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Brown's Calling Bannon a Racist Draws a Rebuke from the White House

Brown drew fire from the White House and from the two Ohio Republicans who want to unseat him.
CNN's State of the Union
Brown drew fire from the White House and from the two Ohio Republicans who want to unseat him.
Brown drew fire from the White House and from the two Ohio Republicans who want to unseat him.
Credit CNN's State of the Union
/
CNN's State of the Union
Brown drew fire from the White House and from the two Ohio Republicans who want to unseat him.

Ohio’s U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has stirred up controversy by labeling President Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon a racist, and saying another adviser may be one as well. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more.

Brown was on CNN’s State of the Union program Sunday, when host Dana Bash asked if he agreed with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson that the Trump White House is full of racists. He responded:

“I agree that Steve Bannon is a white supremacist and Steven Miller seems to be and I know that studies have shown that they have their allies sprinkled around the White House.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders has shot back, calling those characterizations “outrageous and slanderous.” State Treasurer Josh Mandel, who hopes to run against Brown next year, told Breitbart news – which Bannon runs – that Brown’s comments were “desperate, false and beneath the dignity of his office.”

Mike Gibbons, the Cleveland businessman who is running against Mandel for the Republican nomination, also criticized Brown, calling the comment slanderous, and saying Brown “is flailing to keep his job.” 

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M.L. Schultze
M.L. Schultze came to WKSU as news director in July 2007 after 25 years at The Repository in Canton, where she was managing editor for nearly a decade. She’s now the digital editor and an award-winning reporter and analyst who has appeared on NPR, Here and Now and the TakeAway, as well as being a regular panelist on Ideas, the WVIZ public television's reporter roundtable.