Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist, slammed the news media as "the opposition party" and said it should "keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile."
"The media should be embarrassed, and humiliated, and keep its mouth shut, and just listen for awhile," Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, told The New York Times late Wednesday.
"I want you to quote this: The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States."
In the telephone interview, which the Times said Bannon initiated to praise White House spokesman Sean Spicer, the key Trump aide reiterated many of the president's attacks on the news media about coverage of his inauguration last week.
"The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 percent dead wrong," Bannon said, referring to the outcome of the November election, saying it was "a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there.
"The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign," he continued. "Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: They were outright activists of the Clinton campaign."
Bannon, however, did not name specific reporters or editors, the Times reported.
"That's why you have no power," he added. "You were humiliated."
Bannon also referred to the "elite" or "mainstream" media his attacks, but specifically cited the Times and The Washington Post by name.
"The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated," he said. "They got it 100 percent wrong."
Bannon also said he has read the Times for most of his adult life.
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