Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous', Bannon says in explosive book

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/03/donald-trump-russia-steve-bannon-michael-wolff?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_reddit_is_fun

 

• Former White House strategist quoted in Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff
• Bannon: ‘They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV

 

 

 

 Steve Bannon exits an elevator in the lobby of Trump Tower on 11 November 2016 in New York City. Other Trump campaign officials met with Russians there in June 2016. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

David Smith in Washington

@smithinamerica

Wed 3 Jan ‘18 11.32 ESTFirst published on Wed 3 Jan ‘18 08.07 EST

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Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon has described the Trump Tower meeting between the president’s son and a group of Russians during the 2016 election campaign as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”, according to an explosive new book seen by the Guardian.

Trump-Russia investigation: the key questions answered

 

 

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Bannon, speaking to author Michael Wolff, warned that the investigation into alleged collusion with the Kremlin will focus on money laundering and predicted: “They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.”

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, reportedly based on more than 200 interviews with the president, his inner circle and players in and around the administration, is one of the most eagerly awaited political books of the year. In it, Wolff lifts the lid on a White House lurching from crisis to crisis amid internecine warfare, with even some of Trump’s closest allies expressing contempt for him.

Bannon, who was chief executive of the Trump campaign in its final three months, then White House chief strategist for seven months before returning to the rightwing Breitbart News, is a central figure in the nasty, cutthroat drama, quoted extensively, often in salty language.

'Idiot': Murdoch mocked Trump after phone call on immigration, book claims

 

 

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He is particularly scathing about a June 2016 meeting involving Trump’s son Donald Jr, son-in-law Jared Kushner, then campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York. A trusted intermediary had promised documents that would “incriminate” rival Hillary Clinton but instead of alerting the FBI to a potential assault on American democracy by a foreign power, Trump Jr replied in an email: “I love it.”

The meeting was revealed by the New York Times in July last year, prompting Trump Jr to say no consequential material was produced. Soon after, Wolff writes, Bannon remarked mockingly: “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 , and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”

Bannon went on, Wolff writes, to say that if any such meeting had to take place, it should have been set up “in a Holiday Inn in Manchester, New Hampshire, with your lawyers who meet with these people”. Any information, he said, could then be “dump[ed] … down to Breitbart or something like that, or maybe some other more legitimate publication”.

Bannon added: “You never see it, you never know it, because you don’t need to … But that’s the brain trust that they had.”

Bannon also speculated that Trump Jr had involved his father in the meeting. “The chance that Don Jr did not walk these jumos up to his father’s office on the twenty-sixth floor is zero.”

 

Special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed last May, following Trump’s dismissal of FBI director James Comey, to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election. This has led to the indictments of four members of Trump’s inner circle, including Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges; Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. In recent weeks Bannon’s Breitbart News and other conservative outlets have accused Mueller’s team of bias against the president.

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Trump predicted in an interview with the New York Times last week that the special counsel was “going to be fair”, though he also said the investigation “makes the country look very bad”. The president and his allies deny any collusion with Russia and the Kremlin has denied interfering.

Bannon has criticised Trump’s decision to fire Comey. In Wolff’s book, obtained by the Guardian ahead of publication from a bookseller in New England, he suggests White House hopes for a quick end to the Mueller investigation are gravely misplaced.

[charmander 692]

Trump-Bannon war is ON!

 

 

 

[JimandChristy 1,689]

I don't think it's Bannon who has lost his mind.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

LOL LOL LOL.....the two with gorilla egos are fighting it out.

 

No surprise that the Banrump -Trumban bromance is over. Let the games begin. 

So Trump claims he has the biggest most powerful nuke button, the biggest most powerful hands and the biggest towers and Bannon not be outdone is raising

his hackles for a show down. True WWE style.

Next chapter, the reveal of Junior's dealings and Kushner's secrets in this reality show.

Very entertaining, though very sickening, like rubber necking at a train wreck. 
I just can't get myself to read Bannon's book except for bits and pieces in current events. 




 

Just now, JimandChristy said:

I don't think it's Bannon who has lost his mind.

Both have.

[charmander 692]

Trump vs Bannon

[JimandChristy 1,689]

22 minutes ago, Ebunoluwa said:

LOL LOL LOL.....the two with gorilla egos are fighting it out.

 

No surprise that the Banrump -Trumban bromance is over. Let the games begin. 

So Trump claims he has the biggest most powerful nuke button, the biggest most powerful hands and the biggest towers and Bannon not be outdone is raising

his hackles for a show down. True WWE style.

Next chapter, the reveal of Junior's dealings and Kushner's secrets in this reality show.

Very entertaining, though very sickening, like rubber necking at a train wreck. 
I just can't get myself to read Bannon's book except for bits and pieces in current events. 




 

Both have.

True but Trump is deranged.

[bcking 3,157]

My opinions about Bannon remain consistent - I wouldn't trust or listen to a word he says.

 

Trump Jr's may or may not have been treason (probably not), but whether or not Bannon says it is doesn't hold much weight for me. 

 

This to me is just a case of a once in love couple who have broken up and are now a bit bitter about each other.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

30 minutes ago, JimandChristy said:

True but Trump is deranged.

I agree and Bannon is short a sandwich of a picnic. 

[-Trinity- 513]

1 hour ago, charmander said:

Trump-Bannon war is ON!

 

 

 

men, that escalated quickly... I was assuming they were still buddies 

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

3 hours ago, bcking said:

My opinions about Bannon remain consistent - I wouldn't trust or listen to a word he says.

 

Trump Jr's may or may not have been treason (probably not), but whether or not Bannon says it is doesn't hold much weight for me. 

 

This to me is just a case of a once in love couple who have broken up and are now a bit bitter about each other.

At least one member of the MDL is consistent. I remember a few weeks ago when we were told everything out of his mouth was a lie. Now he criticizes Trump and the John McCain effect has happened.  

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

3 hours ago, bcking said:

My opinions about Bannon remain consistent - I wouldn't trust or listen to a word he says.

 

Trump Jr's may or may not have been treason (probably not), but whether or not Bannon says it is doesn't hold much weight for me. 

 

This to me is just a case of a once in love couple who have broken up and are now a bit bitter about each other.

Usually the kiss and tell books start in the lame duck phase of the presidency

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

2 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

At least one member of the MDL is consistent. I remember a few weeks ago when we were told everything out of his mouth was a lie. Now he criticizes Trump and the John McCain effect has happened.  

I have been consistently pushing one point about Trump: "this will not end well"

[bcking 3,157]

45 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

At least one member of the MDL is consistent. I remember a few weeks ago when we were told everything out of his mouth was a lie. Now he criticizes Trump and the John McCain effect has happened.  

Come now NB,

 

You've visited me at least a couple times at my home in the middle. We've shared tea. We've had good times.

 

That should at least give you perspective and a good sense of direction. You shouldn't keep getting lost

 

Is anyone really saying that suddenly Bannon is a man we can trust? That would be crazy to me. It would be like Trump saying something Presidential and we suddenly think he has turned a corner. It takes more than one line for a man to change.

45 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

 

Edited January 4, 2018 by bcking

[yuna628 9,676]

It is glorious and some of the tidbits... involving the specifics of the bedroom (some which are in this article but more detailed and disturbing in the full book which was released in advance) are truly something to behold. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html

 

Essentially I liken the contents of this book to a prior season of House of Cards. Tom the book writer is allowed to meander through the WH following the lives of the dysfunction within. He sees it all, every last dirty bit. Tom is killed eventually, but thankfully in real life Michael Wolff made it out alive.

Edited January 4, 2018 by yuna628

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

44 minutes ago, bcking said:

Come now NB,

 

You've visited me at least a couple times at my home in the middle. We've shared tea. We've had good times.

 

That should at least give you perspective and a good sense of direction. You shouldn't keep getting lost

 

Is anyone really saying that suddenly Bannon is a man we can trust? That would be crazy to me. It would be like Trump saying something Presidential and we suddenly think he has turned a corner. It takes more than one line for a man to change.

NB drinks tea? Like with porcelain cups and lumps of sugar? Nah.