Trump Campaign CEO Bannon Didn’t Want Daughters in School With Jews, Ex-Wife Says
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An ex-wife of Donald Trump’s new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon, said he made anti-Semitic remarks during a fight over the education of their two daughters.
According to court papers dated to 2007, ex-wife Mary Louise Piccard said Bannon didn’t want their daughters to go to an elite Los Angeles school because he “didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews”, the Guardian reported.
“He said he doesn’t like Jews and that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats,’” Piccard said, according to the court papers.
Bannon, the former head of the ultra-conservative Breitbart News website was appointed the head of the Trump campaign last week, in a shakeup of the Republican candidate’s campaign leadership. In tapping Bannon for a top campaign role, Trump is doubling down on his outsider appeal rather than appeasing more traditional Republicans. The conservative Breitbart figure has been a cheerleader for Trump’s campaign for months and was critical of Republican leaders.
The alleged anti-Semitic remarks surfaced a day after reports that Piccard filed domestic violence charges against Bannon 20 years ago, when they were still married.
Bannon and Piccard filed for divorce in 1997, a year after the alleged violent altercation. Piccard said the anti-Semitic remarks were made when she asked Bannon for $64,000 in tuition to send their daughters to the Archer School for Girls for the 2007-08 school year.
According to Piccard, Bannon had wanted to send the girls to a Catholic school. When they were visiting other private schools in 2000, she said Bannon questioned one director over the Hanukkah books in the school library. At another school, he asked her whether she’s bothered by the fact that the school used to be a synagogue.
Bannon denied through a spokesperson that he made the remarks. “Mr. Bannon never said anything like that and proudly sent the girls to Archer for their middle school and high school education,” a statement said, according to the Guardian.
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