Trump aide Barry Bennett to meet with Mark Zuckerberg

barry bennett trump

Barry Bennett, a senior political adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, will be attending a meeting of prominent conservatives at Facebook headquarters this week.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is convening the meeting in response to recent allegations of anti-conservative bias at the company.

Bennett is the first campaign aide known to be participating. A Facebook (FB) spokesman confirmed his attendance on Monday morning.

Bennett was previously Ben Carson's campaign manager.

Former Senator Jim DeMint, the president of the Heritage Foundation, will also be there, a DeMint aide said.

In a Facebook post last week, Zuckerberg said the company is investigating the anonymous allegations -- first reported by Gizmodo -- that former workers suppressed conservative news stories in Facebook's "trending" stories section.

Zuckerberg said the company has found no evidence the allegations are true. But the company recognizes it has a perception problem at the very least.

"I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible," he wrote.

Related: Glenn Beck says he's going to Facebook meeting

Other attendees for the meeting include: The Blaze's Glenn Beck, Fox's Dana Perino, Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute, CNN conservative commentator SE Cupp, and Zac Moffatt, co-founder of tech firm Targeted Victory. Moffatt was previously Mitt Romney's digital director.

"I'm going in with an open mind and an eagerness to learn more," Cupp said. "Conservatives and Silicon Valley actually come down on the same side of many issues and share some common concerns. I'm sure we'll find plenty to talk about, and I'm honored to have been included."

Wednesday's meeting is said to be the first of several such conversations -- signaling that Facebook is well aware of the risk to its reputation that comes from the whiff of bias.

Manu Raju contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.

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