spoke to Bannon briefly on Sunday, but does not know him and wants to give him a chance. “I don’t like to prejudge people,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy told reporters he does not agree with some of the Breitbart headlines, including a headline about former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., that called her, “The gun control movement’s human shield.”
Giffords was gravely injured in 2011 when a gunman opened fire on participants at a Tucson, Ariz., “Congress in your Corner” event she was hosting at a shopping center.
Democrats, including the office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have accused Trump of bringing a white supremacist to the White House.
