Jonathan Bachman/Reuters
Steve Bannon
- Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's former chief strategist, called President George H.W. Bush a "pervert" in a Thursday Vanity Fair profile.
- Six women have accused Bush of groping them.
Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's former chief strategist, called President George H.W. Bush a "pervert," referring to accusations by multiple women that the former president groped them, as part of a Vanity Fair profile published Thursday.
"The old man is a pervert," Bannon told reporter Gabriel Sherman. "He's a pervert. Grabbing these girls and grabbing their asses?"
Six women have come forward in recent weeks to accuse Bush of grabbing their buttocks during photo ops and other meetings. In one case, novelist Christina Baker Kline said Bush cracked a joke as he groped her.
"You wanna know my favorite book?" Bush whispered as the cameraman prepared for the shot. He then said, "David Cop-a-Feel," while simultaneously squeezing her buttocks.
Bannon was a strong supporter of Roy Moore, the defeated Republican Alabama Senate candidate facing multiple accusations of molesting and sexually pursuing minors. He reportedly helped convince Trump to throw his full support behind Moore after the sexual misconduct allegations were reported.
Sherman described the former Trump campaign manager and top adviser, who was ousted from the White House in August, as "incredulous" at Ivanka Trump's condemnation of Moore. She told the Associated Press that "there's a special place in hell for people who prey on children" after the allegations became public.
Bannon suggested that Ivanka's outrage about Moore was unwise, mentioning that the president has been accused by a California woman of raping her when she was 13 years old.
"What about the allegations about her dad and that 13-year-old?" he said. That suit has since been dropped.