Steve Bannon began testing focus-groups for opinions on Putin in 2014.

[DetlefK]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/25/wylie-bannon-putin-messages-553738

Former Trump campaign CEO and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon ordered Cambridge Analytica staff to test messaging around Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian expansion in 2014, Cambridge Analytica whisteblower Christopher Wylie told House Democrats this week.

“It was the only foreign issue, or foreign leader, I should say, being tested at the time I was there,” Wylie told Democrats from the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, according to excerpts the lawmakers released today drawn from a Tuesday briefing with Wylie. Under Bannon’s instruction, the firm discussed Putin with focus groups and was “also testing images of Vladimir Putin and asking questions about Russian expansion in Eastern Europe,” Wylie said.

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... according to Wylie, who added that Bannon said he wanted to use Cambridge Analytica to “discourage specific groups of people from voting — including people likely to vote Democratic.”

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Bannon did not care whether information spread by Cambridge Analytica was incorrect, Wylie said, because he was trying to win a “culture war.” He called Cambridge Analytica a “full service propaganda machine.”