Steve Bannon, former White House strategist, has fumed at Donald Trump’s administration for what he called “the lack of diversity”, saying the limited number of Black staffers was “inexcusable.”
Bannon who spoke at a gathering of Black conservative leaders noted, “You can’t defend it,” Bannon said, adding later, “I hope, and I think, that there’s action … taking place to solve that.”
He spoke after the exit of Omarosa Manigault Newman from White House, who was the former an apprentice contestant and ex-White House senior staffer, saying that her departure raises questions about diversity, or lack of it, within Donald Trump’s administration.
In an interview, Newman stated “I’m the only African-American woman who sits at the table.”
She added that she plans to spill the tea about her time with an administration that has struggled with racial issues and outreach to minority communities.
In a second interview with ABC, Omarosa pointed to a “lack of diversity” in the administration, calling it “very, very challenging being the only African-American woman in the senior staff” and even admitting it “was very lonely” working with a predominantly white staff who “had never worked with minorities, didn’t know how to interact with them.”
When asked by NBC News about how many black senior staffers remained at the White House after Omarosa had been kicked to the curb, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to cite a number or specify who would take over Newman’s outreach to African-Americans.
“We have a really diverse team across the board at the White House,” she said, stressing that there’s also an effort to “continue to grow the diversity here” in the administration.
Trump told reporters Thursday that he liked Omarosa, but ignored a question about how many African-Americans he had in his inner circle.
As noted by NBC News, there are few staffers of color in high-level jobs in this administration. And a “review found only a small percentage of nonwhite staffers were appointed as assistants to the president or special assistants to the president.”
Source: NBC News
