Bannon: Graham giving Ukrainians ‘false hope'
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, a key MAGA insider, doubled down late Monday on his criticism of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and the lawmaker's vocal support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia.
In an interview on NewsNation's 'Cuomo,' Bannon said Graham was giving Ukrainians 'false hope' by meeting with the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and by suggesting the U.S. support Kyiv's stunning drone attack on Russia's strategic bombing fleet.
'We can't have Lindsey Graham, and particularly Zelensky, leading us into a third world war with a deep strike into Russia,' Bannon told host Chris Cuomo.
The comments come after the former Trump adviser called for the South Carolina Republican to be jailed for his pro-Ukraine stance. Cuomo repeatedly challenged Bannon to back up that request.
'I don't understand how you could want to jail a U.S. senator because he's saying something you don't like,' the NewsNation host said, adding, 'That sounds like the worst of the deep state and lawfare.'
Bannon responded, 'No, it's absolutely — what he's doing over there right now is stirring it up. He's giving the Ukrainians false hope.'
Cuomo cut in, 'But it's not illegal.'
The Trump ally continued, 'He's giving Ukrainians false hope that we're there to support them on engaging Russia in a kinetic conflict. And we are not.'
The host continued to press Bannon about why he thinks Graham should be detained.
'So maybe he's wrong, but why do you say throw him in jail?' he said.
'Two things ought to happen: Either cancel his passport and don't let him back in the country, or put him in jail if he comes back,' Bannon responded, adding, 'The attack was audacious.'
'It was brilliant. But the problem is it gets us involved in a conflict that no one in the United States wants to be part of,' he added.
Cuomo noted that he didn't necessarily disagree with the former strategist's opinion.
'I'm just saying you can't be throwing people in jail because you don't like what they say. That's my only point,' he told Bannon. 'I'm not saying that you're wrong about where this might lead and how dangerous it is.'
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One Trump tactic unlikely to work on Putin is promising him economic deals, should he come to terms with Ukraine. To be fair, Putin himself has raised this prospect in a bid to get sanctions relief from Trump, who largely sees the world through a business lens. The reality is that the Russian economy has been transformed since the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is now heavily fueled by the war itself. There are signs that this cannot go on forever, but it has continued longer than many Western officials and analysts predicted. Putin is also likely aware that even if Trump were to lift all U.S. sanctions on Russia, American businesses are unlikely to jump into the Russian market anytime soon. There are too many risks, including the possibility that a future U.S. president could reimpose the sanctions. Besides, European sanctions are likely to remain in place. 'Given sanctions and export controls that need to be lifted, not to mention the reputational risk and the operating environment in Russia, it's hard to see that Western companies would be rushing to go back to that market,' Randi Levinas, a former chief operating officer of the now-dissolved U.S.-Russia Business Council, told me. Putin is in a corner. But while everyone is watching him, he's still got his eye on Ukraine — all of Ukraine.
