{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://degette.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/letter-to-president-elect-trump-protests-bannon-appointment-to-key-white", "Letter to President-elect Trump Protests Bannon Appointment to Key White House Role", "2016-11-16", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "CO", "Diana DeGette", "D000197", "degette.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC \u2013 Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO) joined fellow House Democrats in calling for President-elect Trump to reverse the appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist.\nIn a letter sent to Trump today, 169 House members said Bannon\u2019s work at Breitbart, an online news and opinion source that publishes bigoted content, makes him the wrong choice to help steer an administration that will unite a\u00a0divided nation.\n\u201cAs the Executive Chairman of Breitbart News, Mr. Bannon repeatedly and aggressively pushed stories that promote anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and racism,\u201d the House members wrote. \u201cDuring an interview last summer, Mr. Bannon bragged that Breitbart was \u2019the platform for the alt-right,\u2019 a movement that upholds White Nationalism while strongly rejecting diversity in any form. Under Mr. Bannon\u2019s leadership, Breitbart has referred to a leading Republican who opposed your election as a \u2019Renegade Jew,\u2019 suggested \u2019Young Muslims in the West are a ticking time bomb,\u2019 declared that\u00a0 \u2019the Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage\u2019 and praised the alt-right as a \u2019smarter\u2019 version of \u2019old-school racist skinheads.\u2019\u201d\nThe letter made the case that from a new role in the White House, Bannon will further split Americans along the fault lines of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.\n\u201cWe strongly believe that Mr. Bannon\u2019s appointment will not allow the country to heal and come together as one,\u201d it said. \u201cAs one of your top advisors, the White House chief strategist will help set the tone for your administration. The person in this role must be prepared to serve the interests of all Americans, not those of a select few.\u201d\nHouse Republicans were invited to sign the letter, but none did.\nA variety of civil rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, have opposed Bannon\u2019s appointment, and U.S. citizens have protested it via social media and demonstrations across the country. Coloradans have been contacting Congresswoman DeGette\u2019s office to applaud her stance against divisiveness, hate speech and violence and in favor of civil liberties.\nYesterday, Rep. DeGette issued a statement expressing concern over Trump\u2019s appointment of Bannon and news about potential cabinet nominees who have proven divisive or destructive to progress on civil rights, the environment or health care in previous roles. She urged the president-elect to build an administration that promotes unity and firmly repudiates hate.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://degette.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/letter-to-president-elect-trump-protests-bannon-appointment-to-key-white"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1140850838273764, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}