Christopher Wylie said to House Democrats on Tuesday that former Trump campaign strategist Stephen Bannon asked Cambridge Analytica to research voter suppression techniques.
Wylie told the House Judiciary Democrats and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a private briefing that Bannon directed the British research firm to explore new methods for “discouraging particular types of voters who are more prone to voting for Democratic or liberal candidates.”
Wylie further told the Democrats that Bannon also directed the firm to start researching and later test messaging regarding Russia, Vladimir Putin and Russian expansion in Eastern Europe.
“It was the only foreign issue or foreign leader, I should say, being tested at the time I was there,” Wylie told lawmakers.
Bannon is one of the founders of Cambridge Analytica and held a position on its board before joining the Trump campaign.
According to NBC News, Wylie also shed some light on Michael Flynn’s advisory role at the research firm, saying that his function was to “open doors and look at potential contracts,” for the company as a consultant.
The research firm, which Wylie called on Tuesday a “full-service propaganda machine,” has been enveloped in controversy since Facebook disclosed that it is going to cut ties with Cambridge Analytica over its improperly harvesting data about 87 million Facebook users.
Meanwhile, Facebook has also been faced with scrutiny in the matter, but it has tried to shift at least some of the blame to Cambridge Analytica, describing the company as a rogue actor that violated its data policies.
On Wednesday, members of the House Intelligence Committee had a separate closed-door hearing with Wylie. The committee’s top Democrat, Representative Adam Schiff stated after the meeting that Wylie mentioned connections between Cambridge Analytica, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and Wikileaks, but did not provide specifics on those ties.
Schiff also said that Wylie gave on new details on “Cambridge Analytica’s previous experience using hacked or misappropriated data in the Nigeria campaign.”
It was also reported that Wylie told the committee new information about the firm’s outreach to Russia’s Lukoil and the oil company’s “relationship with Russian intelligence, its interest in Cambridge Analytica’s ability to target U.S. voters through the firm’s datasets.”
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