Bannon says he meant to blame Manafort; 'Those comments were not aimed at Don Jr.'

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said Sunday he intended to blame former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, not President Trump's son, for a meeting in 2016 with a Russian lawyer that he characterized as "treasonous" in a new tell-all book.

"My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate," he said in a statement that was first reported by the news website Axios. "He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr."

Bannon's statement follows other comments praising the Trump administration in an apparent attempt to repair the damage to his relationship with Trump following the release of excerpts and now the book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff. Trump responded with a withering attack on Bannon, saying he "lost his mind" when he was fired from his White House job.

Read more: Feud with Trump imperils Bannon's war on the GOP establishment

The book quotes Bannon calling his former colleagues "unpatriotic" for taking the now-infamous meeting in Trump Tower to discuss an alleged Russian offer to provide dirt on Hillary Clinton. The meeting, which took place two months before Bannon joined the campaign, included Trump's oldest son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, who has since been indicted on money laundering and other charges. They met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and other Russians.

Not long after the meeting was first disclosed in July of last year, Bannon told the book's author: “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor – with no lawyers. They didn’t have any lawyers.

“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad s***, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately," he continued.

However, in his Sunday statement, Bannon maintained the "Russian 'collusion' investigation" is "ridiculous." Lawmakers and special prosecutor Robert Mueller are investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

"There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt," he said.

Bannon expressed "unwavering" support for Trump and his agenda and said he regretted his delay in responding to the "inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr."

Here is his full statement:

Donald Trump, Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around. 

My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda — as I have shown daily in my national radio broadcasts, on the pages of Breitbart News and in speeches and appearances from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Arizona and Alabama. President Trump was the only candidate that could have taken on and defeated the Clinton apparatus. I am the only person to date to conduct a global effort to preach the message of Trump and Trumpism, and I remain ready to stand in the breech for this president's efforts to make America great again. 

My comments about the meeting with Russian nationals came from my life experiences as a Naval officer stationed aboard a destroyer whose main mission was to hunt Soviet submarines to my time at the Pentagon during the Reagan years, when our focus was the defeat of 'the evil empire,’ and to making films about Reagan's war against the Soviets and Hillary Clinton's involvement in selling uranium to them.

My comments were aimed at Paul Manafort, a seasoned campaign professional with experience and knowledge of how the Russians operate. He should have known they are duplicitous, cunning and not our friends. To reiterate, those comments were not aimed at Don Jr.

Everything I have to say about the ridiculous nature of the Russian 'collusion' investigation I said on my 60 Minutes interview. There was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt.

I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr. has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency.

Contributing: Jessica Esteppa and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY