Report: Bannon apologizes for comments about Trump family in new book

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon expressed regret Sunday for uncomplimentary words attributed to him in a controversial book, saying his support for President Donald Trump was "unwavering," The New York Post reported.

Bannon also said he regretted calling the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., “unpatriotic” for meeting a Russian lawyer in June 2016 who had ties to the Kremlin, the Post reported. Those comments were including in Michael Wolff’s new book, “Fire and Fury: 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 in a statement to Axios.

“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 , ” added Bannon, who returned to the web news site after leaving the White House last August.

The president blasted Wolff’s book as “full of lies,” called the author a “total loser,” and referred to Bannon, his former campaign chairman, as “Sloppy Steve,” when book excerpts began to appear online last week.

“When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said.

Bannon tried to make amends Sunday.

“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, ” he said in the statement to the news web site.

In “Fire and Fury,” Bannon faulted Trump Jr., former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for taking the meeting with the Russians during the presidential campaign and not reporting it to the FBI.

“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic …and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately, ” Bannon was quoted in the book.

Sunday, a top White House aide called Bannon's comments in the book "grotesque," CNN reported.

“It's tragic and unfortunate that Steve would make these grotesque comments so out of touch with reality and obviously so vindictive,” White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

In the statement Sunday, Bannon said his ire was directed at Manafort.

“My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate,” Bannon said in his statement. ” He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr.”

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