Steve Bannon
Steve Kevin Bannon
Steve Kevin Bannon is an American businessman, conservative film director, former Marine officer, activist, and representative of the Republican Party. Since August 2016, he has been the executive director of Donald Trump's campaign.
He is a co-founder and executive director of the Government Accountability Institute and former executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, the parent company of Breitbart News Network. He was involved in the financing and production of several films including Fire from the Heartland: The Awakening of the Conservative Woman, The Undefeated, and Occupy Unmasked. Bannon also hosts the radio show Breitbart News Daily on Sirius XM.
Place of birth, education: Bannon was born on November 27, 1953, in a working-class family in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1976, he graduated from Virginia Tech and holds a master's degree in national security from Georgetown University. In 1983, at the age of 29, Bannon earned a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
Bannon is a former Marine officer. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he served for seven years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps aboard the USS Paul F. Foster (Pacific Fleet).
Business: After his military service, Bannon worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in the mergers and acquisitions department starting in 1984. In 1990, Bannon and some of his colleagues from Goldman Sachs founded the investment bank Bannon & Co., specializing in media and film production investments. Through Bannon & Co., Bannon negotiated the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment to Ted Turner. In compensation, Bannon & Co. received stakes in five television series, including Seinfeld. The investment business was sold to Société Générale in 1998.
After the sale of Bannon & Co., Bannon became an executive producer in Hollywood. He was an executive producer of the film with Antony Hopkins 'Tit' (1999). Bannon became a partner of Jeff Kwatinetz at The Firm, Inc.
In 2004, Bannon produced the documentary about Ronald Reagan titled In the Face of Evil, presented by Peter Schweizer and Andrew Breitbart.
From 2007 to 2011, Bannon was chairman and executive director of Affinity Media. From March 2012 to August 2016, Bannon served as executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, the parent company of Breitbart News Network. Bannon is also the executive chairman and co-founder of the Institute for Government Accountability, where he assisted in the publication of Clinton Cash.
In 2015, Bannon ranked 19th on Mediaite's list of the 25 most influential people in political media for that year.
On August 17, 2016, he was appointed executive director of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
On November 13, 2016, President-elect Trump appointed Bannon as a senior advisor and chief strategist in his incoming administration.
On November 15, 2016, U.S. Representative David Cicilline initiated a letter signed by 169 Democrats accusing Bannon of racism, anti-Semitism, and sexism, urging Trump to reconsider his decision to appoint Bannon to a key position in his future administration.
On January 28, 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Bannon to the National Security Council by executive order. This appointment was met with sharp criticism from Senator Bernie Sanders and John McCain, as well as intelligence and military elites.
On April 5, 2017, President Donald Trump reorganized his National Security Council and removed Bannon.
On August 18, 2017, he resigned as a senior advisor to the President.
On August 21, 2020, Bannon was arrested as part of a New York State investigation on suspicion of conspiring to steal funds raised by supporters for the construction of a wall along the Mexican border.
On January 20, 2021, President Donald Trump pardoned 73 people by executive order, including Stephen Bannon (Bannon's trial is scheduled for May 2021).
Beliefs: John Weaver, a political advisor to John Kasich's presidential campaign, expressed concerns about Bannon's appointment to Trump's administration, tweeting, 'A racist, an extreme right fascist is just a few steps from the Oval Office. Stay very vigilant, America.' Former Breitbart News editor Ben Shapiro called Bannon the 'sane version' of Trump, an 'aggressive soloist' who likes to make speculations to garner attention. Bannon himself stated in an interview with Bloomberg that he grew up in an Irish working-class family that traditionally supported the Democratic Party, particularly the ideals of President Kennedy. However, in 1979 during his service in the Persian Gulf, he was disappointed by President Carter's actions in resolving the hostage crisis in Iran and largely left the naval service for that reason. However, he was no less disappointed by the results of George W. Bush's Republican presidency. Critics also describe Breitbart as a 'ghetto for those whom Fox News is too polite and reserved.'
During Bannon's tenure as head of Breitbart News, articles were published that critics deemed anti-Muslim.