'Stop threatening us' Trump campaigner in fiery clash over 'kingmaker' Steve Bannon claims
A DONALD Trump campaigner and the editor of an alt-right organisation clash on BBC Newsnight in a fiery exchange over “outrageous” claims made by Steve Bannon.
BBC
Former chief strategist for Donald Trump, Steve Bannon made several claims about the US President in a book about his time in the White House.
Some of them include that Trump never wanted to win - describing the election as the “broke-dick campaign” - that he never intended to become President and was shocked when he did.
Mica Mosbacher is a campaigner for President Trump who works on the 2020 Trump advisory committee. When asked about the claims, she said: “I disagree totally.
"First of all, anointing Steve Bannon as the ‘king maker’ is a gross over exaggeration.
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“Trump won because he outperformed and outworked 17 candidates. He did over 250 rallies, I’ve been part of five political campaigns and most candidates are very scripted and kept in sort of a bubble.
“President Trump has some of the best political instincts I have ever seen. He was off script, what he said in terms of populism it was all ‘Trumpism’.
“Trump would have won 2016 without Steve Bannon, absolutely.”
Steve Bannon is the former chief executive of Breitbart and claimed the website was the “platform of the alt-right” in 2016.
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Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis asked if she was worried if Bannon and Breitbart would pit itself against Trump in the upcoming mid-terms and the next election by putting up far-right candidates which would make it hard for him to keep the Senate.
Ms Mosbacher replied: “I don’t think Breitbart wants to get labelled ‘fake-news’ like CNN.
“First of all, look at the Republican National Committee they raised over $130million in a non-election year and 70 per cent are small donors - that tells me the base is sticking with him."
But, editor of Breitbart in London, Raheem Kassam, who is a close advisor to Steve Bannon claims Ms Moscbacher is “mischaracterising what is actually happening”.
He added: “If you look at what Steve Bannon is doing here, if you look at Breitbart news, it is the only site in the world and the US that truly endorses the ‘Magga agenda’.
“Throwing threats around by calling Breitbart fake-news if we don’t toe-the-line is kind of silly - we are not on different sides here.”
In the book, Steve Bannon accused Trump of “treason” for allegedly meeting with a Russian lawyer.
Ms Mocbacher said: “That treason comment is outrageous.”
BBC
Mr Kassam replied, incensed: “That was not a report on Breitbart news, that’s a comment made by a private individual in a book - you cannot conflate the two.”
Trump hit back at the Breitbart boss, he blasted: “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.”
According to the new book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House", by Michael Wolff, Mr Bannon had expressed astonishment over the meeting in Trump Tower in New York.
BBC
At the sit-down, it is claimed a Russian lawyer was offering damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The meeting arranged by Trump's son also included MrTrump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
It has become part of a federal investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the election. Mr Trump has denied any such collusion.
