STEVE Bannon pulled no punches as he gave his take on Donald Trump’s trial, immigration chaos and the Hamas attacks on Israel.
Mr Trump’s former aide told the Sun’s politics show Never Mind The Ballots his ex-boss is in for a “tough” time as his hush money criminal trial continues.
Steve Bannon serves as the White House’s chief strategist for the first seven months of Donald Trump’s administration
The SunThe Sun’s Political Editor interviews Steve Bannon on our new show Never Mind The Ballots[/caption]
The SunMr Trump’s former aide told was held to task on the Sun’s new politics show Never Mind The Ballots[/caption]
AFPFormer US President Donald Trump congratulates Bannon during the swearing-in of senior staff in January 2017[/caption]
But he insisted the American firebrand needs to keep his focus on his true opponent Joe Biden – rather than the judge.
The former US President faces 34 charges of falsifying business records to disguise a hush-money payment to a woman with whom he allegedly had an affair.
On our stateside special, Bannon also:
CLAIMED the Pro-Palestinian movement is the most anti-American ever
SLAMMED European spending on defence as a “joke”
LET rip about Trump’s trials and “alien invaders”
CALLED Nigel Farage the next Prime Minister after Keir Starmer
ORDERED Trump to turn his guns on Biden – not the judge in his trial
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having the affair.
You can watch the show on thesun.co.uk or The Sun’s YouTube channel.
Mr Bannon told our Political Editor Harry Cole: “He (Trump) is definitely going to be the (presidential) candidate.
“But I think that you see right now… the lawfare is really starting to kick in here, he’s in a court in lower Manhattan on these kind of bizarre trumped up charges of these bookkeeping issues that they’ve got him up on.”
He added: “We’re in a very tough part of this campaign right now and president Trump has got to focus, continue to focus that his opponent is Joe Biden, his opponent is not the judge in the court so everyday is going to be a tough one.”
The White House former chief strategist also slammed Republican Speaker Mike Johnson for failing to uphold his promise to secure the US southern border before advancing other policies, like funding for Ukraine.
He said even Mr Biden admits “eight million illegal alien invaders” have entered the US since he took over as President.
He added: “We calculate it’s between 12 and 15 million.
“The Republican establishment promised nothing would go forward on Ukraine until that was secure.”
While Bannon claims figures are between 12 and 15 million, US Customs and Border Protection data states the number of southwest land border encounters since Biden came into office in 2021 is 7,298,486.
Bannon – who hosts the the “ultraMAGA” podcast WarRoom – was President Trump’s controversial chief strategist and senior counsellor following his 2016 election victory.
He dramatically left the post in 2017 but has remained a staunch supporter of Trump’s re-election and his “Make America Great Again” pledge.
Trump needs to turn his guns on Biden – not the judge in his trial, says Steve Bannon
DONALD Trump must remember that his most important battle is against Joe Biden – not the judge in his trial, says Steve Bannon.
He said Trump “has got to focus” on Biden during this “tough part” of his campaign.
Bannon, 70, said Trump, 77, “needs to turn the guns on” Biden, 81, when he’s out of the courtroom.
The former president is on trial in Manhattan, charged with falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors claim that by making payments and covering them up, Trump had “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election”.
Trump – who is running for a nonconsecutive second term in this year’s presidential election – has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and denies that the encounter took place.
“His opponent is not the judge in the court.”
He continued: “When he’s out of the courtroom he needs to turn the guns on, back on to Biden.
“I think if we do this and you do it smartly this could be a net positive for the campaign.”
Bannon, who served as the White House’s chief strategist for the first seven months of Trump’s administration, said Trump is now “very under-resourced” and at least 25 per cent of every dollar invested in his campaign will be used “to fight this lawfare”.
The political strategist said: “He’s going to be very strapped for resources, much like in 2016.
“It’s going to have to be a very smart campaign like we ran in ’16, highly targeted to those 25… This is going to come down to 25 counties in seven states in America.
“He’s got to really focus on that.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Mr Bannon demanded a probe into the October 7 Hamas attacks given the blatant intelligence failure from security agencies.
He said: “I can’t believe we had an intelligence failure from MI6, from CIA, DNI, that didn’t understand that Hamas had taken almost two years to train for this…
“I cannot believe that we were caught blind by this.”
Asked if he believed someone knew it was coming and let it happen he said: “I don’t know, there has to be an investigation.”
There is no evidence that any intelligence service had prior knowledge of Hamas’ attack – which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.
He also claimed the pro-Palestine movement has made US colleges more dangerous than cartel-controlled parts of Mexico.
He warned that that Jewish students and Christian conservatives are under attack on campuses across the States.
He told host Harry Cole that pro-Palestinian demos, riddled with Jihadists, have made colleges more threatening than the Darien Gap.
Mr Bannon said: “The pro-Palestinian movement in American is the most anti-American movement I’ve ever seen in the streets of this country.
“If you’re a young Jewish student or quite frankly a MAGA Christian, if you walk across that campus you will be attacked, it’s a very dangerous.”
Over the past week US universities including Columbia and Yale have seen an explosion in pro-Palestinian protests.
The majority of these protests see thousands gather peacefully on campuses across the US.
But some colleges have seen activists pitch up tents to create an “encampment”, where Jewish students who believe in the State of Israel have been banned from entering.
Gaza activists have been filmed screaming at Jewish students to “go back to Poland”.
And there have been calls for young Jews to be attacked by Hamas’ terrorist killer brigade Al Qassam.
This week Columbia was forced to move all classes online after a hike in threats to students who disagreed with the left-wing protesters.
Mr Bannon claimed the shocking scenes are a result of diversity and inclusion initiatives.
He said: “People should understand this revolt of Sharia supremacists in this country is just picking up steam and it’s going to be quite violent and quite dangerous.
“The jihadists, the Sharia supremacists have won and have taken over at least Columbia, I think you’ll see many more Ivy League schools like this, I think NYU’s going to go like this.”
The right wing agitator argued that Joe Biden hasn’t been tough on protests because he’s trying to appease Muslim voters.
Mr Bannon said: “He understands he has to appease the Muslim community, the Arab-American community which has been a key component of the Democratic Party or he has no shot of winning Michigan.
“I believe if he can’t win Michigan it’s going to be very tough for Biden to win the presidency.”
GettyFormer US President Donald Trump appears in court with his attorneys Emil Bove, left, and Todd Blanche, right, during his trial on Thursday[/caption]
APFormer President Donald Trump is pictured inside Manhattan Criminal Court[/caption]
AFPUS President Joe Biden speaks at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum in New York on Thursday[/caption]
GettyThe Texas National Guard uses pepper spray guns to disperse migrants on the Mexico-US border[/caption]
Steve Bannon is seen standing behind Trump during his administrationGetty
Jack HillThe site of the Supernova festival where Hamas fighters murdered festivalgoers on October 7[/caption]
APPalestinians wave their national flag and celebrate at a destroyed Israeli tank by the Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis on the day of the massacres[/caption]
GettyPalestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes[/caption]
Timeline of the Israel-Hamas war since Oct 7
Oct 7, 2023: Hamas gunmen launch horror attack killing thousands of innocent civilians and taking hostages
Oct 7, 2023: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is at war and prepares revenge airstrikes on Gaza
Oct 13, 2023: Israel tells residents of Gaza City to move south along the Gaza Strip
Oct 19, 2023: Yemen’s Houthi terror groups start attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea linked to Israel including US and UK vessels
Oct 21, 2023: Aid trucks are sent through the Rafah border into Gaza
Oct 27, 2023: Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza
Nov 1, 2023: People try to evacuate Gaza completely as war ramps up but many forced to stay
Nov 15, 2023: Israeli troops enter Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al Shifa, after a siege of several days as they believe Hamas are working inside
Nov 21, 2023: Israel and Hamas announce a ceasefire to last seven days and see the exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners
Nov 2023: Truce ends with only half of hostages returned
Dec 1, 2023: Fighting starts up again with first round of airstrikes in weeks
Dec 4, 2023: Israeli forces launch huge ground assault in southern Gaza, towards the main southern city of Khan Younis
Dec 12, 2023: Countries call on Israel to find a new ceasefire deal to stop civilian casualties
Jan 11, 2024: US and British warplanes, ships and submarines launch retaliatory strikes across Yemen
Feb 29, 2024: More than 100 Gazans die as they queued for humanitarian aid with Israel and Hamas having different views on what happened
April 1, 2024: Israeli air strikes kill seven aid workers for the World Central Kitchen charity
April 1, 2024: Iran’s embassy hit in Damascus by a suspected Israeli airstrike killing several military officers and a top general
April 13, 2024: Tehran responds to the embassy strike by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel but most are intercepted
April 19, 2024: Israel hits back at Iran with precision strike near a nuclear site in Isfahan
April 23, 2024: Israel gear up for six-week assault on Rafah
April 24, 2024: Hostage claims 70 people held captive have died after being bombed