Former White House strategist Steve Bannon launched a blistering attack on Wednesday, accusing administration officials of leaking sensitive information about President Donald Trump's upcoming primetime address to the network formerly known as MSNBC, now rebranded as MS Now.
During an episode of his "War Room" podcast, Bannon specifically called out journalist Vaughn Hillyard, alleging he had held off-the-record conversations with White House staffers to preview the content of the president's speech. Hillyard had reported that Trump's address would focus on vulnerabilities in voting machines and two separate foreign attempts to interfere in U.S. elections ahead of the midterms.
"The thing the White House should understand is that the people at MSNBC were not shy about sending around to everybody exactly who they've been talking to, so we know who they've been talking to. We know who these anonymous sources are," Bannon told John Solomon, a former journalist now serving as an unpaid special government employee tasked with helping declassify documents for public release.
Bannon's rhetoric escalated sharply, framing the leaks as a betrayal that fuels national division. "Because they went to the enemies of the — let me be blunt. They went to a network that has driven the hate and dissension in this country that led to the assassination attempts on the president of the United States. They went to them and privately briefed them on what's going on," he added.
Hillyard's report indicated that declassified information related to election security would be published after Trump's address, led by Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte and Solomon. Both Pulte and Solomon have publicly endorsed Trump's baseless claims that he won the 2020 presidential election.
Solomon, in the podcast conversation, dismissed the leak controversy as a media trap. "Just stay focused on the truth, what the future is. I think Americans will wake up next Friday, and the Friday after that, and the Friday after that being informed in ways that they weren't, and they can make their own minds up," he said. "I trust the American people to make up their minds regardless of what MSNBC, or whatever they call themselves today, does."
The episode echoes broader warnings from Democratic strategist James Carville, who recently predicted a wave of leaks from within the Trump administration as midterms approach. On his Politicon podcast, Carville advised current officials: "No one's gonna wanna hire anybody out of the Trump Administration. And the way that you get right with history is start leaking. And you position yourself as the person that had tried to tell us. That's the only future you have. Leak like a sieve. Leak like a broken faucet. Leak everywhere. You're already leaking. Everybody's leaking on you, everybody's leaking on everybody else."
Carville also urged White House staff to "trust no one" and directly addressed the president: "And I'll give you one piece of advice, Donald Trump. Everybody is out for you, even your own people. Be scared, be very afraid."
The internal tensions come as Trump's administration faces multiple leak investigations, including a recent case where a former Federal Reserve adviser was sentenced to 38 months for lying about leaking information to Chinese spies. The Supreme Court has also been weighing cases that could reshape how multi-member agencies operate, adding to the political turbulence.
