Trump aide: No military solution in North Korea

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon says there's no military solution to the threat posed by North Korea and its nuclear ambitions, despite the president's recent pledge to answer further aggression with "fire and fury."

In an interview with The American Prospect posted online Wednesday, Bannon tells the liberal publication that the U.S. is losing the economic race against China. He also talks about purging his rivals from the Defense and State departments.

Bannon is also asked about the white supremacist movement, whose march on Charlottesville, Va., last weekend led to deadly violence. He dismisses them as "losers," ''a fringe element" and "a collection of clowns."

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It's highly unusual for Bannon, one of the most contentious members of Trump's inner circle, to give a lengthy interview to a journalist, much less one from a liberal publication.

His comments on North Korea, which contradict Trump's tough approach, could add to pressure on the president to fire him. Bannon has survived earlier rounds of having fallen out of favor with Trump, who is irked by perceptions that he was the mastermind of Trump's winning campaign and guides policy in the White House.

"There's no military solution [to North Korea's nuclear threats], forget it," Bannon says. "Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don't die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don't know what you're talking about, there's no military solution here, they got us."

Trump tweeted earlier Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "made a very wise and well-reasoned decision" by backing down after heightening fears of nuclear conflict in a series of combative threats, including against the U.S. territory of Guam.