Steve Bannon ‘Defiant’ Following His Arrest: ‘I Am Not Going To Back Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief, Steve Bannon, has been said to remain “defiant” despite being arrested on several federal charges earlier this week. Max Cohen of Politico wrote on Friday that Bannon vowed to “fight on” after his indictment and arraignment.
Once he left court and returned home, Bannon recorded an episode of his political podcast in which he made it clear he wasn’t just going to plead guilty and move on.
“I am not going to back down. This is a political hit job. Everybody knows I love a fight,” Bannon said on his show, War Room.
“I was called ‘honey badger’ for many years. You know, ‘Honey badger doesn’t give.’ So, I’m in this for the long haul. I’m in this for the fight.”
Some people surrounding the longtime political insider believe his confidence in the face of many years in prison comes in part from his relationship with the president. While Bannon left the White House early on in the presidency, he’s reportedly told friends that he and Trump still talk every now and then.
According to Jim Acosta of CNN, Bannon bragged about his somewhat regular conversations with Trump as recently as a few months ago.
The claims that he still regularly speaks to his former client come amid comments by the Trump administration aimed at distancing itself from the former campaign chief.
Earlier in the week, Trump criticized the group Bannon was a part of, We Build the Wall, for interfering in a government-run endeavor to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Speaking to the media about the comments later, Bannon essentially agreed with them, though he seemed to have had a different take than some members of the press regarding what was said.
“What he said yesterday was absolutely correct,” Bannon said of his former boss.
The politico went on to say that while building walls was the job of the government, the administration had problems getting the job done. He said the We Build the Wall organization was needed in order to try and finish the project.
When he left the Manhattan courthouse on Thursday afternoon, Bannon said his arrest was nothing more than a baseless ploy started by his enemies in politics. Those around the situation quickly pointed out that his language was similar to the kind several other associates of the president have used when they found themselves in legal trouble.
The difference between Bannon’s case and those of Roger Stone and Paul Manafort is that the president was fairly quick in agreeing the latter were being wrongly targeted, something he hasn’t done as of yet in Bannon’s case.
