In his first comments after being blasted by President Donald Trump earlier in the day, Steve Bannon called Trump "a great man" while hosting a radio show Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Trump's attorney said that he has sent a cease and desist letter to the former White House chief strategist over the critical comments made in the forthcoming book by Michael Wolff.
The statement from attorney Charles Harder said: "This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent."
The White House has rebuked Bannon over excerpts from the new book which quotedhim as calling the meeting between a Russian lawyer and the President's eldest son, son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."
Earlier in the day, Trump excoriated his former chief strategist in a statement claiming that Bannon "lost his mind" after being pushed out from the White House. The statement dismissed Bannon's political influence and questioned his mental stability.
Responding to a caller while hosting the Breitbart News Tonight radio show on SiriusXM, Bannon made a brief remark about Trump.
"The President of the United States is a great man," he said. "You know, I support him day in and day out."
Throughout most of the show, the Breitbart chief mostly focused on immigration policy and didn't comment at length on his feud with Trump.
During his six months inside the White House, Bannon was one of the President's most influential advisers, leading the charge for Trump to keep some of the most far-reaching and radical campaign promises.
He was pushed out of the White House amid retired Gen. John Kelly's house-cleaning upon taking over as chief of staff in the summer. But he retained an influential position as one of the coterie of informal advisers the President regularly speaks with by phone, often to the dismay of some of the President's top advisers who have clashed with Bannon.
But his comments to journalist Michael Wolff in the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" prompted a fiery statement from Trump.
