In the News

Rep. Scott Peters said Tuesday President-elect Donald Trump “failed his first test” but appointing former Breitbart executive chairman Steve Bannon to a senior White House positions.

Stephen Bannon has made a name by fueling and monetizing hate — he has no place in the halls of power,” Peters said in a statement. “By bringing a white nationalist and professional anti-Semite into the White House, President-elect Trump is acting on his campaign rhetoric and realizing many of our fears about the direction he intends to take our country.”

Peters, who represents the 52nd District, said he continues to “have had an open mind to President-elect Trump’s agenda” but added that “he has unquestionably failed his first test.”

Peters joined more than 120 fellow House Democrats on a letter to Trump urging him to rescind Bannon’s appointment.

The Trump campaign and editors at Breitbart have denied the accusations against Bannon, calling him a “friend of Israel.”

Another San Diego County Congressman, Rep. Duncan Hunter, praised the possible selection of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as secretary of defense.

Hunter told the The Hill, a political website, that Sessions understands defense and would “root out all the B.S.” at the Pentagon.