Bannon Says ‘Treason’ Remark Not Directed at Trump Jr
Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, has tried to reverse remarks in which he called the president’s son Donald Jr “treasonous”.
The accusation appears in Michael Wolff ’s new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
He was referring to a meeting in June 2016 between Mr Trump’s son and a group of Russians. But on Sunday Mr Bannon said the barb was directed at former aide Paul Manafort, who was also present. The Senate, House of Representatives and a special counsel are all investigating alleged Russian interference in the presidential election, allegations denied by both the Kremlin and Donald Trump.
Bannon regrets waiting to say something
In a statement first reported by news site Axios, Steve Bannon called Donald Jr “both a patriot and a good man”.
“My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate,” he said. “He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were
not aimed at Don Jr.” The original remark, published in Mr Wolff ’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the
Trump White House, and not disputed by Mr Bannon, appeared to take aim at all three Trump campaign officials in the room, including Donald Jr.
It read: “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor - with no lawyers. They didn’t have any lawyers.
“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad s***, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.” Mr Bannon’s attempt to clarify follows repeated denunciations by Mr Trump, who dubbed him “Sloppy Steve” and said his former aide “cried when he got fired”.