White House rejects Bannon’s apology

The White House on Monday rejected Stephen Bannon’s attempt to take back his criticism of the president and his children. 

Spokesman Hogan Gidley said President Trump’s stands by his belief that Bannon has “lost it” and is “only in it for himself.” 

“I don’t believe there is any way back for Mr. Bannon at this point,” Gidley told reporters on Air Force One who asked about the former chief strategist. “I just don’t think there’s any way back.”

The comments do not bode well for Bannon, whose job as head of Breitbart News is reportedly in jeopardy due to the rift with Trump. 

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Bannon was a key source for the bombshell book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which paints a chaotic and dysfunctional picture of Trump’s campaign and early months as president. 

The former aide called it “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” for Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort to take a meeting with a Russian lawyer inside Trump Tower in the midst of the 2016 race. 

Bannon also questioned Trump’s grasp of politics and policy. 

“When you go after somebody’s family in the manner in which he did — two of the president’s children are serving this nation, sacrificing in their service — it is repugnant, it is grotesque and I challenge anybody to go and talk about somebody’s family and see if that person doesn’t come back and comes back hard,” said Gidley. 

On Saturday, days after the first excerpts of the book leaked, Bannon issued a statement praising Trump Jr., as a “patriot” and a “good man” and expressing “regret” for his delayed response to his published remarks.

“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.