Sen. Sherrod Brown took a step Sunday few of his colleagues have been willing to, calling former White House adviser Steve Bannon a "white supremacist".
In an interview Sunday, CNN's Dana Bash asked Brown about Rep. Frederica Wilson's comments to The New York Times last week, in which she said "the White House itself is full of white supremacists.”
Brown agreed with his Democratic ally, calling Bannon in no ambiguous terms a racist.
"I agree that Steve Bannon is a white supremacist and Stephen Miller seems to be," Brown said Sunday.
Brown on Rep. Wilson's comment: "I agree that Steve Bannon is a white supremacist and Stephen Miller seems to be" https://t.co/GJJcoKD8dR
— CNN (@CNN) October 22, 2017
Wilson condemned the White House on Friday after Kelly chastised her following criticism of President Trump for butchering a call to the widow of one of four service members killed in an ambush in Niger.
“I feel very sorry for him because he feels such a need to lie on me and I’m not even his enemy,” Ms. Wilson said of Kelly. “I just can’t even imagine why he would fabricate something like that. That is absolutely insane. I’m just flabbergasted because it’s very easy to trace.”
Brown defended Wilson's characterization of the White House, noting that Bannon and Miller have shown white-supremacist tendencies. Politicians and members of the press have been wary to use the term "white supremacy." Some have feared ascribing intent to Bannon's nationalist agenda, while others may have been afraid of retribution.
Last year, Breitbart News threatened to sue a media outlet that referred to it as a white supremacist website.
"Bretitbart News cannot allow such vicious racial lies to go unchallenged, especially by cynical, politically-motivated competitors seeking to diminish its 42 million monthly readers and its number one in the world political Facebook page. Breitbart News rejects racism in all its varied and ugly forms. Always has, always will,” Breitbart said in a statement.
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