US Senator slams House Minority Leader for calling Trump aide white supremacist

WASHINGTON—US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling the White House chief strategist Steve Bannon a white supremacist is a reckless disregard for the truth, US Senator Mike Lee said in an interview.

Earlier on Thursday, Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol that having a white supremacist named to the National Security Council as a permanent member is what is making America less safe.

“What’s making America less safe is to have a white supremacist named to the National Security Council as a permanent member while the chairman of the joint chiefs and the director of national intelligence are told, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” Pelosi said. “It’s a stunning thing that a white supremacist, Bannon, would be a permanent member of the National Security Council.”

Lee criticized Pelosi’s remarks in an interview with CNN on Thursday calling them “nonsense.”

“I think this is defamatory. I think she’s acting with reckless disregard for the truth. I wish people would stop throwing out arguments like that.”

On January 28, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reorganize the National Security Council and added Bannon as its permanent member. The order also downgraded the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence.