--- title: Donald Trump: What to Know About Campaign CEO Steve Bannon description: Bannon is the former executive editor of Breitbart News, a right-wing media outlet that has supported Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-17T13:22:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T04:01:35.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: 5 Things to Know About Donald Trump's New Campaign Chief Steve Bannon og:description: Bannon is taking a leave of absence from his job as executive editor of Breitbart News og:url: https://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbb5ef8aa827d96c/6988a2a097cdff0ef66ad76e/stephen-bannon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: SiriusXM's Coverage Of The Republican National Convention Goes Gavel-to-Gavel On Wednesday, July 20 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things to Know About Donald Trump's New Campaign Chief Steve Bannon twitter:description: Bannon is taking a leave of absence from his job as executive editor of Breitbart News twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbb5ef8aa827d96c/6988a2a097cdff0ef66ad76e/stephen-bannon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Things to Know About Donald Trump's New Campaign Chief Steve Bannon > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:01 AM UTCPublished: Aug 17, 2016 1:22 PM UTC  Stephen K. Bannon hosts Brietbart News Daily on SiriusXM Patriot at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 20, 2016. Stephen K. Bannon hosts Brietbart News Daily on SiriusXM Patriot at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 20, 2016. Kirk Irwin—SiriusXM/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Updated: Dec 13, 2023 4:01 AM UTCPublished: Aug 17, 2016 1:22 PM UTC Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is [shaking things up](http://time.com/4455599/donald-trump-campaign-shakeup-stephen-bannon/?xid=homepage) by hiring Stephen Bannon, a top executive from the right-wing media outlet Breitbart News, as the Republican’s top gun. Bannon will become the campaign’s chief executive, while current campaign chairman [Paul Manafort](http://time.com/4438707/donald-trump-paul-manafort-primary-endorsements-conflict/) will retain his title, according to the _Associated Press_. The hire comes as support of Trump is dipping in the polls could signal an embrace of Trump’s aggressive style, rather than commit to appealing to a broader constituency and toning things down. Bannon has been an investment banker, conservative filmmaker and a naval officer before his time at Breitbart. Here’s what you need to know about him: **He held a tight reign on Trump coverage at Breitbart.** Pro-Trump coverage at Breitbart was a mandate enforced harshly by Bannon, according to a _Vanity Fair_ report in March. Bannon had final approval of stories written about the billionaire and frequently exercised his veto power. Tension arose when former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski [was accused of assaulting Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields](http://time.com/4374711/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-leaves/) at a rally. Bannon became the executive editor at Breitbart following the 2012 death of Andrew Breitbart, founder the of the site. **He owns a stake in** **_Seinfeld_** **.** Bannon worked for Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, until founding his own firm Bannon & Co. Through the firm, he negotiated the sale of Castle Rock Entertainment to Ted Turner, which made him a stakeholder in the popular sitcom _Seinfeld_. [Royalties from the show](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2015-steve-bannon/) have funded some of Bannon’s recent ventures, according to _Bloomberg_. **He co-founded the Government Accountability Institute in 2012.** The conservative group published the 2015 book _Clinton Cash_, which investigates donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreigners, Bill and Hillary and from paid speeches. **He is a critic of the Republican establishment.** Bannon has been outspoken in his dislike of the GOP political establishment, telling a 2013 crowd in Washington D.C. that he didn’t believe in a [“functional conservative party”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZFfxFl53k) in the U.S. and that the Republicans certainly weren’t that. **He financed a Sarah Palin documentary.** Bannon [put up $1 million dollars](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sarah-palin-movie-undefeated-be-192338) to finance “The Undefeated,” a 2011 film about Palin’s political journey, according to the Hollywood _Reporter_. He has financed and produced several films, mostly with a conservative focus. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/"},"headline":"5 Things to Know About Donald Trump's New Campaign Chief Steve Bannon","datePublished":"2016-08-17T13:22:06.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T04:01:35.000Z","description":"Bannon is taking a leave of absence from his job as executive editor of Breitbart News","url":"https://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","republicans","2016 Election","campaign","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbb5ef8aa827d96c/6988a2a097cdff0ef66ad76e/stephen-bannon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbb5ef8aa827d96c/6988a2a097cdff0ef66ad76e/stephen-bannon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SiriusXM's Coverage Of The Republican National Convention Goes Gavel-to-Gavel On Wednesday, July 20","caption":"Stephen K. 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