Bannon ordered...

Wylie to House Dems: Bannon ordered Putin messaging tests

By ASHLEY GOLD

Former Trump campaign CEO and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon ordered Cambridge Analytica staff to test messaging around Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian expansion in 2014, Cambridge Analytica whisteblower Christopher Wylie told House Democrats this week.

“It was the only foreign issue, or foreign leader, I should say, being tested at the time I was there,” Wylie told Democrats from the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, according to excerpts the lawmakers released today drawn from a Tuesday briefing with Wylie. Under Bannon’s instruction, the firm discussed Putin with focus groups and was “also testing images of Vladimir Putin and asking questions about Russian expansion in Eastern Europe,” Wylie said.

Neither Bannon nor a White House spokesperson immediately responded to a request for comment.

Wylie told media outlets in March that Bannon had Cambridge Analytica test the phrases “build the wall” and “drain the swamp” in 2014, long before Donald Trump adopted them as rallying cries.

Wylie was a source for news reports indicating Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users. He is briefing Democrats from the House Intelligence Committee today.

Wylie also said Cambridge Analytica was a U.S. pass-through company with none of its own staff. All its work was done by U.K.-based SCL Group, according to Wylie, who added that Bannon said he wanted to use Cambridge Analytica to “discourage specific groups of people from voting — including people likely to vote Democratic.” He said Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser, was a consultant for Cambridge Analytica at one point.

Bannon did not care whether information spread by Cambridge Analytica was incorrect, Wylie said, because he was trying to win a “culture war.” He called Cambridge Analytica a “full service propaganda machine.”