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.
Bannon, the former chief White House strategist for ex-US President Trump, told The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots show that Trump “has got to focus” on Biden during this “tough part” of his campaign.
Political firebrand 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.
Bannon, 70, said Trump, 77, “needs to turn the guns on” Biden, 81, when he’s out of the courtroom.
Bannon exclusively told The Sun’s new politics show – which you can watch in full at 9pm on thesun.co.uk and on The Sun’s YouTube channel – that “Trump has got to focus”.
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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.
Speaking to The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole on Never Mind the Ballots on Thursday, Bannon said: “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.”
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.”
The election is “going to be a dogfight”, he said, but “the polling’s been tremendous for Trump”.
Bannon continued: “Trump’s going to win this but, man, it’s going to be a fight, a real fight.”
The prosecution said on Monday, the first day of Trump’s criminal hush money trial, that the ex-president “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election”.
Trump has accused Biden of using the trial to interfere with the 2024 vote and posted online before going to court: “These are all Biden trials. This is done as election interference. Everybody knows it.
“I’m here instead of being in Pennsylvania and Georgia and lots of other places campaigning, and it’s very unfair.”
What has Donald Trump been accused of?
DONALD Trump is on trial in the US for allegedly falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
He is the first US president – former or current – to be charged with criminal activity.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, with prosecutors alleging he falsified cheques and invoices to disguise payments to his lawyer – allegedly meant to reimburse him for paying off Daniels.
The payment made to Daniels in 2016 was allegedly to keep her from speaking out about an earlier sexual encounter she had with Trump.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told a Manhattan court this week that Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election, then he covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over again”.
He said the payment was “election fraud, pure and simple”.
But Trump’s defence team claimed the ex-president committed no crime, and said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should not have brought the case.
Trump’s lead attorney Todd Blanche said: “The 34 counts, ladies and gentlemen, are really just pieces of paper.
“None of this was a crime.”
Blanche added that the payment to Daniels was evidence of Trump acting to protect his family from a “sinister” attempt to embarrass him.
Trump continued: “Fortunately, the poll numbers are very good, they’ve been going up because people understand what’s going on.
“This is a witch-hunt, and it’s a shame, and it comes out of Washington. It’s in coordination with Washington, everything, including the DA’s office.
“This is done for purposes of hurting the opponent of the worst president in the history of our country.”
Bannon noted on Thursday that the next six to eight weeks were going to be “very tough” for Trump’s campaign, with the former president off the campaign trail.
Bannon was was dubbed Trump’s “puppet master” with a direct line to the President during his time as chief strategist.
But he dramatically left the post in 2017 amid rumours of a power struggle with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
In 2019, Bannon was indicted on charges of money laundering, fraud and conspiracy.
He was accused of cheating donors of a “We Build the Wall” fundraiser – which aimed to establish a blockade along the US-Mexico border.
But Bannon’s federal crime was pardoned by President Trump in the final hours of his presidency in a sign their relationship had warmed.
Since then, Bannon has been a staunch supporter of Trump’s re-election, boldly declaring “MAGA could rule for 50 years” just weeks ago.
Our US special of Never Mind the Ballots will feature political heavyweights this week.