Breitbart boss Steve Bannon issued an apology over his comments in the explosive Fire and Fury book that details life inside Donald Trump's White House.
After an excerpt featured Bannon stating a meeting between Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer was "treasonous" and suggesting Donald Jr. would "crack like an egg" under questioning from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Bannon has issued an apology.
The president's former chief strategist, whom Trump this week claimed had lost his mind, described Donald Jr. as a "patriot and a good man" in an apology shared with Axios over his comments in Michael Wolff's Fire and Firy: Inside the Trump White House.
"Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around," Bannon said, adding: "My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda—as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama."
"President Trump was the only candidate that could have taken on and defeated the Clinton apparatus. I am the only person to date to conduct a global effort to preach the message of Trump and Trumpism; and remain ready to stand in the breech for this president's efforts to make America great again," he added.
Even after Trump hit out at Bannon over the revelations in the book, Bannon maintained he still supported the president, stating on the Breitbart News Tonight Sirius XM radio show on Wednesday evening that the president still had his support.
Asked about Trump's comments over the book release, Bannon told the caller: "The president of the United States is a great man. You know I support him day in and day out."
Adding to his comments during the week, Bannon told Axios that he was not attempting to disparage Donald Jr. with the comments that were quoted by Wolff, instead, he claimed he was aiming his comments at Paul Manafort—who is among those who have been indicted as part of the ongoing Russia probe.
"My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years when our focus was the defeat of 'the evil empire' and to making films about Reagan's war against the Soviets and Hillary Clinton's involvement in selling uranium to them," Bannon said.
"My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate. He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr."
"Everything I have to say about the ridiculous nature of the Russian 'collusion' investigation I said on my 60 Minutes interview. There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt," he said, adding: "I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency."
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