Bannon blames McConnell for Gaetz withdrawal as Trump AG [View all]

Source: The Hill

11/26/24 1:11 PM ET


Steve Bannon, a key ally and ex-adviser to President-elect Trump, placed the blame for former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) decision to withdraw from consideration after he was tapped to lead the Justice Department on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).

“You gotta give the devil its due,” Bannon told The Dispatch’s Michael Warren, referring to McConnell, while also advocating that the GOP needs to “be more aggressive” to ensure key nominees are appointed and confirmed when Trump returns to the White House in January. “I think we have to get a lot more aggressive. I think [the transition] has to be more aggressive,” he said during the interview, released Tuesday, and highlighted by Mediaite.

“[Trump] selected controversial candidates, including a couple of Democrats that are quite controversial and quite controversial to be accepted by traditionally hidebound, standard-stock, Republican establishment, the established order of the Republican Party, which is still infesting the Senate, and they’re not going to just sit there and say, ‘Oh, this is terrific,’” he added.

He continued, calling establishment Republicans, including the Kentucky senator, “anti-populist and anti-economic nationalists.” “And they’re going to show the donor class, which is really who they report to, that they can stop Trump, and they’re going to try to stop Trump in the U.S. Senate,” Bannon said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5010302-steve-bannon-mitch-mcconnell-establishment-republicans-matt-gaetz-attorney-general-withdrawal/