Breitbart staff list reveals additional ties to Bannon and Mercer
WASHINGTON — Breitbart News has released for the first time a list of senior staff, which reveals that some of the site's top editors were senior employees in an advocacy group and a film company run by Steve Bannon and one of President Trump’s top campaign donors. The staff list has raised new questions about the far-right media organization’s editorial independence.
The news outlet has provided the Senate Press Gallery's Standing Committee of Correspondents a list of top editors as part of Breitbart's application for congressional press credentials.
The list includes Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer and Managing Editor Wynton Hall, who had six-figure salaries at the Government Accountability Institute as recently as 2014, according to tax records. The GAI is a conservative advocacy organization whose main donor and chairwoman is Rebekah Mercer, a GOP donor who played a major role in Trump’s campaign and transition. She is credited with bringing Breitbart executive — and GAI co-founder — Steve Bannon on to the Trump campaign team last year.
Breitbart CEO Larry Solov told the standing committee last month that the Mercer family is part owner of Breitbart news, but he would not identify which family members.
Bannon, who is now Trump's chief strategist, is no longer listed on the GAI site, but Schweizer is still listed as the organization’s president on the GAI website, and a November Breitbart story had Hall listed as GAI’s communications strategist.
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Other Breitbart staff have other ties to Bannon and Mercer. Schweizer is also listed as an executive producer on a 2016 Glittering Steel movie called Clinton Cash, a film version of his book by the same title that probed Hillary Clinton's finances. Breitbart Deputy Managing Editor Rebecca Mansour was also listed as a co-writer of Glittering Steel's September 2016 film Torchbearer, which Bannon called "a Christian war film" featuring the evangelical message of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson.
Breitbart London Editor Raheem Kassam stepped down in 2014 to serve as an advisor to Nigel Farage, the leader of the far-right UK Independence Party who is a close ally of Trump. Kassam returned to Bretibart in 2015.
The information about the Breitbart staff was disclosed during a Monday meeting of the standing committee. Breitbart is attempting to join organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA TODAY in becoming a credentialed member of the press gallery, which provides access to the Capitol on par with congressional staff members. It would also allow Breitbart to become part of the White House “pools,” which means it would be part of a rotation that provides coverage for other outlets when space at presidential events is limited.
But press gallery rules state that to be credentialed, reporters "must not be engaged in any lobbying or paid advocacy, advertising, publicity or promotion work for any individual, political party, corporation, organization, or agency of the U.S. Government, or in prosecuting any claim before Congress or any federal government department, and will not do so while a member of the Daily Press Galleries.”
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On Monday, the committee voted again to delay a final decision on permanent credentials because they said questions remained. The group did agree to extend the temporary credentials of a small group of Breitbart reporters for two months following their expiration later this week. They also are requesting that Breitbart provide answers to an additional set of questions by mid-April.
Before it can make a decision on permanent credentials, the committee is seeking more information about the role the Breitbart editors play at GAI. It is also looking for Breitbart to address a New Yorker report that Mercer is "highly engaged with Breitbart’s content."
The committee also is seeking more information regarding the Breitbart Washington office. Breitbart has been operating out of a townhouse on Capitol HIll and told the Senate Press staff it had a commercial lease on the building, but USA TODAY reported that zoning restrictions in the neighborhood generally prohibit commercial operations out of a residence.