Fredreka Schouten

USA TODAY

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is facing questions about his campaign's vetting process and hiring decisions following a slew of bad publicity about his newly installed campaign chief Stephen Bannon, including allegations Bannon made anti-Semitic remarks.

In court filings related to their divorce agreement, Bannon's former wife, Mary Louise Piccard, said he objected to their daughters attending a Los Angeles prep school because of the large number of Jewish students there, The Associated Press and other outlets report.

Brannon's personal spokeswoman Alexandra Preate told NBC and other outlets that Bannon never made those remarks about his daughters' West Los Angeles School and "proudly sent the girls to Archer for their middle and high school educations."

Bannon also has faced scrutiny in recent days over his voter registration and his former wife's claim that he attacked her during an argument in 1996. Bannon was charged with three misdemeanors, which later were dismissed when his wife didn't show up at trial.

His voter registration information was changed this week from an address in Miami-Dade County, Fla., to one in Sarasota County. On Friday, The Guardian newspaper reported that Bannon was registered to vote at a vacant Miami-Dade home, which is slated to be demolished.

The spate of bad news came as Trump works to broaden his appeal among the women and minority voters who are backing his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by significant margins in recent polls.

Speaking in Des Moines on Saturday, Trump said "nothing means more to me than working to make our party the home of the African-American vote once again." He argued that Democratic policies have left too many African Americans in bad schools and high-crime neighborhoods.

"Vote for Donald Trump," he said. "I will fix it."

The tough headlines about Bannon follow a wave of staff upheavals at the top levels of Trump's campaign as he seeks to beef up his political operation for the fall campaign.

Bannon only recently became the CEO of the campaign, taking a leave from the helm of the conservative website Breitbart News. Days after Bannon joined the Trump operation, campaign chairman Paul Manafort was ousted, following media reports about Manafort's business dealings with pro-Russian interests in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Trump hired Bill Stepien, an experienced strategist and former aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as his national field director. Christie severed ties with Stepien in 2014 after emails disclosed Stepien knew of the politically motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in 2013.

Trump campaign hires ex-Christie aide tied to Bridgegate

Trump aides did not respond to an email Saturday about the Bannon developments.