A Cambridge Analytica whistleblower told lawmakers on Wednesday that former White House strategist Steve Bannon turned the company into "essentially a full service propaganda machine" run by its parent company, the Washington Examiner reported.
Bannon was formerly vice president at Cambridge Analytica, CEO of Breitbart and former campaign strategist for Donald Trump.
Whistleblower Christopher Wylie briefed House Democrats in closed-door meetings with members of the Judiciary and Oversight committees on Wednesday, and Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Wylie reportedly said Cambridge Analytica “was set up to be essentially a full service propaganda machine."
He also says Bannon tasked the company with testing messages for American audiences on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I can’t explain why it was that they picked Vladmir Putin to talk about in focus groups or to do message testing or to do models on, and why that would be useful to Steve Bannon,” he reportedly said. “But what I can say is that they were also testing images of Vladimir Putin and asking questions about Russian expansion in Eastern Europe.”
Bannon also spoke about voter disenfranchisement.
“There is one document which I have that specifically says—in bold terms—voter disengagement as an objective in the United States," Wylie explained.