Bannon expresses ‘regret’ over Trump book claim
Donald Trump's former chief strategist and confidant, Steve Bannon, has expressed "regret" over..
Donald Trump's former chief strategist and confidant, Steve Bannon, has expressed "regret" over damaging claims made in controversial book Fire and Fury.
Mr Bannon, who was sacked by the President in August, was quoted as saying a meeting between Mr Trump's son, Don Jr, and a group of Russians was "unpatriotic" and "treasonous" and that investigators would "crack Don Jr like an egg on national TV".
But in a statement on Sunday, Mr Bannon called the claim "inaccurate".
"I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency," he told US-based Axios news website.
Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury makes a slew of damaging claims about Mr Trump, including that many people close to him describe him as a "moron, an idiot" and that he never wanted to win the election.
On Saturday, the President dismissed the book as "fiction" and called the author a "fraud" – despite it apparently being based on more than 200 interviews.
He also labelled Mr Bannon "sloppy Steve" and said he had "lost his mind" when he was fired – a outspoken attack on a man once viewed as one of his closest allies.
According to Axios, Mr Bannon's statement gives Mr Trump "unwavering" support and calls him "a patriot and a good man".
Mr Bannon says his comments about the "treasonous" meeting with the Russians were in fact aimed at Mr Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who was also present along with Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law.
He calls Mr Manafort a "seasoned campaign manager with experience of how the Russians operate".
"He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr," says Mr Bannon's statement.
The June 2016 meeting, which included Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, was set up after a promise was made of information that would "incriminate" presidential rival Hillary Clinton and was said to be "part of Russia and its government's support".
More from Donald Trump
Last year, Donald Jr released emails about the meeting to be "transparent" and said he thought the information was merely "political opposition research".
Mr Bannon's statement also reiterates there was "no collusion" between the Trump team and Russia, and that the various investigations into the claims – strongly denied by the President – are a "witch hunt".
