The Guardian says in a new book called "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon pulls no punches attacking his own:
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.
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.”
Bannon also says there is no way Donald Trump did not know about the meeting.
According to MSNBC, which tweeted an excerpt from Michael Wolff's upcoming book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," Bannon said that it was likely Donald Trump Jr. took lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others up to his father's office during the meeting.
“The chance that Don. Jr did not walk these Jumos up to his father’s office on the 26th floor is zero," the excerpt reads.
Bannon goes on to speak characteristically candidly about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and where he thinks it's heading:
“You realise where this is going,” he is quoted as saying. “This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to fucking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner … It’s as plain as a hair on your face.”
(...)
Bannon continues: “It goes through Deutsche Bank and all the Kushner shit. The Kushner shit is greasy. They’re going to go right through that. They’re going to roll those two guys up and say play me or trade me.”
Bannon says he personally is not involved:
He insists that he knows no Russians, will not be a witness, will not hire a lawyer and will not appear on national television answering questions.
New York Magazine published a longer, even more revealing excerpt from Wolff's book, in which Bannon offers the following two pieces of information regarding the Trump campaign's relationship with Russia.
Almost everybody on the Trump team, in fact, came with the kind of messy conflicts bound to bite a president once he was in office. Michael Flynn, the retired general who served as Trump’s opening act at campaign rallies, had been told by his friends that it had not been a good idea to take $45,000 from the Russians for a speech. “Well, it would only be a problem if we won,” Flynn assured them.
(...)
“What has he gotten himself into with the Russians?” pressed [longtime Trump friend and former head of Fox News Roger] Ailes.
“Mostly,” said Bannon, “he went to Russia and he thought he was going to meet Putin. But Putin couldn’t give a shit about him. So he’s kept trying.”
Full story: Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous', Bannon says in explosive book (The Guardian)
Bannon said there's 'zero' chance Trump didn't know about Don Jr.'s Russia meeting: report (The Hill)
Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President (NY Magazine)