Trump’s disgraced former campaign manager Steve Bannon is begging the President for forgiveness—after making horrifying comments about Trump and his staff in a new book.
Bannon has infuriated conservatives over his comments, and lost his biggest financial benefactor—the billionaire Mercer family. Rumors abound that he might fall even deeper: losing his job as the head of Breitbart News.
Now, Bannon is attempting damage control, in a rare public statement where he unconditionally apologized to everyone he attacked inside the White House.
First, Bannon apologized Donald Trump, Jr., whose meeting with a Russian lawyer Bannon called “treasonous”:
“Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around,” Bannon said.
He added, “My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years when our focus was the defeat of ‘the evil empire’ and to making films about Reagan’s war against the Soviets and Hillary Clinton’s involvement in selling uranium to them.”
Bannon continued: “My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge 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.”
“Everything I have to say about the ridiculous nature of the Russian ‘collusion’ investigation I said on my 60 Minutes interview,” he concluded. There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt. 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.”
Bannon also described his full support for President Trump and his agenda:
“My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda — as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama. President Trump was the only candidate that could have taken on and defeated the Clinton apparatus. I am the only person to date to conduct a global effort to preach the message of Trump and Trumpism; and remain ready to stand in the breach for this president’s efforts to make America great again.”
However, Bannon’s apology may not be enough. Trump was apparently furious at his former staffer—saying in a public statement that Bannon “lost his mind” when he was fired by Trump.
