- CNN host Jake Tapper and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller duked it out during an interview about the contents of Michael Wolff's new book about President Donald Trump.
- Miller attempted to dismiss former chief strategist Steve Bannon's criticism of the Trump White House by downplaying the former political adviser's role in the administration.
CNN host Jake Tapper clashed with senior policy adviser Stephen Miller over claims in "Fire & Fury: Inside The Trump White House," Michael Wolff's explosive new tell-all about President Donald Trump's campaign, presidential transition, and administration.
In an interview on "State of the Union" on Sunday, Tapper pressed Miller to respond to some of the highest-profile claims, including Bannon's assertion that a 2016 meeting between the Trump campaign and a Kremlin-linked lawyer was "unpatriotic" and "treasonous."
Miller dismissed both Bannon and Wolff's credibility, saying the author was a "garbage author of a garbage book," and that claims in the book were "a pile of trash." He repeatedly described Bannon's comments in the book as "grotesque," saying his role in the White House was "greatly exaggerated."
"Is it really the position of the Trump White House that Steve Bannon had nothing to do with the presidency?" Tapper said after listing priorities that Bannon pushed during his time in the administration. "Can you acknowledge that he was a key player?"
"His role has been greatly exaggerated, whereas the president hasn't gotten the due that he deserves for the movement that he put together to tap into the kinds of people whose life concerns don't get a lot of attention on CNN," Miller replied.
—CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 7, 2018
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2018
