Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower reveals that Stephen Bannon was testing phrases like "drain the swamp" and pushing a pro-Putin narrative years before he joined the Trump campaign.

Chris Wylie

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Conservative strategist Stephen K. Bannon oversaw Cambridge Analytica’s early efforts to collect troves of Facebook data as part of an ambitious program to build detailed profiles of millions of American voters, a former employee of the data-science firm said Tuesday. 

The 2014 effort was part of a high-tech form of voter persuasion touted by the company, which under Bannon identified and tested the power of anti-establishment messages that later would emerge as central themes in President Trump’s campaign speeches, according to Chris Wylie, who left the company at the end of that year. 

Among the messages tested were “drain the swamp” and “deep state,” he said.

According to Wylie, Bannon was the big boss and everything had to go through him.

And get this: 

The data and analyses that Cambridge Analytica generated in this time provided discoveries that would later form the emotionally charged core of Trump’s presidential platform, said Wylie, whose disclosures in news reports over the past several days have rocked both his onetime employer and Facebook. 

“Trump wasn’t in our consciousness at that moment; this was well before he became a thing,” Wylie said. “He wasn’t a client or anything.” 

The year before Trump announced his presidential bid, the data firm already had found a high level of alienation among young, white Americans with a conservative bent. 

In focus groups arranged to test messages for the 2014 midterms, these voters responded to calls for building a new wall to block the entry of illegal immigrants, to reforms intended to “drain the swamp” of Washington’s entrenched political community and to thinly veiled forms of racism toward African Americans called “race realism,” he recounted.

Besides the Trump catchphrases that Bannon was testing out in 2014, there was also this startling revelation: 

“The only foreign thing we tested was Putin,” he said. “It turns out, there’s a lot of Americans who really like this idea of a really strong authoritarian leader and people were quite defensive in focus groups of Putin’s invasion of Crimea.”

Now look I am really fighting the urge to put on my conspiracy theory tinfoil hat here, but there is no way to categorize this as a string of coincidences. 

It really sounds like there was an anti-immigrant, racist, pro-Putin platform all ready to go and all they needed was a figurehead to be the face of the campaign.

Cue Donald J. Trump.

Or, and this is only a little less conspiratorial, since Bannon met Trump way back in 2010, perhaps all of this was tested with him in mind, and he has literally been planning his campaign since at least 2014 or 2013.

Whatever the truth behind this is, what cannot be refuted is that people essentially voted for a Steven Bannon in Trump clothing.

Cambridge Analytica is under siege. And that's good news.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

British investigators on Friday night searched the London offices of Cambridge Analytica, the data-analytics company that harvested data from 50 million Facebook users to develop psychological profiles on behalf of political campaigns, including that of President Trump. 

About 20 investigators from Britain’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, descended on the company’s offices on New Oxford Street after obtaining a search warrant from the High Court. 

“We are pleased with the decision of the judge, and the warrant is now being executed,” the office of the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said in a statement. “This is just one part of a larger investigation into the use of personal data and analytics for political purposes. As you will expect, we will now need to collect, assess and consider the evidence before coming to any conclusions.” 

Last Saturday, the same day The New York Times and The Observer of London published a detailed look at the company’s use of Facebook data, Ms. Denham’s office announced an investigation into “the circumstances in which Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used.”

What is that passage in the Bible about reaping what you sow again?

If that were not enough bad news for Cambridge Analytica, they are also on Robert Mueller's radar.

Courtesy of the AP:

Special counsel Robert Mueller is scrutinizing the connections between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which has come under fierce criticism over reports that it swiped the data of more than 50 million Facebook users to sway elections. 

Mueller’s investigators have asked former campaign officials about the Trump campaign’s data operations, particularly about how it collected and utilized voter data in battleground states, according to a person with direct knowledge of the line of inquiry but not authorized to discuss it publicly. 

The investigators have also asked some of Trump’s data team, which included analysts at the Republican National Committee, about its relationship with Cambridge Analytica, according to two former campaign officials. The campaign paid the firm just under $6 million for its work in 2016, according to federal records.

And there is plenty to go after here, as this company had connections not just to the Trump campaign, but also past and current members of the Trump Administration.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

In an interview with the New York Times, Wylie says that Bolton’s PAC was alarmed by polling trends showing that more and more Americans viewed war unfavorably — and it wanted to construct an advertising campaign aimed at reversing those views. 

“The Bolton PAC was obsessed with how America was becoming limp wristed and spineless and it wanted research and messaging for national security issues,” said Wylie, a data expert who was a key figure in the founding of Cambridge Analytica. “That really meant making people more militaristic in their worldview. That’s what they said they wanted, anyway.” 

Bolton’s PAC hired Cambridge Analytica months after it was founded in 2014, and the firm’s work with Bolton’s group became an example that it used to pitch potential clients about the value of its data harvesting model. 

Emails viewed by the Times suggest that former Trump political strategist Steve Bannon had some role in setting up contacts between Bolton and Cambridge Analytica, as an email from a Cambridge Analytica employee sent to Bolton specifically mentioned Bannon in its subject header.

 I am guessing that Cambridge is out of the data analysis business for the time being at least.

And this is a warning shot to any others who may want to adopt their business model. 

Axios gets its hands on Robert Mueller's hit list, and it's a doozy.

Yep, I'm still coming.

Courtesy of Axios:  

What Mueller is asking for: Mueller is subpoenaing all communications — meaning emails, texts, handwritten notes, etc. — that this witness sent and received regarding the following people: 

1. Carter Page 
2. Corey Lewandowski 
3. Donald J. Trump 
4. Hope Hicks 
5. Keith Schiller 
6. Michael Cohen 
7. Paul Manafort 
8. Rick Gates 
9. Roger Stone 
10. Steve Bannon 

The subpoena asks for all communications from November 1, 2015, to the present. Notably, Trump announced his campaign for president five months earlier — on June 16, 2015.

Ga-damn! Mueller is definitely not fooling around.

Take a look at how many of those on this list are no longer workign in the White House, and how many never even made it that far.

And you KNOW that Mueller has already gained access to these records from Rick Gates, Steve Bannon, and Carter Page.

I heard on cable new this morning that it appears Mueller is approaching this much the same way he did while investigating organized crime families.

Seems appropriate.

By the way it is clearly getting to Trump, who tweeted this out this morning.

Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018

Not only is that completely inaccurate but it also indicates that Trump is freaking the hell out.

Hope Hicks finally testifies before the House Intelligence Committee. Decides to pull a "Bannon."

Courtesy of WaPo:

Hope Hicks, one of President Trump’s closest aides and advisers, met Tuesday with House investigators probing Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. But she refused to answer any questions about events and conversations that occurred since Trump took office, according to a Republican lawmaker who was there during the proceedings. 

Emerging from the meeting with Hicks, panel member Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) said that “there are some questions that she’s not going to answer,” adding that Hicks was not willing to detail anything from the inauguration forward. 

Her refusal to answer questions about the Trump administration’s tenure suggests lawmakers will have a difficult time learning her side of a key story: the drafting of a misleading statement to explain an un­or­tho­dox meeting at Trump Tower between top Trump campaign members and a Russian lawyer.

According to at least one Democrat on the committee to say "We got Bannoned."

However at least one interesting tidbit was revealed during the testimony:

Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, told House investigators on Tuesday that her work for President Trump, who has a reputation for exaggerations and outright falsehoods, had occasionally required her to tell white lies. 

But after extended consultation with her lawyers, she insisted that she had not lied about matters material to the investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible links to Trump associates, according to three people familiar with her testimony. 

The exchange came during more than eight hours of private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Ms. Hicks declined to answer similar questions about other figures from the Trump campaign or the White House. 

One has to wonder if she means "white lies" in the sense that they were harmless in nature, or just that they were okay because white people were telling them.?

Once again while I want as many investigations as possible looking into the Russia issue, I simply do not trust this House committee to actually get to any truth.

In fact I heard that they have already started writing their final report with several witnesses still to see. (Well to be honest it's the Democrats who want to see many more witnesses, as far as the Republicans are concerned Hicks was the last one.)

I am actually more interested in what Hicks might tell Mueller.

And I imagine that Mueller will not allow little miss orange stained thighs to pull any of these shenanigans on him or his investigators.

It appears that Steve Bannon already sang like a little birdie to Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Steve Bannon, who served as President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, was interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller over multiple days this week, NBC News has learned from two sources familiar with the proceedings. 

Bannon spent a total of some 20 hours in conversations with the team led by Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia as well as other issues that have arisen around the probe.

20 hours huh? Multiple days huh?

Well somebody sure had a lot to say.

But I'll tell you who he does not have much to say to, the House Intelligence Committee.

.@RepAdamSchiff on Steve Bannon: "I think the next step for the Congress to take is to initiate contempt proceedings." pic.twitter.com/4wn7KMo5u1

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 15, 2018

I feel bad for Adam Schiff, but with Devin Nunes on his committee you really can't blame Bannon for refusing to cooperate.

I think Bannon knows that this is just a dog and pony show, and that the REAL investigation is being conducted by Mueller and his team. 

In what has to be the least shocking revelation of all, we now learn that Donald Trump deplores the #MeToo movement.

Courtesy of Axios:  

Trump tells friends that he deplores the #MeToo movement and believes it unfairly exposes CEOs to lawsuits from their female employees. The fact that women frequently face sexual predation in the workplace doesn’t impact his view on this.

This is the strongest indicator yet that Trump will reflexively defend his male allies from any and all accusations, even when he thinks those accusations are true.

Well of course Trump hates the #MeToo movement.

They were formed specifically because of him, and clearly he is at the top of their list of targets.

And according to Steve Bannon the movement will likely take Trump down.

Damn, one can only hope.

Another White House staffer resigned yesterday over accusations of spousal abuse.

David Sorensen

Courtesy of WaPo: 

A White House speechwriter resigned Friday after his former wife claimed that he was violent and emotionally abusive during their turbulent 2½ -year marriage — allegations that he vehemently denied, saying she was the one who victimized him. 

The abrupt departure of David Sorensen, a speechwriter who worked under senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, came as The Washington Post was reporting on a story about abuse claims by his ex-wife, Jessica Corbett. Corbett told The Post that she described his behavior to the FBI last fall as the bureau was conducting a background check of Sorensen. 

White House officials said they learned of the accusations by Sorensen’s wife Thursday night, before The Post contacted the White House for comment. 

“We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegations and he resigned today,” spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement Friday evening. 

In a text message to The Post, Sorensen said he stepped down because he “didn’t want the White House to have to deal with this distraction.”

"This distraction" being that he beat his wife?

I swear it is beginning to look as if one of the necessary prerequisites to working in this White House is that you had to have abused a spouse, sexually assaulted somebody, or had inappropriate contact with a child.

That may seem a little tongue in cheek, but it is actually supported by the facts.

Keep in mind that before this guy there was Corey Lewandowski, who was charged with assaulting a female reporter as well as sexual assault.

Steve Bannon, who was once charged with domestic violence by his former wife.

Trump's pick for  Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, who also charged with domestic violence.

Rob Porter who had to step down after being accused by both of his ex-wives of being a serial abuser.

And though he was not in the White House, Roy Moore was also a Trump favorite, even though he was credibly accused of sexual assault and of being a pedophile.

Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2018

Of course perhaps the biggest abuser in the White House inner circle would be Trump himself, who has been accused of various kinds of abuse by no less than 18 women.

So yeah, one has to wonder if there is a box marked "sexual predator" on the White House application form, and if not filled in you might as well look for work elsewhere?

The parade that Donald Trump deserves.

Steve Bannon blows off subpoena from the House Intelligence Committee, but plans to sing like a canary for Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of CNN:

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon won't appear before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, escalating a tense standoff with the panel. 

Bannon was not planning on showing up ahead of a Tuesday deadline because the White House and committee haven't reached an agreement over the scope of the questioning, a source said Monday. 

The House Intelligence Committee confirmed Tuesday it was giving Bannon another week to comply with its subpoena. 

"The House Intelligence Committee's interview with Stephen Bannon has been postponed at the Committee's initiative until next week," Emily Hytha, spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican running the committee's Russia probe, said in a statement. "We look forward to having him before the Committee once we can assure that he will be able to thoroughly answer all our questions without concerns regarding the scope of executive privilege." 

This is the third extension on this subpoena that this committee has provided to Bannon, which kind of makes them appear completely toothless right now.

It could simply be that Bannon, like most of America, simply has no respect for Devin Nunes, the chairman of that committee, because he has another date to testify that he is supposedly taking much more seriously.

Courtesy of the AP: 

Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, is scheduled to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators next week as they probe possible obstruction of justice by the president. 

That’s according to two people familiar with Bannon’s interview. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about details of the interview. 

One of the people says Bannon plans to tell Mueller “everything” he knows.

I actually get the feeling that Bannon is eager to share what he knows with Mueller. 

And we know from Michael Wolff's book that he certainly loves to talk.

Much anticipated Hope Hicks interview before the House Intelligence Committee postponed.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Hope Hicks' highly anticipated testimony before the House Intelligence Committee was abruptly delayed Thursday amid questions about whether the White House communications director would be able to respond to inquiries about topics after the campaign season, four sources told CNN. 

The surprise move came after Steve Bannon refused to answer scores of questions about topics during the transition and his time as President Donald Trump's chief strategist, with Bannon's attorney saying he had been instructed by the White House not to answer those questions over concerns that it could breach executive privilege. 

Hicks' appearance Friday was anticipated given her close ties to Trump, which predate the campaign, and the central role she has played through the election season and in the White House.

The committee made the decision to delay Hicks' appearance in order to give investigators time to sort out with the White House what she could and could not discuss, one of the sources said. She is still expected to speak with the panel at a later date.

Yeah that's a great way to run an investigation, by asking the subject's boss, and focus of the investigation, what they are allowed to reveal. 

Mueller certainly will not be asking Mother May I.

Sources say that Donald Trump personally directed Steve Bannon not to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee.

Courtesy of Foreign Policy: 

President Donald Trump personally made the decision to curtail the testimony of former chief White House political strategist Steve Bannon before the House Intelligence Committee, according to two people with firsthand knowledge of the matter. 

Trump acted to limit Bannon’s testimony based on legal advice provided by Uttam Dhillon, a deputy White House counsel, who concluded that the administration might have legitimate executive privilege claims to restrict testimony by Bannon and other current and former aides to the president, according to these same sources.

Bannon infuriated both Republicans and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee by refusing to answer questions this week regarding his role in the presidential transition and later as a White House advisor. Repeatedly during Bannon’s executive session testimony, he and his attorney took numerous breaks to confer via phone with the White House counsel’s office as to what questions he should answer and which ones he would not.

This report seems to explain how chief of staff John Kelly was able to say that the White House did NOT advise Bannon not to answer questions, while Bannon claimed that he was getting direction from the White House.

Apparently Kelly was left out of the loop, and Trump was directly obstructing this investigation on his own.

By the way, everybody seems to agree that these tactics simply will not work when Bannon stands before Robert Mueller's grand jury.

Steve Bannon spent eleven hours on the Hill yesterday refusing to answer questions even after receiving a subpoena.

MORE NEWS: Top Dem on the committee, @RepAdamSchiff, says after committee subpoenaed, Bannon’s lawyer contacted the White House, which “doubled down” on demand he not answer questions.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 17, 2018

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Steve Bannon told lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that the White House instructed him not to answer questions related to his tenure as a top White House adviser, prompting a rare subpoena to compel testimony, multiple congressional sources tell NBC News. 

The former Breitbart executive and now-spurned Trump confidante spent more than 11 hours on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, the first of three high-profile witnesses expected before the panel this week. 

Rep. Mike Conway, R-Texas, who is overseeing the panel’s Russia probe, said they expect additional testimony from Bannon after further discussions with the White House over what lawmakers in both parties considered an overly broad claim of executive privilege.

However as confidant as this might have made the White House feel, sources claim that Bannon will not defy the Mueller subpoena.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon broke some bad news to House investigators Tuesday, announcing that the White House had invoked executive privilege to keep him from answering many of their questions. 

But executive privilege—the president’s right to keep certain information from the public so he can have frank conversations with aides—will not keep Steve Bannon from sharing information with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, according to a person familiar with the situation. 

“Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say,” said the source, who is familiar with Bannon’s thinking.

Not sure what game Bannon is playing here as it seems very unlikely that Trump will ever invite him back into the inner circle.

But we certainly know what game Robert Mueller is playing. He isn't.

And just today it was revealed that Bannon has reached a deal with the Mueller team.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Steve Bannon has struck a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller's team and will be interviewed by prosecutors instead of testifying before the grand jury, two people familiar with the process told CNN. He is expected to cooperate with the special counsel, the sources said.

It appears that Steve Bannon realizes that Mueller is not playing games as well. 

Steve Bannon is currently testifying before the House Intelligence Committee. Next up, Hope Hicks. Update!

Steve Bannon is on Capitol Hill to give private testimony to House Intel Committee in Russia probe: https://t.co/xsWc8V42Di

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) January 16, 2018

Courtesy of AP:

Steve Bannon, the onetime close confidant to President Donald Trump, arrived early Tuesday for his interview before the House Intelligence Committee. 

His interview follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book that he sees the president’s son and others as engaging in “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

I imagine that Bannon is spilling his guts right now.

After all what more could he possibly lose at this point?

Next one the barrel is apparently Trump's side piece. (Oh come on! You know it's true.)

Courtesy of CNN:  

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks is expected to meet with the House Intelligence Committee as soon as this week, making her one of President Donald Trump's closest confidantes to be privately interviewed in the panel's Russia investigation, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. 

Hicks, a trusted Trump aide for years, was one of then-candidate Trump's first hires as he put together an improbable run for the White House. During the campaign, she was often by Trump's side and attended nearly every rally, while she was in frequent communication with other senior officials as they plotted their tactics to win the White House. 

The House panel plans to interview her about any knowledge she has of contacts that occurred between other Trump associates and Russians. And she is bound to be questioned about other controversies as well, namely the White House's involvement in crafting a misleading response last summer once a June 2016 meeting between Russians and Donald Trump Jr. was revealed in the press. 

The meeting is expected to occur as soon as Friday, the sources said.

I know that Hope Hicks and Stephen Bannon have a potpourri of potentially damaging information about Trump and the campaign to share, but I still lack confidence that the House Intelligence Committee is actually interested in revealing that information.

I am much more interested in what Mueller and his team manage to squeeze out of these two.

And we just learned today that Mueller has issued a subpoena for Bannon to testify before a grand jury.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. 

The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle. The special counsel’s office has used subpoenas before to seek information on Mr. Trump’s associates and their possible ties to Russia or other foreign governments. 
The subpoena could be a negotiating tactic. Mr. Mueller is likely to allow Mr. Bannon to forgo the grand jury appearance if he agrees to instead be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel’s offices about ties between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia and about the president’s conduct in office, according to the person, who would not be named discussing the case. But it was not clear why Mr. Mueller treated Mr. Bannon differently than the dozen administration officials who were interviewed in the final months of last year and were never served with a subpoena.

Popcorn anyone?

Update: I stand corrected, Bannon was uncooperative until he was subpoenaed during the hearing.  

Sources say Bannon told by WH not to answer questions before House Intel Cmte about the White House and the transition. Did not assert executive privilege. Committee subpoenas him during the meeting to comply while in the hearing.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 16, 2018

Steve Bannon lawyers up in anticipation of being sucked into the Russia investigations. Sources say he is prepared to tell all.

Yep, I have a story to tell alright.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Steve Bannon is lawyering up as he gets ready to face investigators looking into the Trump-Russia nexus. 

The Daily Beast has learned that the former top White House strategist has retained Bill Burck, of the firm Quinn Emanuel. Two sources tell us Burck is helping Bannon prepare for an interview with the House intelligence committee, which is currently scheduled for next week. Sources also said Bannon plans to “fully cooperate” with investigators.

Oh yeah, I think we all knew this was coming.

I imagine that after being thrown under the bus by Trump, that Bannon is dying for a little payback.

I am so regretting not buying those shares in Orville Redenbacher right about now.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is now completely unemployed.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon stepped down Tuesday as executive chairman of Breitbart News, a swift and stunning fall for a leading figure on the American right who was recently rebuked by President Donald Trump and abandoned by his key financial backer. 

Trump publicly broke with Bannon in dramatic fashion last week, suggesting his former top adviser had “lost his mind” in response to critical comments Bannon made about members of the Trump family and campaign in Michael Wolff’s incendiary new book, “Fire and Fury.” 

Breitbart's announcement came on the same day that Trump discussed comprehensive immigration reform at the White House and said he would attend the elite World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month, and just weeks after he signed a bill cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy — all moves that cut against Bannon’s nationalist, populist vision and show how his influence has waned since he was hailed as the mastermind behind Trump's 2016 victory. 

“I’m proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform," Bannon said in a statement on Tuesday. Breitbart CEO Larry Solov said Bannon “is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish.”

Bannon also lost his Sirius radio show and seems to be completely without a job at this point.

And without his ties to the White House, his money from the Mercer family, or his Breitbart media platform, Bannon is now essentially a non-entity whose his former political influence is now just a memory.

This has to please the Republican establishment to no end, as Bannon was a huge supporter of Right Wing challengers.

I think this is only the first casualty from Michael Wolff's book, and the final casualty may be Donald Trump himself.

Steve Bannon's sad little semi-apology did not impress the Donald.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Steve Bannon, like his onetime brother-in-arms President Donald Trump, is known as someone whose instinct is to double down, not kiss up. 

That made his belated attempt on Sunday to de-escalate mounting tension with the commander-in-chief — who has been publicly and privately raging about his former chief strategist all week — notable to many of his allies, one of whom called it a “huge step for Steve, one of the most stubborn people on Earth.” 

But inside the White House, Bannon's 297-word statement of contrition about comments he made in Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" was seen as too little, too late for an operative unaware of the self-inflicted damage his hubris could cause. 

It did nothing to quell Trump’s rage at his former chief strategist or the anger of Bannon’s former West Wing colleagues, according to multiple administration officials, who said the vibe in the president’s circle was that people were unmoved by the statement. Asked whether there is anything Bannon can do at this point to get back in the president's good graces, one White House official said curtly, "Unlikely." 

That posture has left Bannon supporters wondering whether the three-shirt-wearing bomb-thrower can switch the layers out for a hair shirt long enough to stop Trump from siding permanently with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — or whether Bannon’s populist wing of the Republican Party has already run out of time to maintain influence in this year’s midterm elections.

I think the only thing more satisfying than watching Steve Bannon publicly suck up to Trump in order to get back into his good graces, is to watch that attempt fail miserably and then for him to disappear into the icy depths of  public indifference.

Keep in mind that just a week ago Bannon was riding high as a political operative who could topple the likes of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, and now he is persona non grata.

I think the last person to suffer such a stunning fall from grace was the angel Lucifer.

Steve Bannon begins to backpedal.

Courtesy of Axios: 

Battered by the backlash from Michael Wolff's book, Steve Bannon is trying to make amends with the Trump family, providing a statement to Axios that expresses "regret" to President Trump and praises his son, Donald Trump Jr. 

"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." 

"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." 

"President Trump was the only candidate that could have taken on and defeated the Clinton apparatus. I am the only person to date to conduct a global effort to preach the message of Trump and Trumpism; and remain ready to stand in the breech for this president's efforts to make America great again." 

"My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years when our focus was the defeat of 'the evil empire' and to making films about Reagan's war against the Soviets and Hillary Clinton's involvement in selling uranium to them." 

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

"Everything I have to say about the ridiculous nature of the Russian 'collusion' investigation I said on my 60 Minutes interview. There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt." 

"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."

And they call liberals "cucks."

The reason for this is obvious. It's money.

As you may have heard the Mercer family, which had been funding Bannon and Breitbart, decided to stick with Trump on this matter.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

“I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected,” Mercer said. “My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”

That statement came from Rebekah Mercer, who was Bannon's "sugar mama," and without whom he is really nothing but a badly dressed, racist, political hack.

So we are left to ask, which Steven Bannon is the truth telling Steve Bannon?

The guy in the Trump White House talking shit when he believed his job was secure, and that he and Trump were joined at the hip?

Or the Steve Bannon under constant fire from former friends and colleagues, who may now find himself jobless and potentially penniless?

White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller goes on CNN to defend Trump against allegations in Wolff book, gets combative, and then shut down by Jake Tapper.

Trump Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller on Wolff book: "The book is best understood as a work of very poorly written fiction...The author is a garbage author of a garbage book" #CNNSOTU https://t.co/Uh8YHTxyYV https://t.co/8zEk9Myt8y

— CNN (@CNN) January 7, 2018

The author is a "garbage author of a garbage book."

Ten bucks says Trump wrote that talking point himself.

And what is with the bizarre, jerky tics that this Miller guy keeps demonstrating? Is that what he does when he lies?

"His role has been greatly exaggerated," White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller says of Steve Bannon, who served as Trump's chief strategist #CNNSOTU https://t.co/HnORsqFPE7

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 7, 2018

One of Trump's all time favorite defenses is to claim that the individual telling the truth about him could not possibly know it because he was only a low level operative. Remember George Papadopoulos?

However in this case Bannon was heavily involved in a number of key decisions made by Trump, as Tapper points out.

By the end of the interview Tapper has had enough.

Not always the biggest fan of CNN, but that was certainly worth the price of admission.

Here was Trump's response to Miller's interview.

Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018

Well I guess that audience of one was pleased with his performance. 

And here were the RNC's talking points concerning Michael Wolff's book.

Here are the RNC's weekend talking points about Michael Wolff's book. (A source shared these with me) pic.twitter.com/vPPDvCWpL3

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 6, 2018

If you watch any Sunday news shows today you will hear these come up, verbatim, over and over again.

Mike Pence is rapidly losing top aides while talk swirls about a possible interview with Robert Mueller.

Courtesy of CNN:

Vice President Mike Pence's chief lawyer and domestic policy director are leaving his office at the beginning of the new year, according to four sources familiar with the staff turnover. 

The moves come amid high tensions and staff turnover in the Trump administration thanks to the ongoing Russia probe and a new tell-all book about West Wing happenings. 

"These moves have been in the works for weeks," the vice president's communications director confirmed to CNN. 

CNN has learned that longtime senior staffers Mark Paoletta and Daris Meeks are leaving Pence's office. The announcement was made by chief of staff Nick Ayers in a staff meeting at the beginning of the week. 

Paoletta and Meeks' departures follow two other top Pence aides who have left the Office of the Vice President: chief of staff Josh Pitcock and press secretary Marc Lotter. The vice president's staff is considerably smaller than the West Wing, making the departures a more notable shift at the beginning of the new year.

There has been talk for over a month that Pence will soon have his time testifying before the Muller team, which of course makes sense since Pence was in charge of the transition, and has been present at a lot of meetings with Flynn, Jared, and Donald Jr..

Apparently this possibility really troubled Steve Bannon who tried to keep Pence insulated from some of the more troubling goings on in the Trump White House.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

It’s been widely reported that former White House political strategist Steve Bannon thought that Donald Trump Jr.’s infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russian officials was “treasonous.” 

However, author Michael Wolff also claims that Bannon worried that Vice President Mike Pence was similarly attending problematic meetings — and he worked to protect him from them because he saw Pence as a solid backup plan in the event of President Donald Trump’s impeachment. 

Specifically, Bannon worried about Pence taking meetings with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and First Daughter Ivanka Trump, whom he’d decided were, in Wolff’s words, “Russia toxic.”

“Bannon observed a hapless Pence in a lot of ‘wrong meetings,’ and helped to bring in the Republican operative Nick Ayers as Pence’s chief of staff, and to get ‘our fallback guy’ out of the White House and ‘running around the world and looking like a vice president,'” writes Wolff.

Bannon apparently believed that at some point Trump would definitely be forced from office, and he wanted to keep Pence squeaky clean so that he could carry the agenda forward once Trump was no longer gumming up the works. 

Here's hoping that his attempts to protect Pence failed to work, and that Mueller has significant dirt on him as well.

Trump lawyers send cease and desist order to Steve Bannon to keep him from making disparaging remarks that are already in a book by Michael Wolff. Seems a little late to me.

No, no, no, no. no. no!

Courtesy of ABC News: 

The letter comes after excerpts from a forthcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff were made public Wednesday, causing a stir. 

Trump attorney Charles J. Harder of the firm Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, said in a statement, "This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent." 

In the letter to Bannon, Harder, writes, "You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the marketing and sale of his book."

You know a confidentiality agreement may work for keeping things quiet during a campaign, but when Bannon worked in the White House he was then employed by the American people, not Donald J. Trump.  So he was no longer bound by an NDA he may have signed in years past.

And if he sent a letter like this to Bannon, did he also send one to his daughter?

Courtesy of the New York Post:

Daughter Ivanka Trump often makes fun of her dad’s comb-over to friends and delights in explaining how the crazy coiffure comes together, according to “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” 

“She often described the mechanics behind it to friends: an absolutely clean pate — a contained island after scalp-reduction ­surgery — surrounded by a furry circle of hair around the sides and front, from which all ends are drawn up to meet in the center and then swept back and secured by a stiffening spray,” journalist Michael Wolff writes in the book, out Jan. 9. 

“The color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Men — the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trump’s orange-blond hair color.”

Oh that's going to leave a mark.

Apparently at least one of Trump's attorneys realized that you cannot stop a book by attacking its sources.

NEW this am: Trump attorneys send cease-and-desist letter this morning to Wolff and book publisher @HenryHolt demanding they stop publication and issue an apology to @realDonaldTrump for defamatory statements made thus far.

— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) January 4, 2018

Okay let's all hold our breath waiting for this to happen.

And if Trump's attorneys want to pursue this line of attack they may want to keep this in mind:

Michael Wolff has tapes to back up quotes in his incendiary book — dozens of hours of them. 

Among the sources he taped, I'm told, are Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. 

I imagine that Wolff and his publishers are desperate for Trump to try and sue them, as that will ensure that this book is a bestseller. 

No the time to stop this book was while Michael Wolff was wandering the White House gathering the information, not after huge chunks have already been leaked to the media.

I can hardly wait to buy my copy.