United States President Donald Trump has criticised his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, saying that the latter not only lost his job, he lost his mind too after being fired from the White House.
Trump was responding to a The Guardian report, which, by citing a book, has stated that Bannon had described the meeting between the president's son and a group of Russians at Trump Tower in New York during the 2016 election campaign as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic".
According to the Guardian, the book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff, is based on hundreds of interviews, including the ones from Trump's courtiers.
"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind," Trump said in a statement.
"Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party. Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn't as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country," he added.
Trump also blamed Bannon for the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than 30 years by Republicans.
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"Steve doesn't represent my base-he's only in it for himself," Trump said.
Bannon also reportedly told Wolff that investigation into the Trump campaign's potential ties to Russia is centered on money laundering and claimed that "they're going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV".
Bannon was the chief executive of the Trump campaign in its final three months and also the White House chief strategist for seven months before he was fired off from his position.
Three congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating the Russia's interference in the presidential election and possible collusion with Trump associates.