Former Trump aide turns fire on president’s family
STEVE BANNON has launched a twin attack on Donald Trump’s family by dubbing his daughter Ivanka the “queen of leaks” and calling Jared Kushner, her husband, “immature”.
Mr Bannon, the former Trump campaign chief and White House aide, said Ivanka Trump was a “fount of bad advice” during the election and once called him a “f------ liar”. He claimed Mr Kushner “doesn’t know anything” about Mr Trump’s supporters and blamed him for meetings that left the campaign open to a charge of cosying up to the Russians.
The president himself is not beyond Mr Bannon’s ire, according to a 7,000word profile in Vanity Fair magazine of the man credited with helping win him office. Mr Bannon reportedly thinks Mr Trump has just a 30 per cent chance of making it to 2020, the end of his presidential term, given the chance of impeachment or being removed by his cabinet under the 25th amendment. He also joked the president is “like an 11-year-old child” and told an adviser he would consider running for the White House if Mr Trump does not seek reelection, according to the article.
Mr Bannon’s spokesman denied the latter, saying he is “100 per cent not running for president”.
The comments mark another rift in the souring relationship between Mr Bannon, who took over the running of the Trump campaign in the final months, and the president. Mr Bannon was credited with convincing Mr Trump to adopt a more nationalistic agenda before the election and joined the White House after the victory. But he left in August after a bitter feud with other aides and returned to Breitbart News, the hard-right news website of which he is executive chairman.
Allowing Vanity Fair to join him on a speaking tour to Asia, Mr Bannon does little to disguise his frustration with the president’s daughter and her husband, both White House advisers at the age of just 36. “He doesn’t know anything about the hobbits or the deplorables,” Mr Bannon said of Mr Kushner, referring to a nickname for Mr Trump’s supporters. “The railhead of all bad decisions is the same railhead: Javanka.”
He recalls a meeting when Ms Trump accused him of leaking facts in front of her father. “She’s the queen of leaks,” Mr Bannon replied. “You’re a f-----liar!” she reportedly hit back.
Abbe Lowell, Mr Kushner’s lawyer, said: “Steve Bannon may regret not being in the White House any more, but that is not an excuse for peddling false stories about Jared or anyone else.”