Did Steve Bannon just let slip that he leaked the embarrassing tape of Donald Trump?
For reasons known only them, the good people at 60 Minutes decided to give airtime to former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon this weekend. For a guy who just got fired, Bannon sure sounded like he was taking a victory lap during the interview. In fact he was so eager to brag about the advice he gave Trump during the campaign, he may have just let something crucial slip that even Trump may not have known about.
Bannon told 60 Minutes that after the Access Hollywood video leaked revealing Donald Trump’s infamous “grab em by…” moment, Bannon told Trump that he was still absolutely going to win the race (link). Bannon invoked this example because he was trying to belittle Reince Priebus, who had apparently told Trump to drop out of the race in the wake of the video. Bannon went on to proudly tell 60 Minutes that the video was a “litmus test” for who in the Republican Party was still willing to support him. That choice of words sends up some red flags.
The tape just happens to have leaked on the same evening in which the United States government publicly announced that Russia was actively seeking to meddle in the election. That warning should have rightly dominated the headlines, and would have sent a clear signal to the American public that Russia was trying to rig the election on Trump’s behalf. It would have hurt him tremendously by raising the question of whether he was a traitor. Instead, the “grab em” tape leaked at the same time, and ended up taking all of the headlines for the next month, thus keeping the warning about Russia from ever reaching the public.
It’s long been speculated that the Donald Trump campaign may have leaked the tape on purpose as a bombastic distraction, under the presumption that it would do far less damage than the Russia scandal it was drowning out. That’s always seemed like rather severe brinksmanship, even by Trumpian standards. But now suddenly we’ve got Steve Bannon bragging that he knew with “100%” certainty that the tape wouldn’t hurt Trump. If he was that certain, is he the one who leaked it? Is that what he just let slip? If so, did Trump even know at the time?
