--- description: President Donald Trump downplayed the role of Steve Bannon in his electoral victory, amid what appears to be infighting in the White House title: President Trump Downplays Steve Bannon's Campaign Role image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70844358098266c/6988c264a988ca0cfe6bbaf4/gettyimages-632408944.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Trump Downplays Steve Bannon's Campaign Role: 'I'm My Own Strategist' by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 12, 2017 6:03 AM CUT  President Trump congratulates White House strategist Stephen Bannon in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, 2017 President Trump congratulates White House strategist Stephen Bannon in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, 2017Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 12, 2017 6:03 AM CUT President Donald Trump [swatted off a question](http://nypost.com/2017/04/11/trump-wont-definitively-say-he-still-backs-bannon/ "undefined") Tuesday about whether he still has confidence in his chief strategist, Steve Bannon. In an interview with the New York _Post_’s Michael Goodwin, Trump appeared to downplay Bannon’s role in the election campaign last year. “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump told the _Post,_ adding that, “I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.” Bannon [joined the Trump campaign ](http://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/ "undefined")in August, taking on the role of the campaign’s chief executive. Trump declined to take a definitive stance on what appears to be a [battle for influence](http://time.com/4732487/jared-kushner-steve-bannon-reince-priebus/ "undefined") within the White House between Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, but warned that he “told them to straighten it out or I will.” \[[_NYP_](http://nypost.com/2017/04/11/trump-wont-definitively-say-he-still-backs-bannon/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4735735/donald-trump-steve-bannon-downplay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4735735/donald-trump-steve-bannon-downplay/"},"headline":"President Trump Downplays Steve Bannon's Campaign Role: 'I'm My Own Strategist'","datePublished":"2017-04-12T06:03:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:21:16.705Z","description":"Trump suggested Bannon's role in his election victory may have been overemphasized","url":"https://time.com/4735735/donald-trump-steve-bannon-downplay/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70844358098266c/6988c264a988ca0cfe6bbaf4/gettyimages-632408944.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70844358098266c/6988c264a988ca0cfe6bbaf4/gettyimages-632408944.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-STAFF","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-STAFF","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4735735/donald-trump-steve-bannon-downplay/","name":"President Trump Downplays Steve Bannon's Campaign Role: 'I'm My Own Strategist'"}}]}] ```