Steve Bannon Joined Facebook Group Tied To Obama Death Threats, Evidence Shows

Disturbing evidence showing that Steve Bannon, whom Donald Trump tapped as his chief strategist in the White House, joined a Facebook group that posts hate speech and Obama dead threats have been uncovered by Mother Jones.

Bannon has come under fire for his self-admitted promotion of the alt-right, a haven of white nationalists, when he was head of far-right Breitbart News. His defenders have insisted Bannon is no racist or anti-Semite. But Mother Jones has uncovered an even more sinister side of Bannon’s political personality.

According to the magazine, Bannon joined a conservative Facebook group called Vigilant Patriots that disseminates racist and extreme material, including posts urging a military coup against President Barack Obama, celebrating the Confederate flag, and calling for the president to be “executed as a traitor.”

This Facebook group is a collection of right-wing extremists, including members who hail militias and decry Muslims, immigration, progressives, sellout Republicans, and the president with hateful, violent, and racist rhetoric. It has an active Twitter feed that is virulently anti-Islam. Its website does not seem to be functioning currently.

Vigilant Patriots claims its goals are defending and upholding the Constitution and preserving “our history and culture.” As of Friday morning, it listed nearly 3,600 members, including Stephen Bannon, who apparently joined the group seven years ago.

With Facebook, there is always the chance an account could be a spoof or phony. But the Facebook account attributed to Bannon—the one that joined the Vigilant Patriots group—does appear to be legitimate. The Facebook page for the Breitbart radio show that Bannon once hosted contains a post from Matthew Boyle, a Breitbart editor, that linked to Bannon using this particular Facebook account.

The Facebook page for Bannon’s Palin documentary also linked to this Facebook account for Bannon. And a private and official Facebook group for media professionals lists Bannon as a member using this Facebook account, according to Mother Jones.

The magazine shared a sample of the content posted on the Vigilant Patriots Facebook page: