No. 2 GOP leader defends Trump’s Bannon pick in combative exchange with reporters

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during a combative meeting with reporters on Monday repeatedly defended President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to pick controversial Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon as his chief strategist in the White House.

{mosads}”The president-elect always gets to pick his team going forward,” McCarthy told a packed room of reporters after being read a series of racist and misogynistic Breitbart headlines that appeared when Bannon was leading the conservative news site. Among them were: “Bill Kristol, Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew,” “Gabby Giffords: The Gun Control Movement’s Human Shield,” and “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.”

Bannon has also made anti-Catholic comments about Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on his radio show.

“The president has a right to select who he thinks is best to be able to move through,” McCarthy, the No. 2 House GOP leader, said, adding that he had spoken to Bannon Sunday night but didn’t know him well.

But reporters weren’t satisfied with that answer. McCarthy was pressed several more times about Bannon throughout the half-hour pen-and-pad briefing in the Capitol.

“I’ve been here for 20 years, so I’m going to try one more,” public radio reporter Todd Zwillich interjected, pointing to comments Bannon had made about Muslims and Hispanics.

“I haven’t been here for 20 years, but I’m majority leader,” McCarthy shot back in what veteran Capitol Hill reporters said was the most contentious news briefing they had seen in years.

Fox News’s Chad Pergram did get a follow-up question: Are Republicans ceding “moral ground” by associating with people like Bannon in order to pass conservative policies?

“We’re less than one week after this election. We’re just now coming back into session. The president-elect is putting together his team to go out there,” McCarthy replied.

“A lot of people he’ll have to select will have to go through [Senate] confirmation. Our job here is to get this economy moving again.”

“So it does seem like you are ceding that moral ground,” Pergram said.

“For one thing, don’t put words in my mouth,” McCarthy said. “I answered your question. The president has the right to select the team, just as I do in my office.”