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The Latest: Trump says book on White House is 'full of lies'

Posted January 04, 2018 6:00 am

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on former White House adviser Steve Bannon's break with President Donald Trump (all times local):

11:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says an explosive new book about the first year of his presidency is full of "lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist."

Trump is on Twitter the night before the release of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff.

Trump is not naming Wolff, but says he "authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times)." Trump says he never spoke to the author.

Trump adds, "Look at this guy's past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!" That appears to be a reference to former White House strategist Steve Bannon, whom the book depicts as questioning Trump's competence and describing a June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous."

6:15 p.m.

Steve Bannon's financial backer is distancing herself from the populist flamethrower.

Conservative donor Rebekah Mercer says in a rare statement that she and her family have not communicated with Bannon "in many months" and "have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements."

She also says she supports President Donald Trump and the platform upon which he ran.

The statement is the latest fallout from an unflattering new book that extensively quotes Bannon making disparaging comments about Trump's family.

Trump responded Wednesday with a seething statement that accused Bannon of having "lost his mind."

Bannon was Trump's campaign chairman and served as his chief White House strategist. He currently serves as chairman of Breitbart News.

5:50 p.m.

The acrimony surrounding former White House adviser Steve Bannon's very public break with President Donald Trump is escalating, suggesting a permanent split between the president and the pugilistic strategist who helped put him in the Oval Office.

The new fissure in an already fractious Republican Party is casting doubt on Bannon's hopes to foment a movement centered on "Trumpism without Trump."

White House officials describe the president as furious at Bannon's criticisms, laid out in an explosive new book that quoted the former aide questioning Trump's competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2017, file pool photo, Steve Bannon, appointed chief strategist and senior counselor to then- President-elect Donald Trump, arrives for the presidential inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington. Trump returned fire with both barrels Jan. 3, 2018, against criticism leveled at him in a new book that says he never expected - or wanted - to win the White House, his victory left his wife in tears and a senior adviser thought his son's contact with a Russian lawyer during the campaign was "treasonous." (Saul Loeb, Pool via AP) The Associated Press

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