REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
During a Monday speech at a private event, incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke out against Donald Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon to a chief strategist role in the White House.
“If allies or aides to the president say anything that demeans a group of Americans, we won’t hesitate for a moment to demand that our new president condemn those comments,” Schumer told attendees, according to Politico. “And already we have reason to. Steve Bannon’s appointment to a senior White House post signals that many of his dangerous and bigoted ideas will have a seat at the table in the White House... We will be watching. And everyone here will be ready to actively stand up for one another if ever one group is attacked.”
Bannon is the former head of Breitbart News, where he promoted and published racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and white-nationalist content. Bannon has been charged with domestic-violence against his wife, and reportedly complained of his children attending school with Jewish classmates. White supremacists have cheered his appointment to a White House role.