Donald Trump defends Steve Bannon: ‘He’s not a racist’ but ‘we’ll see what happens to him’

NEW YORK —President Donald Trump won’t say whether he plans to keep top White House strategist Steve Bannon.

The former head of conservative website Breitbart News has been back in the hot seat as some of Trump’s closest advisers nudge the president to get rid of him.

The anti-Bannon campaign comes as Trump is under fire for not immediately condemning white supremacists and other hate groups after deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Va.

Bannon once described Breitbart as “the platform for the alt-right.”

At an impromptu press conference Tuesday, Trump answered questions about his top adviser by saying, “We’ll see what happens.”

He also said Bannon was “not a racist,” even though the question asked was: “Can you tell us what you’re feeling about your chief strategist?”

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“I like Mr. Bannon … I like him, he’s a good man, he’s not a racist. He’s a good person,” Trump said Tuesday.

“We’ll see what happens to Mr. Bannon, and he has been treated very unfairly in the press.”

The comments about Bannon came during a press conference on Tuesday where Trump was supposed to comment on a new executive order on infrastructure rules.

He ended up fielding questions on the Charlottesville violence that left one dead when a car drove into a group of people counter-protesting a group of alt-right white nationalists.

During the press conference, Trump blamed what he called a group of “alt-left” protesters “violently attacking the other group.”

1:08 Trump blames ‘charging alt-left’ for Charlottesville violence

• Trump blames ‘charging alt-left’ for Charlottesville violence
• Trump expected to reach out to mother of Charlottesville victim
• Trump claims media portraying alt-right ‘absolutely unfairly’
• Trump on Charlottesville violence: ‘there is blame on both sides’
• Trump reluctant to describe Charlottesville attack as ‘terrorism’
• Trump claims Charlottesville victim’s mother wrote him on Twitter
• Trump’s condemnation of white supremacists delayed due to lack of facts
• Trump says jobs will solve racial divide in U.S.

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