President Trump's former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, did not mince words when he spoke to Michael Wolff, the author of the forthcoming book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. After obtaining a copy early, The Guardian learned that Bannon volunteered a range of opinions on and insights into the Trump campaign and White House, especially regarding the infamous meeting in June 2016 between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer who promised them incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.
Read some of the juiciest quotes below, and check out the full early scoop on the book at The Guardian. Jeva Lange
On the Russia investigation. "They're going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV."
On the Trump Tower meeting: "The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers. Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad s--t, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately."
On where they should have met instead: "A Holiday Inn in Manchester, New Hampshire."
On where the Trump team could have "dump[ed]...down" information: “Breitbart or something like that, or maybe some other more legitimate publication."
On where Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is headed: "This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to f--king Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr., and Jared Kushner ... It's as plain as a hair on your face."
On how they're going to get there: “It goes through Deutsche Bank and all the Kushner s--t. The Kushner s--t is greasy. They're going to go right through that. They're going to roll those two guys up and say play me or trade me.”
On the Trump team's chances to escape Mueller's probe: "They're sitting on a beach trying to stop a Category Five."