In response to newly published criticism from Bannon, the president slammed his former consigliere in an explosive statement on Wednesday, writing that Bannon had “lost his mind” when he was fired as White House chief strategist.
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said. He added, “Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look.”
Earlier on Wednesday, The Guardian had released excerpts from an advance copy of a new book by Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, in which Bannon is quoted as calling the infamous Trump Tower meeting in 2016 between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and a group of Russians “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” New York also released an excerpt of Wolff’s book on Wednesday, which quotes Bannon criticizing Trump and his “broke-dick campaign.”
Trump did not hesitate to hit back. In twelve colorful sentences, the president circled back to many of his talking points, including his “historic victory” in 2016 and his administration’s “war with the media.” But he mostly unloaded on Bannon:
Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.
Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.
Read the full statement below:
NEW: @realDonaldTrump responds to Bannon comments in statement: "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” !!! pic.twitter.com/TXAe3jMsrC
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 3, 2018