Politics

White House Smacks Down Bannon’s Apology

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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The White House is not welcoming former chief strategist Steve Bannon’s apology for derogatory comments about the President and his family to Michael Wolff in a new book, deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters aboard Air Force One Monday.

“When you go after somebody’s family in the matter which he did, two of the president’s children are serving this nation, sacrificing in their service, it is repugnant, it is grotesque and I challenge anybody to go and talk about somebody’s family and see if that person doesn’t come back and comes back hard,” Gidley continued.

Bannon issued an apology via Axios Sunday saying, “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.”

He added, “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.”

Bannon allegedly told Woff that Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russians in Trump tower on July 9, 2016 was “treasonous” in nature. Other comments include a personal insult of Ivanka Trump’s intelligence. Bannon’s apology and claim that his comments were taken out of context were swatted down by Wolff on MSNBC Monday.

Trump excoriated Bannon after the initial comments were revealed Wednesday in a statement declaring that Bannon “not only lost his job, he lost his mind” and has since derided him on twitter with one of his infamous nicknames.

You can get Michael Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” over at Amazon.