Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon publicly defended Attorney General Jeff Sessions from the attacks he’s facing from President Trump.
Trump has privately and publicly blasted Sessions’ decision to recuse himself in the federal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, most recently on Wednesday, writing on Twitter he wishes he’d chosen someone other than Sessions.
But the President is “wrong,” Bannon told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview set to air Sunday.
Trump pressured Sessions on at least four separate occasions last year to take back control of the Russia investigation, but Session refused, Axios reported.
Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe “is not even an issue,” and that Trump should not dwell on the matter, the former Breitbart News chief argued.
“If you look at what Jeff Sessions has done on immigration on migration and all the key issues at the Justice Department, I think that Sessions has personally done an excellent job.”
Bannon added that anyone associated with the Trump campaign, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani or former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, would have also recused themselves from the Russia investigation.
Last July, after Trump characterized Sessions “beleaguered” and threatened to fire him, Bannon reportedly led the effort to save the attorney general’s job while he was still at the White House, warning that his dismissal would exacerbate the Russia investigation.
Bannon left his White House post last August, but he and Trump appeared to have reached a breaking point in January after Bannon was quoted disparaging the president’s children, asserting that Donald Trump Jr. had been “treasonous” in meeting with Russians and calling Ivanka Trump “dumb as a brick” in Michael Wolff’s book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
Trump responded to the controversy, with a statement issued by the White House.
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Trump said. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”
The full interview will air on CNN on Sunday.
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