[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 163 (Tuesday, November 15, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP'S APPOINTMENT OF STEPHEN BANNON AS CHIEF 
                               STRATEGIST

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                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 15, 2016

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, on November 13, President-elect Donald 
Trump announced his intention to appoint Stephen Bannon, a Breitbart 
News executive, as chief strategist and senior counselor to the 
President.
  In response to this announcement, Richard Cohen--the president of the 
Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the United 
States--issued the following statement about Mr. Bannon and his past 
work:
  ``Stephen Bannon, a man who led a media empire into becoming what a 
former Breitbart editor called `a cesspool for white supremacist 
mememakers,' simply has no business in the White House.
  ``In July, Bannon boasted that Breitbart News was `the platform for 
the alt-right.' The alt-right, as we know, is simply a rebranding of 
white nationalism and is the energy behind the avalanche of racist and 
anti-Semitic harassment that plagued social media platforms for the 
entire presidential campaign. Once the news of Bannon's appointment hit 
white supremacist websites last night, forums like Stormfront erupted 
in celebration.
  ``In his victory speech, Trump pledged to be the president for `all 
Americans' and to `bind the wounds of division' in our country. 
Appointing someone like Bannon, who will have the president-elect's ear 
every single day, makes a mockery of that pledge.''

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