Donald Trump’s effort to overcome his deep unpopularity among female voters was dealt a setback Friday as decades-old domestic violence allegations surfaced against Stephen K. Bannon, the controversial new chief executive of his campaign.
Advertisement
“The bottom line is he has a great relationship with the twins, he has a great relationship with the ex-wife, he still supports them”, Bannon’s spokeswoman Alexandra Preate told Politico.
The home in question was a rental that Bannon rented for his ex-wife, Diane Clohesy, but he does not live there himself, reports said.
Bannon, the former head of Breitbart.com, is Donald Trump’s newest high-level hire for his fledgling presidential campaign staff, which has for months been fighting off a reputation that its base of supporters are bigoted and embittered white males.
Bannon pleaded not guilty, but the case was dismissed because prosecutors couldn’t find the key witness – his wife. The case was dismissed in August 1996 when his ex-wife didn’t appear for the trial. Today, The New York Times and other media outlets ran features on Bannon, bringing up details of his past and present that I am quite sure he would have rather been left ignored.
She said Bannon chased her into their house, threatening to kidnap their girls, she said.
Mary Louise Piccard claimed Bannon grabbed her “by the throat and arm” and screamed at her during a fight on New Year’s Day 1996.
A Trump campaign spokesperson said Bannon moved to another home in Florida, though an exact location has not been clarified.
A police report obtained by The Associated Press said he grabbed her wrist and “grabbed at” her neck.
Stephen Bannon recently made headlines after news broke that he was once charged with domestic abuse, and now he is committing voter fraud. But Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway tells CNN it will not affect his future with the campaign.
Ms Piccard said that when she told him that a competing school also had a proportion of Jewish children, he asked “what the percentage was”. A police officer said he saw red marks on Bannon’s wife’s body that gave credence to her account.
In May, the Breitbart news site posted an article calling prominent USA conservative William Kristol a “renegade Jew” for supporting an independent bid for the presidency in a “stop Trump” move. According to a police report, Bannon’s spouse said he pulled at her neck and wrist.
Spokespersons for Trump’s campaign did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
According to NBC, the now ex-wife said Bannon’s attorney told her to leave town so she couldn’t testify, though the attorney has denied that claim.
“Once he got the phone, he threw it across the room”, the report said.
Advertisement
“The hiring of Bannon does make Trump’s appeal to the alt-right explicit”, a Washington Post opinion piece noted.
