Steve Bannon's inflammatory remarks about Donald Trump Jr.'s secret meeting with Russian operatives will sell plenty of books and stoke the public's thirst for stories of "palace intrigue," but they have no basis in reality, Marc Lotter, the national spokesman for President Donald Trump, told Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"Don Jr. said publicly, and he's been very transparent about it, he would've handled things differently, he should've handled things differently. But . . . this is not any kind of proof there is any collusion going on between the campaign and Russia," Lotter said to Miranda Khan on Newsmax's "America Talks Live."
"That's just a continuation of a hoax for Democrats trying to explain why they lost an election that they should have won."
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The Guardian on Wednesday reported that a new book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," quotes Bannon, the president's former chief strategist, as describing a Trump Tower meeting between Donald Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."
"It would sell books to talk about these kinds of palace intrigue stories . . . but I can tell you one thing is that the people in the White House, the people who are the closest to the president, are focused on moving his agenda forward," Lotter said.
"They have a very busy agenda here in the next few months and for the next three years. That's where their focus is."
An adaptation of the book by Michael Wolff published Wednesday in New York magazine says Trump believed his presidential nomination would boost his brand and deliver "untold opportunities." It also says Trump Jr. told a friend his father looked as if he'd seen a ghost when it became clear he might win and described now-first lady Melania Trump as "in tears — and not of joy."
The Guardian and New York magazine reports prompted Trump to issue a fiery statement condemning Bannon, saying that when he was fired from his job, "he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."
Trump continued: "Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn't as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country . . . Steve doesn't represent my base — he's only in it for himself."
Asked about Trump's fast response to Bannon's remarks, Lotter told Khan:
"America elected a fighter as their president of the United States. If you attack him, attack his family, then you will get a response from the president. He speaks his own mind and he makes sure that the American people know what he's thinking and I think that's what he did in this case."
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