Ex-aide Bannon defends Trump's move against migrants, assails church

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon vowed in remarks aired Thursday to serve as the president's "wing man," willing to take on even the Catholic Church for its opposition to Trump's immigration policy.
A pugnacious defender of populist and nationalist policies, Bannon was ousted from office last month amid intense blowback over Trump's remarks on the violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. But he immediately returned to work with the right-wing Breitbart news outlet, promising to "go to war" for Trump.
In excerpts aired Thursday of an interview with CBS's program "60 Minutes," Bannon made clear that he relishes the prospect of defending Trump from outside the White House, proudly calling himself a "street fighter."
A Roman Catholic who said he respects church leaders on doctrinal matters, Bannon nonetheless took aim at American bishops for criticizing Trump's decision Tuesday to wind down the so-called DACA program that gives legal status to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children.
"The bishops have been terrible about this," Bannon said. "They need illegal aliens to fill the churches."
Says Cohn should resign
Bannon said he alone among presidential aides had defended Trump's controversial remarks about the clashes between white supremacists and their opponents in Charlottesville -- the president found fault on "both sides" -- and Bannon called for Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn to resign after saying the president "must do better."
While Bannon said that neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan are "absolutely awful," he supported Trump's comment that if statues of pro-slavery Confederate leaders are taken down, statues of founding fathers like George Washington could be next.
"Does it end in taking down Mount Rushmore?" Bannon asked. "Does it end at taking Churchill's bust out of the Oval Office?"
The full interview is set to air on Sunday. — AFP