Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie told Congress on Wednesday that the firm used by President Trump
Donald John TrumpTrump officials considering using court-ordered removals to deport migrant families: report Dem senator calls for Senate to investigate Giuliani's planned Ukraine trip Ocasio-Cortez says 'vote your values' after finding Trump supporter sign outside office MORE's campaign in 2016 engaged in "voter disengagement" tactics targeting black Americans.
In an interview with CNN after his testimony, Wylie said that Bannon, who held a position on the firm's board before joining the Trump campaign, directed the firm to research suppressing the vote among black Americans.
Other liberal demographic groups were also targeted, Wylie said.
"Mr. Bannon sees cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics. It was for this reason Mr. Bannon engaged SCL [Cambridge Analytica's parent company], a foreign military contractor, to build an arsenal of informational weapons he could deploy on the American population," Wylie said Wednesday.
That information is then used to "discourage or demobilize certain types of people from voting," he added, including African-Americans, which Wylie says were particular targets of the operations.
During the hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wylie was asked by Sen. Christopher Coons
Christopher (Chris) Andrew CoonsMenendez, Rubio lead Senate effort to regulate Venezuelan sanctions Dem report questions State Dept. decision to revoke award to Trump critic Booker takes early lead in 2020 endorsements MORE (D-Del.) whether Bannon's goal "was to suppress voting or discourage certain individuals in the U.S. from voting."
"That was my understanding, yes," Wylie replied.
Wylie made headlines earlier this year when he revealed that as many as 87 million people may have had their data harvested by Cambridge Analytica without their consent as a result of a third-party application.
The resulting press was devastating for Facebook and led to CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot ZuckerbergHillicon Valley: Instagram cracks down on anti-vaccine tags | Facebook co-founder on fallout from call to break up company | House Dems reintroduce election security bill | Lawmakers offer bill requiring cyber, IT training for House Facebook co-founder says friendship with Zuckerberg 'probably' over after call for company breakup The Hill's Morning Report — Trump escalates trade war with China as talks continue MORE's testimony on Capitol Hill. In early May, the data firm announced it was shutting down over the media coverage.
