"We're looking forward to an open dialogue, but Steve Bannon should not be in the room," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Friday. | Getty Rep. Jeffries says Bannon 'is a stone cold racist'

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Friday that any meeting between the Congressional Black Caucus and President Donald Trump should not include senior adviser Steve Bannon — because he's "a stone cold racist and a white supremacist sympathizer."

"We're looking forward to an open dialogue, but Steve Bannon should not be in the room," Jeffries said on MSNBC Friday afternoon.


Asked why Bannon ought not participate, Jeffries said: "Well listen he's a stone cold racist and a white supremacist sympathizer. It'd be hard for me to participate in any meeting with Steve Bannon that normalizes his presence in the White House."

The former Breitbart News leader's inclusion in the Trump administration has drawn strong opposition from minority groups and Democrats alike, and many have leveled charges of racism against him.

Jeffries' remarks came a day after a contentious exchange between Trump and African-American journalist April Ryan at his White House press conference, where the president repeatedly said that he "would love to meet with the Black Caucus" — and asked Ryan to help set up the gathering.

In response to that request, the CBC tweeted out a letter addressed to Trump on Jan. 19 that had invited him to “engage in an earnest effort to work together on these issues,” which they said went unanswered. Jeffries said Friday that the administration had yet to reach out to the CBC regarding a meeting.

The New York representative reiterated though that the caucus would be interested in setting up a discussion with Trump "if he in fact is genuinely interested in working on issues of importance to black America," adding, "not just inner city black America, by the way," a dig at the president's frequent reference to inner cities in discussing issues pertaining to African-Americans.

"There are African-Americans who live in the suburbs all across his country and many African-Americans, a substantial number, actually live in rural America," he said.

Jeffries listed the criminal justice system, economic mobility and the Voting Rights Act as topics he'd like to see brought up at a potential gathering.