Michael Wolff, writer of “Fire and Fury”, disputed Steve Bannon’s claim that he meant his “treasonous” remark for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and not Donald Trump Jr.
“I like Steve, I’m grateful for the time he gave me, the insights he gave me, and I don’t want to put him in more hot water than he is already in, but it was not directed at Manafort, it was directed directly at Don Jr.,” Wolff stated on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Bannon, the previous White House chief strategist, is quoted in Wolff’s explosive book calling a meeting Trump Jr., Manafort and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had with Russian officials at Trump Tower in June 2016 “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”
By Sunday, Bannon was attempting to make amends by expressing “regret” for making the remarks in regards to the president’s son and clarifying that they had been directed at Manafort instead.
“Donald Trump Jr. is both a patriot and a good man,” he stated in a statement to Axios, while declaring his “unwavering” support for the president and his agenda.
Asked about Bannon’s remarks within the book that special counsel Robert Mueller would “crack Don Jr. like an egg on national TV,” Wolff stated Bannon believed “there was obstruction.”
“I think he believes Don Jr. had no idea what he was doing,” Wolff stated, including that the meeting with a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin was his strategy to show he had the chops to work on the campaign.
“He had to do something to show his father he had the stuff,” Wolff stated.
In his apology, Bannon stated Manafort, “a seasoned campaign professional,” ought to have known better than to meet with Russians in the course of the campaign.
“He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends,” Bannon stated.
Manafort did nothing wrong! Bannon is a nut.
“He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends,” – would have been better said about ISRAEL, not Russia. We ought to befriend the Russians.