Bannon apologizes, calls Trump Jr. 'a patriot and a good man'

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published 7 January 2018

Former chief strategist Stephen Bannon on Sunday issued an apology to Donald Trump Jr. for critical comments reported in Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. The president's son "is both a patriot and a good man," Bannon said, declaring himself "unwavering" in his support for President Trump, "the only candidate that could have taken on and defeated the Clinton apparatus."

The apology alluded to Cold War conflict to declare Russians "duplicitous, cunning, and not our friends," though Bannon maintained there was "no collusion" between the Trump team and Russian election meddling attempts. The statement is similar to one multiple sources say Bannon planned to make before President Trump issued a statement vehemently attacking "Sloppy Steve" Bannon by claiming he has "lost his mind."

Wolff's book sees Bannon calling Trump Jr. "treasonous" and "unpatriotic" in connection to the campaign-era meeting he had with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who has been indicted in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia probe, was also present at the meeting, and Bannon's Sunday statement said the negative remarks were actually aimed at him.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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