CEO confirms Mercers, top GOP donors, are part owners of Breitbart
Breitbart News Network CEO Larry Solov acknowledged Friday that the Mercer family — top Republican donors and key backers of President Trump's campaign — are part owners of the controversial news site, but he said they have no editorial role.
Presidential adviser Steve Bannon has resigned his editorial and financial roles with the site, Solov said, but there is no formal paperwork to that effect.
The ownership of Breitbart has been a closely guarded secret, and Solov said he was reluctant to disclose it publicly. Breitbart is applying for press credentials through the Senate Daily Press Gallery, and the Standing Committee of Correspondents that serve as the gallery leadership had requested information about the site's ownership to ensure Breitbart meets the gallery's requirements for editorial independence.
The press gallery rules state that to qualify, a reporter "must not be engaged in any lobbying or paid advocacy, advertising, publicity or promotion work for any individual, political party, corporation, organization, or agency of the U.S. Government, or in prosecuting any claim before Congress or any federal government department, and will not do so while a member of the Daily Press Galleries. Applicants’ publications must be editorially independent of any institution, foundation or interest group that lobbies the federal government, or that is not principally a general news organization."
Solov told the committee Friday that the three owners are him, the Mercer family and Andrew Breitbart's widow, Susie.
He would not disclose which members of the Mercer family were involved.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah have been key allies of Trump. The Mercers funded a PAC that supported Trump's candidacy, and Rebekah Mercer was part of Trump's transition team. The Mercers have been huge donors to conservative causes, and Politico last fall called Rebekah Mercer "the most powerful woman in GOP politics." The Center for Responsive Politics lists Robert Mercer as one of the 10 top political donors of 2016, having given more than $22 million to conservative causes.
Last August, after Bannon joined the Trump campaign, Breitbart announced that Bannon had taken a temporary leave of absence, but the committee had asked for more details about Bannon's relationship with the site. Solov said that Bannon called him shortly after the election to resign from the company, and that it is a total severing of ties, but he said there is no written documentation of his resignation, and he could not provide an exact date for the conversation. Solov said he would be willing to write a letter stating that Bannon has left the company.
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Standing Committee Chairman Billy House of Bloomberg News made a point that "this is not a content-driven process" and the gallery is "trying to help you get credentials." But the committee has not yet issued a decision on Breitbart's application.
Solov told the committee that as a private limited liability corporation, "I want to disclose as little as possible about our financial and ownership structure." But he also said he understood the gallery's need to understand who owns Breitbart and who makes editorial decisions. The site has never had a masthead like a traditional news operation, listing top editors and managers, but Solov appeared willing to provide that to the gallery as well.
Getting credentials in the press gallery is not a requirement for reporters to cover Congress — Breitbart reporters already run the halls of the Capitol with the rest of the press pack — but it provides some prerogatives for reporters covering news events on Capitol Hill and makes it much easier to get around. A Senate press pass also can be a steppingstone to getting a White House press pass.