Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon bemoaned the withdrawal of Matt Gaetz from consideration for attorney general, saying Friday that “we took a casualty today.”
Bannon, a longtime ally of President-elect Donald Trump and CEO of his 2016 presidential campaign, made the comments on his Friday “War Room” podcast. He was reacting to Gaetz’s decision Thursday to drop out of the running for attorney general.
“One of the best warriors we have in all his imperfections, and he’s quite imperfect, as Donald Trump is imperfect, as Stephen K. Bannon is superimperfect. And Tucker Carlson and Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., all of it; very, very, very imperfect instruments,” Bannon said. “But in that imperfection is some of their power. We took a casualty today.”
Gaetz dropped out amid allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that he was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to Trump’s transition. Gaetz was the target of a new report Thursday that alleged a second, previously unreported sexual encounter with a then-17-year-old girl in 2017. Plus, an attorney representing two other women made the media rounds this week, saying Gaetz had paid his clients for sex multiple times.
As Gaetz took interviews with several Republican senators this week, it was becoming clear he wouldn’t be able to get the votes.
“One of the reasons we took a casualty, I hate to say it and let me be brutally frank, you can’t stick these people out there with no air cover. What are we doing?” Bannon said. “You can’t stick them out there and take them off television.
"They’re the best at selling themselves. You take them off television for five, six, seven, eight days, and it’s nothing but incoming. Where is the plan and where is the execution of the plan?"
“It’s a big defeat for President Trump today. And trust me, those demons and jackals and hyenas up there in the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell, that crowd, they know it,” he added.
Trump quickly pivoted Thursday and nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department.