steve bannon did fall out of favor. there was the battle between bannon and jared kushner and ivanka trump. obviously, steve bannon was never going to win that battle in the heart and mind of donald trump. because it's his daughter and son-in-law, wolf. and ultimately, we saw the president sort of hang him out to dry and get rid of him. but a statement like this which doesn't actually address steve bannon's characterization that was reported in the michael wolf book, the quotes about how steve bannon saw that trump tower meeting in june of 2016, that it was treasonous, donald trump doesn't deal with the specifics of what steve bannon described in the quotes to michael wolf. he wholeheartedly dismisses him and cuts him off at the knees. >> two instances also jump out. steve doesn't represent my base. he's only in it for himself. steve pretends to be at war with the media which he calls the opposition party. yet he spent his time at the white house leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more import

steve bannon could walk into the oval office, steps away from his office. quote. met privately with the president more than any other top advisers. as for the line steve pretends to be at war with the media. the official says that is it ironic given how frequently trump has spoken to multiple newspapers. dana bash, what are you hearing? >> first of all, yes. jeff of course is exactly right, that steve bannon did have walk in privileges to the oval office and a lot of people did who were on the president's senior staff before john kelly came in as chief of staff and changed the way that worked. the fact of the matter is that sarah sanders in that briefing described the president as furious and disgusted at what he read or at least was told about that was in this book from steve bannon. the idea that the president's son and son-in-law and paul manafort acted in a treasonous way, and the pretty nasty things said about donald trump junior about the fact that he would crack like an egg, when talking about russia in public. having said all that, sources i'm talking to t

he said i want to thank steve bannon for his service. he came to me during my run against crooked hillary clinton. it was great. thanks. so i guess you can look at it this way. bannon helped. he was a friend until he wasn't and apparently now he's crazy. trace? >> kevin, we're going to get back to steve bannon in a moment. the president issued a new threat to north korea. >> yeah, he did. this is an interesting one. sometimes it's the blessing in a curse to have a media platform like twitter, for example. it's a blessing because it's a direct line of communication to the american people and it can also be a decided curse if you're the communications staff trying to make heads or tails of sometimes a tweet will come out and it will be to the point. other times it can be confusing or confounding. let me take you to the tweet. this is an interesting one. he said basically here that he talked about the fact that kim jong-un was saying how he has a button and his button was at the ready. the president in his tweet clearly making it plain and c

bannon. >> so the complaints, realiance steve bannon? others weren't working with him -- >> any that did as far as we can dell did so at the request of mr. bannon. deborah? >> the president announced the most dishonest are and -- [ inaudible ] five p.m. details? where will he say it? will it be televised, how the awards will be -- >> i don't want to spoil anything, but my guess is that there are quite a few individuals that could be up for those awards, and beyond that i think we'll have to see what happens on monday. >> will the press corps be in the room nofor that? >> we'll keep you posted. might be hard to give awards if you're not there. we'll see what happens. >> and there is topics, a letter from the department of transportation suggesting that the administration doesn't support the split federal/state framework for the gateway tunnel connecting new york and new jersey. since it's infrastructure week, i'm wondering -- >> is it infrastructure week? when isn't it? >> in principle supports at least a 50/50 split on that. if not, what'

let's go to a steve bannon expert. cnn political analyst joshua green wrote the book, devil's bargain." so, josh, green, i have to get your response to this whole "lost his mind" referring to bannon from the president of the united states. have you heard anything from him about that? >> i don't have any idea. i imagine he weshs he could take some of those quotes back. >> do you? >> but this is something that's been building up for months. when my book came out, trump tweeted angry, didn't put out a statement, but clearly bothers him the idea that steve bannon is getting credit for his electoral victory or for being an influential strategist. and i think the other things in excerpts we see in wolf's book, it apparently portrays trump as stupid. and that is something that drives trump absolutely crasszy which is why you see the white house so quick to put out these very personal critical statements about bannon and then follow them up with other statements from white house officials. criticizing the book and trying to tam

says steve bannon lost his mind. bannon is now saying that has -- >>> a rather ugly family feud playing out between president trump and his former top strategist, steve bannon, the president living up to his counter pressure reputation after bannon's thoughts on the family went public. >> the president's voter fraud commission decommissioned. the effort to prove the unprovable has been in turmoil for months. >>> and the first big nor'easter churning up the coast. "early start's" coverage of all of our top stories continues. mora >> mars, colder than mars. so the book is "fire and fury: inside the trump white house," out next week. the good news is we won't have to read it or skim it. le you'll have to read it to understand what i'm talking about. >> it is -- the white house releasing its stinging statement, a very unusual excer book coming out. bannon calling the treasoness and unpatriotic. quote they're going to crack don junior like an egg on national tv. so much more. >> there is indeed. we only have 30 minutes le

, the fact that steve bannon and mitch mcconnell would take a large amount of time going after steve and trying to shut him off and decrease his influence shows the power and control. >> harris: or maybe they want to get tax reform done and i am playing devil's advocate. congressman you want to step? >> it is it about eliminating opponent and once you govern. it is addition. and that will play out in january 19th. get all of the republican and you have to get democrats, as well. >> if steve bannon was not such a large problem we would not see a huge statement to the president. >> harris: you think it elevates the volume? >> totally. if steve bannon was not a big. trump would have pat him on the head and say deputy away. steve lost his mind statement. that is a threat to take seriously. >> harris: my goodness. i wonder how you both stand? and awe house chairman nunez and the subpoenas in the russian investigation. democrats are furious. and they say he seems to be trying to end the committee's probe. nunez. we'll delve in the politics. () honey? can we do this tomorrow? (grunts of eff

steve bannon is dead. he's like i'm getting to davos. >> before we put any dirt, though, on the political coffin, i have to say, i'm going back out to see the trump voters and what they voted for, these were democrats who flipped in michigan, pennsylvania, florida, wisconsin and ohio. what they voted for was the bannon stuff. they voted for -- and for nafta. they voted for economic isolationism. they were not angry about the wall, they were not angry about a muslim ban. these were all things is that steve bannon had on his white board, whether you want to call them accomplishments or embarrassments, these are the only things that president trump has gotten done in his presidency. how much of a hit is it for donald trump not to have steve bannon there with the animated and excited -- >> to your point of him not being on the level of a david axelrod, i think it's true, he's the only one that came in with ideas and with a plan of action and so that's who they have defaulted on for many of the powers they star

will it force president trump to come out and turn on steve bannon? because clearly bannon is putting the president in a bad position, mark. >> yeah, absolutely. and stephanie, i would just add the motivation also by bannon here, as you just mentioned, there's no love lost between jared kushner and steve bannon. >> that's no surprise. >> the other thing is that steve bannon himself really wasn't present for any of the interactions that team trump ended up having with russia or their intermediaries. you look back at the june 9th, 2016 trump tower meeting, steve bannon wasn't there, he wasn't getting direct messages from wikileaks, as we know don junior was doing. george papadopoulos's interactions, carter page's interactions, steve bannon wasn't there. so he might feel like he can speak more freely on this, about those who did have those interactions. >> what does conservative media do with this? until now they have taken the side of trump, going after mueller, calling it a hoax, directing us to hillary clinton or jill stein or somebody else. what does

to discredit steve bannon. to undermine steve bannon. donald trump jr. y, wow, just looked at the comments section on breitbart. wow. when bannon has lost breitbart, he's left with, um, nothing. former white house communications director anthony scaramucci said, i said what i said in 9 summer, take out the expletives and -- by the way, donald trump is doing a great job. two supporters of the president. just to remind people in the profanity-laced interview that scaramucci did with ryan lizza then of "the new yorker," he said some rather distasteful things about steve bannon and an tomically impossible feats that he would have performed upon himself, would he able. >> well-done. >> were he able. but this is the point. also, donald trump jr. is saying, wow, just read the comments section on breitbart, which, by the way, i never recommend. >> that itself is weird. >> he's saying even bannon's own house organ, the "o" magazine f steve bannon is going after him. >> he's pretty ensconced at breitbart. >> i don't think breitbart is going to turn on bannon. what'

day 349 of the trump administration, a day in which donald trump and steve bannon face-off in a war of harsh words and accusations. bannon one of the architects of trump's populous agenda during last year's campaign went onto serve as chief white house strategist before being dismissed in august of 2017. he's leveling stunning charges in a new book by michael wolf called "fire and fury." the author's account based on more than 200 interviews and a visit to the white house. among them is this quote from bannon about that trump tower meeting between donald trump, jr., jared kushner, paul manafort and several foreign russian nationals promising dirt on hillary clinton. quote, 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 this was not treasonous, unpatriotic or bad -- and i happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the fbi immediately. the chance that don junior did not walk these up to his father'

that was steve bannon.p again tried to downplay one of his top advisers, suggesting that he was not ak party of the victory. he previously said that paul manafort, his campaign chairman, that he also didn't play a critical role in the victory. it starts to look like trump is the only person that played a pivotal role in his winning. thank you. much more on that coming up in beyond 100 days. it is still pretty bloody out there, but storm eleanor is well out of the picture. it is actually across southern scandinavia, centred around denmark, copenhagen, infact. this is where the storm is. there is another area of low pressure with weather fronts heading another area of low pressure with weatherfronts heading in our direction. there will be more wind and rain, but nothing of the scale of what we have just had. through the course of the night, a lot of clear skies, like a wind across many eastern and northern areas. you can see the next weather fronts weeping from the atlantic and an increasing wind. the rain co

steve bannon saying not to give trump too much to think about. thought the white house was incompetently run. treasury secretary steve mnuchin and reince priebus believe trump to be an idiot. the top economic adviser says trump is dumb as curse word. and h.r. mcmaster considers him a dope. we know from our own reporting last year, whether you want to say f-ing moron or moron, those were the words of rex tillerson. rick, i can talk to anthony scaramucci all day and he can say, look at the beautiful stock market. stock market doesn't matter to the people in the white house. how do they go back to work the next day and into their morning meeting and look mr. president in the eye when he knows full well they called him a flaming jackass? >> look, a lot of the leaks come from the president himself. >> there you go. >> he talks to people, you know, loosely and doesn't -- so you can get all that information. i mean, first thing, they're going to take their cell phons s away. it was funny. >> take them away. the president has been a leaker for decades. >

that was steve bannon. there's no question now, there can be revisionist history if they would like but it does not meet the facts. bannon was along for the ride through all of this, leading the train in many respects here. the question here though is, will this break remain or will the president want to know what steve bannon is thinking in the months to come, certainly in the midterm election campaign and as this is years go forward here. so that is something we'll have to wait and see. is their friendship, relationship broken or not. but the whole point here also, there's been a feud between steve bannon and members of the trump family. jared, ivanka, everyone. that is what is underlying most of this. >> it reminds me a little bit of the soviet union. they used to have the pictures on a reviewing stand and a general would be out of favor and be sent to siberia and they would edit him out of the photo. more from the book especially on russia. steve bannon signals the investigation will walk straight over t

steve bannon. >> harris: that's what bannon was trying to say on the radio.and you know the president is still a great man so on and so forth. but what do you do. >> we are not ow not not aoccule personalities. he said there were too many establishment figures around the president. >> sandra: everything would have to be true to dissect it. >> katie: i don't think president believes though -- when you are president and governing you have to work with the establishment. i know that's a news flash who just like throwing bombs and doesn't like governing. in order to pass tax cuts donald trump had to work with mitch mcconnell that's the way it works. >> katie: the alabama race, anti-steve bannon faction started. when that race was lost, people who supported both bannon and trump turned on bannon because he embarrassed the president for getting involved it was a lost seat that should have been won hands down no contest. this is just a nail in the coffin. >> harris: even outside this book what bannon has been say something that the president was surrounded by establ

letters, it is obvious that the president was none too pleased by what he read and heard about what steve bannon is said to have told michael wolff. the president was asked about mr. bannon. and he said, look, the forthcoming book is obviously an issue. it is called "fire and fury" for the folks at home that do not know. bannon in the book makes a number of assertions including one of the president once refused to hire somebody because he had a mustache. that the president's daughter, again, this is according to another exert was "dumb as a brick." bannon did not disavow those comments, but he told a radio audience that he supports the trump agenda. when asked by the president if he felt betrayed by mr. bannon, the chief said this. >> he called me a great man last night coming so he obviously changed his tune pretty quick. thank you very much. i don't talk to them. i don't talk to them. that is just a misnomer. >> we also have pointed out that the president's lawyers, and other cease and desist letter, this were not for steve bannon, but also for the publisher of the book. and this is a very int

he said steve bannon has nothing to do with my or my presidency. when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. now that he's on his own, steve is learning that winning is not as easy as i make it look. steve had very little to do with our historic victory. steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books." this is requires fact checking. during the access hollywood matter, steve bannon was at the president's side guiding him through all of that. in fact, in the general election campaign, he was guiding him through all of that. at breitbart before he joined the campaign, he was the biggest cheerleader for the campaign here. in terms of not having one-on-one meetings, i heard from someone inside the west wing earlier who said that simply isn't true. he had walk-in privileges which means he could walk into the white house which he often did and his office was only ten steps or so from the oval office. so the fact that t

so, yes, steve bannon is on the outs. does that mean steve bannon will for every be on the outs.f passes with trump, no. sometimes he drawn to the people that he has crossed swords with, because he knows that the reconciliation makes great tv. >> and people pay attention and they talk about it. >> yeah. >> and he reads about it. on the whole radio point and steve bannon, abby to you, he's been doing radio and answering questions from trump supporters. now, reiterating his support for trump, calling him a great man, supporting his agenda. told one caller let's not let the left wing media stir that up. but how does one reconcile his response to this book with the direct quotes attributed to him in this book? >> well, to chris's point, brooke, bannon hasn't really talked specifically about what he is quoted as saying in this book. he's just pivoted and praised trump which was typically what people do in trump universe when they've made a mistake. and for bannon it's particularly important because his empire, this breitbart empire is so fully framed around donald trump, that if you t

steve bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. steve was a staffer who worked for me after i had already won the nomination by defeating 17 candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the republican party. now that he's on his own, steve is learning winning isn't as easy as i make it look. steve bannon had very little to do with our historic victory which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country yet steve had everything to do with the loss of a senate seat in alabama held for more than 30 years by republicans. steve doesn't represent my base. he's only in it for himself. steve bannon pretends to be at war with the media which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the white house leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. it is the only thing he does well. steve was rarely in one-on-one meetings with me, and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few

steve bannon and the white house counsel have the same lawyer. what would that mean? the lawyer's picking up his phone, i represent the white house, tell bannon he can't talk. then he moves the phone to the other ear, i represent steve bannon, i say not to talk. it's the same lawyer. there was no principled fight going on between two sides over executive privilege. if so, the same lawyer would not be representing both of those entities. and in the iran-contra investigation, they gave immunity to some involved in that and it ended up screwing up the prosecution. in this russia investigation, it is led by a trump transition member who has been openly working with the white house to advance the president's defense on the russia investigation. that kind of thing has consequences. it appears that the mueller subpoena is at least believed by people involved in this to have been designed to stop steve bannon from talking to congress so his evidence goes to mueller instead, to preserve and present his evidence for the criminal part of this investigation. right now the conseque

this is a quote from steve bannon. >> that is devastating. nd even more devastating is another passage from the book where bannon talks about deutsche bank. i think deutsche bank is the thing that donald trump and jared kushner want least to go into, because back in the 80s and 90s, none of the big -- the new york banks would deal with donald trump. so he used -- he used deutsche bank exclusively. that is where all of his financial transactions goes through as far as we know and if mueller is going through deutsche bank for both kushner and trump, that is very scary. because that -- that's where all -- where all of the -- where all of the money goes, and if there is anything untoward to find, mueller will find it. >> carl, what do you think of the excerpts of the wolff book. >> i think it paints a picture that is very consistent with what all of us have been reporting, maggie said it herself, we've seen it in "the new york times" and on cnn and in "the washington post." we've seen it in michael d'antonio's book on and on. this is the real dona

frome compliance came steve bannon. other white house officials were not working with him? ms. sanders: any who did as far as far as we can tell that so at the request of mr. bannon. can we get some details on will it be televised, how many awards will be presented? ms. sanders: i do not want to spoil anything but there are quite a few individuals who will be up for those awards. beyond that, we will have to see what happens monday. >> will the press corps be there? we will keep you posted. it might be hard for him to present trophies if you are not there but we will have to wait and see what happens monday. justin. >> one on policy. there was controversy about a letter from the department of transportation suggesting the administration -- the gateway rail tunnel connecting new york and new jersey. since it is if a structure week. -- infrastructure week. i wonder if the president supports the 50/50 split and if not, what has changed from the bipartisan delegation last year. policyon't have any new announcements. as we get further into the cover stations, we will be rolling out w

he tweeted his thanks to steve bannon "i want to thank steve bannon for his service.y campaign helped me run against crooked hillary clinton." margaret, this is a huge u-turn for the president. ? margaret: iised think the implications are important, both in terms of inflaming the president's emotions and in terms of what we do not know yet, which is what is steve bannon know precisely about the conversations that took place among top trump campaign officials and any russian officials or intermediaries, beginning in the spring and summer of 2016? as you all remember, steve bannon was brought in after the end of paul manafort's run. time, he discovered a lot of policy decisions, whether on foreign or domestic policy, that had taken place up until his arrival there -- it was his job to take what had happened in that campaign and help shape it and move forward across the finish line of the campaign. it ended up being a successful campaign. that is important, and i do not think you can underestimate the impact that has had on the president's sensitivity. shery: you raised

steve bannon backed roy moore in the alabama special election over trump's protestations. ed luther strange to win the primary. roy moore lost to doug jones. that tarnished bannon's reputation as a strategist. definitely tarnished his reputation in the white house. noticed by as not lot of people, but right after the tax bill was passed, trump issued a tweet, complementing mitch mcconnell for his strategy and getting that legislation over the finish line. that could have been interpreted as a smack at steve bannon who was -- who has targeted mitch mcconnell for removal. today, excerpts of a new book i author michael wolff have been -- by author michael wolff have been published. it is a bombshell book. it is full of eye-opening revelations about the trump campaign and the first month's of the white house. steve bannon is quoted, criticizing both the president and his family, namely his son, don junior who has responded at some length on twitter today. has been doing a lot of talking, not just for this book, but he has spoken with vanities -- vanity fair, where he might run

the most damaging claim is that steve bannon watched a meeting between donald trump junior and steve meeting between donald trumpjunior and a bunch of russian lawyers during the campaign and considered it treasonous. also a meeting between paul manna fought and jared kushner. the three senior people in the campaign thought it was a good idea to me with a foreign government inside trump tower in the conference room on the 25th floor with no lawyers. bannon is quoted as saying. he answered that after the meeting they should have called the fbi immediately. the president hit back ina immediately. the president hit back in a scathing statement. he said steve bannon has nothing to do with me nor my presidency. when he was not only lost hisjob, me nor my presidency. when he was not only lost his job, he lost his mind. he goes on, steve was rarely ina mind. he goes on, steve was rarely in a one—on—one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influenced a full a few people with no access and no clue whom he he helped write looks. sarah huckerby sanders has condemned the contents of the

as a contentious battle heats up between president trump and steve bannon. o, i am dana perino, this is "the daily briefing." white house lawyers are taking steps to stop the publication of that book containing highly disparaging comments according to bannon. with the white house now, what is it saying about the former true strategist? >> saying a number of things, but if i use the vernacular of the day, "stay in your lane" the message from the president. they are pushing back in according to the flurry of cease and desist letters, it is obvious that the president was none too pleased by what he

we have steve bannon's testimony, and steve bannon says i won't answer any questions after i left thepaign. what does corey lewandowski decide to do today in contrast to what he said he was going to do yesterday? he decides i'm not going to answer any questions after i left the campaign. he can't provide any executive privilege, just that i'm not prepared to do it. and what do the committee say? that's fine, come back when it's convenient to you. when we asked mr. lewandowski, did you speak with the president in the last 24 hours about your proposed testimony, he would not answer the question. so there is a lot more we're going to need to know. he says he's willing to come back, but the committee wasn't willing to insist on answers today, and we'll have to hope that they're as good as their commitment to bring him back in the near future. >> congressman, one last point i want to clear up with you. there's been a lot of discussion today that the white house is asserting executive privilege in order to block testimony from bannon. it's my understanding that the white house is not formal

margaret: so you would say they came from steve bannon. other white house officials were not working with him in helping him to gain information. sec. sanders: any who did as far as we can tell was at the request of mr. bannon. -- monday at 5:00 p.m., can we get details on that, will it will be televised, will there be any -- >> will there be an audience? sec. sanders: i do not want to spoil anything, but my guess is there are quite a few individuals who will be up for those awards. beyond that, we will have to see what happens monday. >> will the press corps be in the room for that? sec. sanders: we will certainly keep you posted. it might be hard for him to present trophies if you are not there, but we will have to wait and see what happens monday. justin. justin: i have two questions. one on policy. a letter from the department of transportation, just so the administration -- the framework for the gateway rail tunnel in new jersey, this infrastructure, i wonder if the president -- [laughter] justin: in principle supports the 50/50 split

listen to the president last summer speaking about steve bannon. listen to this. >> look, i like mr. bannon. he's a friend of mine. but mr. bannon came on very late, you know that. i went through 17 senators, governors and i won all the primaries. mr. bannon came on very much later than that. and i like him. he's a good man. he is not a racist. i can tell you that. he's a good person. he actually gets a very unfair press in that regard. but we'll see what happens with mr. bannon, but he's a good person and i think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly. >> that's quite a contrast between what he said then about steve bannon and what he said in his formal statement today. he not open lost his job when he was fired, he also lost his mind. go ahead. >> well, look, it's absurd to distance -- for president trump to distance himself from steve bannon. yes, it's true he had won the primary by the time that he came in, but in the general election he was drifting and losing when he brought in steve bannon and kellyanne conway. that's why he brought the

the president also in a situation where he is demanding through his lawyers that steve bannon stop talking. even though bannon has said at least some of the things democrats have been saying for months. >> reporter: president trump's lawyer threatening imminent legal action against steve bannon, use coulding him of defamation and arguing he violated a nondisclosure agreement when speaking to the author of this bombshell new book. kperpbts published in the guardian suggesting that bannon suggesting that donald trump jr., jared kushner and paul manafort from have been treasonist. the chance that john tkr did not walk these jumos up to the 26th floor is zero. a claim that runs contrary to the longstanding position. >> it was such a thing. there's nothing to tell. >> the president wasn't aware of the meeting, did not participate in the meeting. >> reporte >> bannon is quoted as discussing robert mueller's russia probe claiming they are going to crack don jr. like an egg on national tv. allegedly predicting the investigation will center on money laundering. news of the book asserting in part st

steve bannon. steve has been a friend of mine for a long time. >> not just a friend, just a good guy, a friend for a very long time. that's what the president said. and the two of course do seem particularly close in photo after photo. here they are greeting the tesla ceo, elon musk, in the state dining room as trump signs an executive order about the oil pipeline industry. and this, trump speaking on the phone with vladimir putin, and who is there? steve bannon. and then when they worked together in the white house, check this out, their offices, steps apart. in fact the only person who sat closer to the president of the united states than bannon was president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner. even the official chief of staff, reince priebus, sat farther away from president trump. and of course as trump knows well from his real estate days, power is all about location, location, location. slamming bannon, though, was only part of the white house operation today. the press secretary tried to rip t

shelby: there was a charge the media built up steve bannon. e was so much publicity about him before he left the white house now the media is embracing him and using him as a foil against the president. howie: bannon is a smart guy who knows how to build his brand. but do you think the media coverage he has gotten could have emboldened him to think he was untouchable? mo: i think it's wrong to say the media built him up. the president built him up. he made him the chief strategist of his white house. go back through history. people that hold that position in the might house are serious people. if the president gives you that title of course you are going to be taken seriously. howie: was it a dumb idea for donald trump's lawyer to send and cease and desist letter to the publisher? shannon: it didn't work. it fueled if the flames of this story, is the president trying to suppress the book? is it a free speech issue? howie: the president is saying the libel laws are too week. shannon: many publications have received letters from trump the busines

>> sarah, follow-up on the steve bannon issue. did white house staff, including steve, have to sign nondisclosure agreements when they came to work at the white house? >> there's an ethics agreement. beyond that i can't get into any additional details. >> does the president want to have steve's support for anti-establishment political candidates going up to the mid term election? >> the president wants all-americans su pord. every american wants us to do bigger and better things. that's his focus. he wants to bring everybody together to move this country forward. that's what he campaigned on and that's what we've done over the last year and that's what we're going to continue to do for the next seven years. >> the whites house has said there were false statements in this book. the president's lawyer have said there were liablous statements. could you give a few examples of things that are said in this book that are false that you would like to set the record straight on? >> i'm not going to go through every single page of the book

steve bannon has been a friend of mine for a long time. i like steve a lot. i like mr. bannon. is a friend of mine. i like him and the press treats him very unfairly. steve is very committed. he's a friend of mine and very committed to getting things passed. >> michael, what is it going to take, if anything, for donald trump to reunite with steve bannon, if it's going to happen. >> well, in his statement yesterday the president said that bannon was just merely a staffer and had very little to do with his historic victory. so, the clips you played sort of contradict what the statement said yesterday. so, the point of the story in this morning's "washington post" was trying to explain that this is not the case. the idea that he's played a little role, he's played a major role. i interviewed people who know bannon and the president very well. bannon was crucial to shaping trump's views and crucial to the strategy for winning the white house. one of the big questions really is since i mentioned the mind of ideology that bannon quote lost his mind. bannon helped him learn and unders

an open question what steve bannon knows. this is one of the rare splits i should say on the intelligence committee leading congress's investigation between the top republican and top democrat. i don't know how they will get through that. richard burr is the chairman. multiultimately it's an open question what steve bannon knows. he was not on the campaign when donald trump jr. held the meeting in russia. he may have his own opinion about it that he shared, but it's not clear whether he was involved as reporting comes out about mueller's investigation. another parallel investigation into this. we haven't heart steve bannon's name. >> hoar suggests money laundering is a major problem which is illegal especially doing it with russians and suggesting that the meeting at trump tower was treasonous. that raises questions that committee members want answers to. >> the point is and you are right that he joined this administration after the trump tower meeting. a couple of months. we also know the context of all of this which is that

president trump ripping steve bannon tonight. bannon just one of the many trump insiders who are quoted in an explosive, new book that paints a personal portrait of an incapable, disinterested,

in the book, steve bannon is reported as harshly criticizing president trump, his family and members and speculating about their legal culpability. bannon called the trump tower meeting between donald trump jr., jared kushner, paul manafort, and a group including a russian lawyer, a group of russians including a russian lawyer, he called that meeting treasonous and unpatriotic. he told michael wolff, the author of the book the chance that don jr. did not walk these people up to his father's office on the 26th floor is zero. joining us now, harry litman, former u.s. attorney and deputy u.s. attorney general under president clinton. he is now a professor at ucsd school of political science. and mieke eoyang vice president for national security program at third way. harry litman, i want you to take us into the world of the special prosecutor, special prosecutors, when a book like "fire and fury" comes out, and steve bannon is quoted at length speculating about possible crimes and misdemeanors of the trump circle, is that something the special prosecutor grabs, starts reading and underlin

chief strategist steve bannon.e's a quick snippet of that interview. >> with respect to the trump tower meeting that he is talking about, he was not even there when this went down. he is not really a remotely credible source. it reads like an angry vindictive person spouting off to a highly discredited author. it's a work of very poorly written fiction. >> let's discuss with my panel. commentator and republican strategist alice stewart and hillary rosen and princeton university historian and professor, good to see you all. let me begin with you. in that interview, miller appeared to be making the case that the president is a political genius and discredited the author of the book fire and fury and attacked steve bannon and steve bannon himself releases a clarification saying that he is quote said as saying about don jr. and how he was quoted in the book bannon said is inaccurate. what does this say about the white house and bannon trying to secure support or get in the last word. >> this is another in a long line o

steve bannon has nothing to do with me and my presidency. when he was fired he not only lost his job but lost his mind. steve was a staffer that worked for me after i already won the nomination after defeating 17 candidates. steve bannon's comments to michael wolff back in september, there was nothing to the russian investigation, all was well. what do you think changed? >> i will say this though. i think president trump is on to something when he says steve bannon is in it for himself. it is not just the "60 minutes" interview that contradicts some of the stuff he said to wolff. also the "vanity fair" interview. maybe steve bannon has his own playbook. maybe he is out for himself. he certainly didn't help the trump team. one thing that blowses my mind, he wasn't on the campaign when he said the meeting with the russians was treasonous and made other comments. he gave the democrats hail mary, which everyone on the republicans and capitol hill dismantling concerning with the russians. i do not know what steve bannon did today, he not only hurt

if steve bannon was that popular, why isn't roi moore the senator of alabama. y: because he was an alleged child molester i guess. let's talk a little bit about, where do we go from here? does bannon have to undo this presidency? does he know where the bodies are buried? does he have the kind of insider knowledge that is so important for presidents to keep quiet that now the lid has been blown off of pandora's box is the president going to face holy hell. >> this comes down to steve bannon, his character, honesty, integrity and who knows what those factors are. i don't know steve bannon. if it's true, then steve bannon has an obligation to stand forward, say him the job, condemn donald trump and stand as other people have in history. scott mcclen land did that. let steve bannon stand on that ground if that's what he thinks and let people judge whether bannon is right or trump is right. what i predict is that steve bannon is going to deny it. i think he's going to say the quotes were fabricated. he didn't say them. to abandon steve bannon. kennedy: you already ha

but we do know -- >> i'm sorry, congressman, steve bannon just said -- steve bannon just said -- steve bannon just said -- steve bannon just said -- >> who paid russians to influence the elections. we do know that -- >> steve bannon just said -- steve bannon just said that the meeting between donald trump jr. and the russians at trump tower was treasonous and unpatriotic. at a minimum, there was this meeting. >> of course there was this meeting. he's been -- donald trump jr.'s been questioned about it. i don't know if anyone's been questioned about why was glen simpson meeting with the lawyer who organized that meeting with, the russian lawyer, both before and after the meeting took place. i'm saying, let's get the answers to all of those questions. steve bannon is, of course, entitled to his opinion about whether that meeting should have happened or not. but the fact is, it happened. let's get the answers to that question. but a whole host of other questions that are out there that i think the american people deserve to be -- to get the answers to. >> congressman, we would love your a

trump white house that's triggered a bitter war between the president and a former close ally, steve bannon. among the bomb shells tonight, bannon says the infamous trump tower russia meeting held with the promise of dirt on hillary clinton was, quote, unpatriotic and even treasonous. according to published excerpts of the book, bannon also predicted that donald trump jr. will crack like an egg under the scrutiny of the russia investigation and he alleges that the special counsel's probe is all about money laundering. the president firing back in a blistering statement saying bannon has lost his mind and has nothing to do with the white house, even though he was one of the most powerful advisers at one time. also infuriating the president tonight, that new book is filled with sensational accounts about him and his family that includes claims that mr. trump was hoping to lose the election and was horrified when he won and that even members of his inner circle believed he was unqualified for the job. jim. >> pamela, thanks very much, and our analysts are here. but first let's mange clear why

>> i don't. >> even after steve bannon said trump has lost his mind? >> they're linked in a way that i don't think people fully appreciate. when bannon left the white house, i always said, he never really left the white house. he was still talking to the president on a regular basis and i think that's an aspect of this prince william will pick up. they'll get through this. the point just made bethe subordinate being an equal player is something that annoys the hell out of trump but in the end, he recognizes this is a transactional relationship. the money is cut off and they're trying to get him out of breitbart. they still have agendas they want to fill. >> wolff talked about jared and ivanka. >> jared and ivanka, in their current situation, which is in a deep legal quagmire, are putting everything on the president. not us. it's him. >> how does this book affect jared and ivanka? >> one of the more interesting details was the idea that they have this deal, if one of them would run for president, it would be ivanka. if anything, it shows that maybe trump

steve bannon is all about steve bannon and will always only ever be about steve bannon.e, will he take that with him since he has now drawn sides between him and the president? can the president afford to lose a part of that base to steve bannon? >> i don't think so. the president didn't need steve bannon to win and the president doesn't need steve bannon to be successful. steve bannon's contribution to this is taking over a website that was crated by a better guy and running it into the ground and making it a platform for the alt right. some commenters at this website are not going to be enough to bolster steve bannon's momentum. president trump proved he had a bigger nuclear button against steve bannon. you never go to war with a guy who will push back hard on you and that's what we saw yesterday. ainsley: dana, we were watching the press pool earlier asking is he cavalier, is he demented. have you joy behar who says he needs to be medicated and hospitalized. listen to her comment and we will get your reaction. >> trump needs to be medicated and hospitalized. [laughter

steve bannon back tracking on the comments made in "fire & fury." and the president saying sloppy steve is trying to make amends. president trump calling oscar wolf a fraud as he stands by his comments on "meet the press." >> this is worse than anybody thought. if i left out anything, it was probably stuff even more damning. >> it's that bad? >> that bad. >> a never ending story with the president's tweets. will the administration turn the page on questions about the commander-in-chief's mental state? >>> we begin with breaking news of transformation from sloppy steve bannon to, sorry, steve. steve bannon apologize together president about remarks he made in "fire & fury." donald trump jr. is both a patriot and good man, relentless in the advocacy for his father and agenda that helped turn our country around. his support is unwaivering for his agenda and i'm the only one to preach the message of trump and trumpism and stand in the breach for the efforts to make america great again. that apology shortly after wolf's latest defense on "meet the press".