WASHINGTON _ Democratic members of Congress are calling for President-elect Donald Trump to rescind his appointment of conservative news executive Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon was among one of the first members to condemn the appointment in a statement Monday.
"There should be no sugarcoating the truth here: Donald Trump just invited a white nationalist into the highest reaches of the government," Merkley said.
Pointing to Bannon's leadership of Breitbart News, Merkley accused Bannon for the "open and disgusting acts of hatred" taking place across the U.S. in the wake of Trump's election.
Under Bannon's direction, Breitbart News created a news section titled "Black Crime" and purportedly compared the work of Planned Parenthood to the Holocaust, Merkley said.
"After running a campaign built on inciting divisions and hate, Donald Trump has claimed he wants to unite America," Merkley said. "Yet he has done nothing meaningful to stop the wave of hate crimes and hate speech he has unleashed, and now has brought that strategy right into the Oval Office."
Democratic U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee and Jerrold Nadler tweeted their thoughts on the appointment, using the hashtag #NoNormalization.
In a terse exchange with reporters on Monday, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended the appointment.
"The president-elect always gets to pick his team going forward," McCarthy said. "The president has the right to select who he thinks is best to be able to move through."
McCarthy, reiterating what House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Sunday, said he did not know Bannon.
But he said Priebus, who worked closely with Bannon on the campaign trail, said the former news executive's public persona did not reflect who he was personally.
McCarthy also said Bannon should not be held accountable for all of Breitbart's content.
"I always believe in giving somebody a chance," McCarthy said. "I don't like to pre-judge people from others."
