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2021-02-16 22:38:15 UTC
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9267077/Bannon-believed-Trump-early-stage-dementia-started-25th-Amendment-campaign.html
*Steve Bannon believed President Donald Trump had early-stage dementia in 2017,
according to veteran '60 Minutes' producer Ira Rosen
*Rosen writes in his new book, which was released Tuesday, that Bannon waged a
covert campaign to have Trump removed via the 25th Amendment
*'You need to do the 25th amendment piece ... BTW brother I never steer u
wrong,' Bannon texted Rosen during the summer of 2017
*Rosen said on the Skullduggery podcast Tuesday that Bannon believed he could
inherit Trump's supporters and win the White House if Trump had to resign
*'The fact that Bannon tried to build support to have Trump removed, after
having served as his most senior adviser in the White House, was astonishing,'
he wrote
Steve Bannon believed President Donald Trump had early-stage dementia in 2017
and started a covert campaign to get him removed via the 25th Amendment, a
veteran '60 Minutes' producer revealed in a new book.
Producer Ira Rosen wrote in his memoir, 'Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60
Minutes,' that Bannon began reaching out to Trump allies during the summer of
2017 and had conversations with them about the then-president's mental state.
'He believed Trump was suffering from early-stage dementia and that there was a
real possibility he would be removed from office by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment,
where the cabinet could vote that the president was no longer mentally capable
of carrying out his duties,' Rosen wrote. 'Bannon began to push that story
hard.'
Rosen's book was released Tuesday.
'Bannon said the president had no attention span, didn't read and now doesn't
listen. He said Trump repeats himself a lot, telling the same story minutes
after he told it before,' Rosen wrote.
In the text of the book, Rosen included a text message Bannon sent to him.
'You need to do the 25th amendment piece ... BTW brother I never steer u wrong,'
it said.
And revealed details about Bannon's planning.
'He mentioned a Sunday prayer service some cabinet officials attended, along
with Vice President Pence, as a place where the conspiracy to remove Trump could
begin,' Rosen recalled.
The vice president and a majority of the cabinet are needed to declare that the
president is unfit for office, according to the 25th Amendm
Bannon also traveled to Republican superdonor Robert Mercer's home and tried to
get him engaged in the effort, Rosen reported.
Instead, it was Bannon the Mercers cut off.
In an episode of the Skullduggery podcast, Rosen goes into greater details about
what was motivating Bannon.
He explained to hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman that Trump 'kind of
turned on Bannon' after Bannon appeared on the cover of Time magazine in
February 2017, just weeks into the new administration.
'And Bannon realized that Trump was repeating the same stories over and over
again,' Rosen said. 'And Bannon kept saying this and he wanted to do something
about it.'
'Now the secret was that Bannon crazily thought that he could be president,'
Rosen continued. 'He would have been very happy to see Trump disappear from the
scenes, either through the 25th Amendment, resigning for whatever and he would
step in and fill the gulf. And carry the mantle of the Trump followers.'
'But he was delusional about it,' Rosen added.
Bannon left the White House in August 2017 and did a sit-down with '60 Minutes,'
the fruit of Rosen's years-long relationship with the political strategist, in
September 2017.
Bannon stayed publicly supportive of Trump in the interview.
'But the fact that Bannon tried to build support to have Trump removed, after
having served as his most senior adviser in the White House, was astonishing,'
Rosen commented in his book.
A Vanity Fair story from October 2017 that describes Trump as being
'increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods' lines up with what Rosen
said Bannon was pushing as a narrative.
The story featured Bannon warning Trump that he should be more fearful of being
removed via the 25th Amendment than by impeachment. Sources told Vanity Fair's
Gabriel Sherman that when Bannon brought this up with the then-president Trump
said, 'What's that?'
'A source' also told Sherman that Bannon believed Trump only had a 30 per cent
change of making it through his first-term.
Sherman also used a blind quote in the story from a Trump adviser who expressed
relief that the president decided not to do a sit-down with '60 Minutes' that
fall.
'He's lost a step. They don't want him doing adversarial TV interviews,' the
adviser is quoted as saying.
In recent months, Bannon has stepped back into an adviser's role for Trump - and
was given a last-minute pardon after being charged with defrauding Trump
supporters over a scheme to build part of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
A spokesperson for Bannon did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request
for comment.
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