Steve Bannon is suggesting that a tense on-air exchange between Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo and FBI Director Kash Patel was not spontaneous television, but a deliberate, sanctioned hit approved at the highest levels of President Donald Trumps orbit.
According to Mediaite, Bannon raised the allegation on his Rumble program Monday after replaying Bartiromos interview with Patel from the previous day, in which she pressed him on election integrity. Bartiromo had asked Patel whether he had any information to verify President Trumps oft-repeated assertion that the 2020 election was rigged, a question that has long animated conservatives who distrust the conduct of that race.
Absolutely, Patel replied, before launching into an extended defense of the administrations posture, declaring, We are not going to take this and have not taken this laying down. Bannon told his audience the exchange did not look organic to him, but rather like a calculated move to force answers from within the Presidents own law-enforcement ranks.
Maria Bartiromo, that was a sanctioned hit yesterday on Kash, Bannon said, arguing that someone in authority wanted to pressure Patel and the bureau. I think somebody wants to know when Kash and the FBI are really going to start to ramp up here.
He likened the moment to Sen. John Kennedys (R-LA) grilling of thenHomeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March, just before President Trump dismissed her. He eviscerated her, Bannon said of Kennedys performance, framing it as another example of internal accountability when officials fail to deliver.
Bannon insisted the Bartiromo-Patel clash fit the same pattern of controlled confrontation. When you see something like that, thats called a sanctioned hit. That is signed off on, he said with a chuckle, adding, Theyre trying to get some information out or trying to see exactly if somebody is really doing their job.
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