'U mean condolences': Steve Bannon seemed hesitant about joining the Trump campaign, leaked email shows
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon joked about leaving Breitbart News for then-candidate Donald Trump's campaign last year, a leaked email shows.
BuzzFeed News published a lengthy report detailing months of private email correspondence among far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos,, Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow, and Bannon, among others.
In an email sent the day after Trump announced Bannon would become his campaign manager, Yiannopoulos wrote an email congratulating the outgoing Breitbart CEO.
"Congrats chief," Yiannopoulos wrote.
"U mean condolences," Bannon said.
"I admire your sense of duty (seriously)," Yiannopoulos replied.
"U get it," Bannon said.
Among the many revelations in BuzzFeed News' piece, the emails revealed how hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his highly connected and politically active daughter Rebekah Mercer funneled story ideas to Bannon, who in turn assigned them to Yiannopoulos and his team.
The story also showed internal clashes between associates on the far right, who often battled how far to push the envelope on racially sensitive issues, as well as the extent that Yiannopoulos discussed story ideas with individuals at different media outlets, including Slate and Broadly.