The accusation appears in Michael Wolff’s new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

He was referring to a meeting in June 2016 between Mr Trump’s son and a group of Russians.

But on Sunday Mr Bannon said the barb was directed at former aide Paul Manafort, who was also present.

The Senate, House of Representatives and a special counsel are all investigating alleged Russian interference in the presidential election, allegations denied by both the Kremlin and Donald Trump.

Bannon regrets waiting to say something

In a statement first reported by news site Axios, Steve Bannon called Donald Jr “both a patriot and a good man”.

“My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate,” he said. “He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr.”

The original remark, published in Mr Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, and not disputed by Mr Bannon, appeared to take aim at all three Trump campaign officials in the room, including Donald Jr.

It read: “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***, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”

Mr Bannon’s attempt to clarify follows repeated denunciations by Mr Trump, who dubbed him “Sloppy Steve” and said his former aide “cried when he got fired”.

It also follows the loss of the main financial backer of his conservative Breitbart website, heiress Rebekah Mercer, who said in a rare public statement that she had cut off Mr Bannon from funding following his remarks to Mr Wolff.

Mr Bannon went on in his statement to say he regretted waiting five days to say something, and called Mr Wolff’s reporting “inaccurate”.

The book everyone’s talking about

Fire and Fury rocketed to the top of the Amazon bestseller list upon publication last week and became the talk of Washington DC and beyond.

Based on first-hand reporting at the White House and, according to the author, more than 200 interviews with top administration figures and others, it portrays the president as impatient, unable to focus and with no interest in reading or attempting to understand policy.

It also raised doubts over his mental fitness for office, quoting senior officials who allegedly called the president “mentally unfit”, and “idiot”, and “like a child”. Mr Trump responded by tweeting that he was a “very stable genius” who was “like, very smart”.

Senior Trump administration officials rallied around the president over the weekend, attempting to mitigate the fallout from the book. CIA chief Mike Pompeo told Fox News Sunday the portrayal was “pure fantasy”.

He said: “The president is engaged, he understands the complexity, he asks really difficult questions of our team at the CIA.”

Policy adviser Stephen Miller told CNN Mr Trump was a “political genius” and branded Mr Wolff “a garbage author of a garbage book”.

Defending himself on NBC, the author said he had no anti-Trump agenda when he began the project.

“I would have been delighted to have written a contrarian account here,” he said.

“‘Donald Trump, this unexpected president, is actually going to succeed.’ Okay, that’s not the story. He is not going to succeed. This is worse than everybody thought.”

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Source: BBC

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Michael Wolff, who spent months in Mr Trump’s White House while researching the book, was responding to Mr Trump’s claims that it was “full of lies”.

Mr Trump’s lawyers had tried to block publication of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

The book has now gone on sale early.

Mr Wolff told NBC’s Today show that Mr Trump’s staff “all say he is like a child”.

He added: “What they mean by that is he has the need for immediate gratification. It’s all about him… This man does not read, does not listen. He’s like a pinball just shooting off the sides.”

The book cites former top aide Steve Bannon as describing a meeting at Trump Tower in New York between a Russian lawyer and Trump election campaign officials, including Mr Trump’s son Donald Jr, as “treasonous”.

It also portrays Mr Trump as being surprised by winning the presidency.

Mr Wolff said it was “extraordinary” that the president of the US would try to stop publication of his book, a move that “the CEO of a mid-sized company” would not attempt.

Asked about those – including Mr Trump himself – who had questioned the veracity and accuracy of his accounts of a tumultuous year in the White House, he said he “absolutely” stood by everything he had written.

Mr Trump said he had not given Mr Wolff access to the White House nor spoken to him for the book.

Mr Wolff responded: “What was I doing there if he didn’t want me to be there? I absolutely spoke to the president… It was not off the record.”

Asked if attempts to block the book’s publication, and the attendant publicity, had helped sales, he smiled and said: “Where do I send the box of chocolates?”

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Source: BBC

The post Trump has no credibility – Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff was due out on Tuesday but publication was advanced to Friday and it is now on sale.

Mr Trump’s lawyers had tried to block its publication.

The book cites former top aide Steve Bannon as describing a meeting with a group of Russians at which Mr Trump’s son was present as “treasonous”.

It also portrays Mr Trump as being surprised at winning the presidency.

Mr Trump said he had not given Mr Wolff access to the White House nor spoken to him for the book, which he said was “full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist”.

“Watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!” he wrote on Twitter.

He earlier said Mr Bannon – who was sacked in August – had “lost his mind” after losing his White House position.

Among a number of explosive statements, Mr Bannon reportedly said, referring to a Trump Tower meeting between top campaign officials and Russia: “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.”

The meeting, which involved Mr Trump’s eldest child Donald Trump Jr, is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his inquiry into possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russia to win the election.

On his Breitbart radio show on Wednesday, Mr Bannon responded to the president’s criticism by saying he was a “great man” and that he supported him “day in and day out”.

After the president met Republican senators in the Oval Office to discuss immigration on Thursday, a reporter asked Mr Trump if his former strategist had betrayed him. He responded: “I don’t know, he called me a great man last night so he obviously changed his tune pretty quick.”

Mr Bannon has also been criticised by another former associate, Republican party donor Rebekah Mercer – who has also invested in Breitbart, where Mr Bannon is chairman.

“I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,” Ms Mercer told the Washington Post.

“My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”

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Source: BBC

The post Wolff book on US administration is ‘full of lies’ – Trump appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.