House minority leaders call Bannon a ‘white supremacist;’ want him off NSC

Leaders of the three major ethnic caucuses on Capitol Hill wrote President Trump Wednesday demanding he remove chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council.

“I am not comfortable entrusting the security of the American people to an untrustworthy, white supremacist,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond, D-La., stated. “Keeping us safe is the primary function of the federal government and appointing someone as unprepared and undeserving as Steven Bannon to the NSC suggests the president is asleep at the wheel.”

In a presidential memo issued Saturday, Trump expanded who may regularly attend NSC meetings to include the former Breibart publisher, as well as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. The memo did not include the national intelligence director or Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman in the list of “regular” attendees, but did stated that “as statutory advisers to the NSC, [they] shall also attend NSC meetings.

Democrats took that to mean Trump was kicking them off the country’s chief foreign and defense policy-making board — a charge the White House denies.

Trump’s decision to “demote” them and allow Bannon to sit in on council sessions “is unacceptable and calls into question the judgment and motives of the Trump administration,” stated Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M. “Mr. Bannon is a political operative complicit in peddling white supremacist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic and misogynistic narratives.”

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Progressive Caucus also signed the letter.

“In the first days of Trump’s presidency, all of our worst fears about Steve Bannon as a supporter of white nationalism have been confirmed,” stated Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Asian Pacific American group.

His attendance “risks politicizing this critical institution,” Chu charged. “Steve Bannon lacks relevant experience and instead brings a divisive political agenda that is not fit at the core of our national security apparatus.”

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