PRESIDENTIAL PUNISHMENT
Trump lashes out at Bannon
U.S. President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on Steve Bannon Wednesday, saying his former chief strategist had “lost his mind” as the pair fell out spectacularly over a new book revealing embarrassing details about the White House.
In a long and unusual statement, Trump questioned the mental stability, honesty and political influence of Bannon, the man widely credited with being the architect of the president’s populist campaign.
Trump is believed to have been particularly angry over Bannon saying that Donald Trump Jr.’s contact with a Russian lawyer during the campaign was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” said the Trump statement. “Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party.”
Trump continued, “Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country ... Steve doesn’t represent my base — he’s only in it for himself.”
Trump claimed his former chief strategist had “rarely” met him one-on-one before leaving the White House last August.
The president also accused Bannon of leaking “false information” to “make himself seem far more important than he was.”
The comments complete a remarkable breakdown in trust between the president and Bannon. When Bannon left the White House, Trump described him as a friend and said, “He’s a good person.”
But in recent interviews Bannon has criticized Trump and his family, mocked the president’s intellect, attacked the operations of the White House and torched Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.
His most recent comments — in excerpts from a book by journalist Michael Wolff and published online Wednesday — come two weeks after a Bannon profile in Vanity Fair that infuriated the president and his senior aides.
Steve Bannon HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, HE LOST HIS MIND... Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that WINNING ISN’T AS EASY AS I MAKE IT LOOK
In that profile, Bannon described Trump as having “lost a step” and being “like an 11-year-old child.”
White House aides were blindsided Wednesday by the early excerpt from the book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” Wolff paints Trump as a juvenile in many ways who doesn’t understand the weight of the presidency and spends his evenings eating cheeseburgers in bed, watching television and talking on the phone to his old friends.
But Trump seemed most angry at comments made by Bannon, and first reported by The Guardian, which obtained an early copy. According to The Guardian, Bannon described a meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”
Bannon also told Wolff that the investigations into potential collusion between Russia and Trump campaign officials would likely focus on money laundering.
“They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV,” The Guardian quoted Bannon as saying.
The Breitbart News head has told associates that he believes Trump has been illserved by some of his closest allies, including his eldest son and Kushner. Bannon believes they have exposed Trump to the Russia probe that could topple his presidency and that Trump would be able to accomplish more without them.
New York magazine also published a lengthy adaptation of the book on Wednesday, in which Wolff writes that Trump believed his presidential nomination would boost his brand and deliver “untold opportunities” — but that he never expected to win.
It says Trump Jr. told a friend that his father looked as if he’d seen a ghost when it became clear he might win. The younger Trump described Melania Trump as “in tears — and not of joy.”
The first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, disputed the account, saying that Mrs. Trump supported her husband’s decision to run, and was happy when he won. “The book is clearly going to be sold in the bargain fiction section,” she said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also dismissed the book, contending it “is filled with false and misleading accounts from individuals who have no access or influence with the White House.”
Meanwhile, Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chief charged with money laundering, is suing special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department, saying prosecutors overstepped their bounds by charging him for conduct that he says is unrelated to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.