Bannon Recording Shows Trump’s Plan To Declare 2020 Election Victory As Votes Were Being Counted: ‘I’m King!’

An audio recording of Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon who is facing contempt of Congress charges, saying former President Donald Trump would declare victory even if he didn’t win the 2020 election was leaked on Thursday.

“What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory. Right? He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s a winner,” Bannon said in the audio clip which was first obtained by Mother Jones. “He’s just gonna say he’s a winner.”

The recording was from an October 31, 2020, meeting between Bannon and right-wing supporters of exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui.

“So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a firestorm,” Bannon said.

“You’re going to have Antifa, crazy. The media, crazy. The courts are crazy. And Trump’s gonna be sitting there mocking, tweeting shit out: ‘You lose. I’m the winner. I’m the king,” he added.

The recording confirms a long-reported claim that even before the election, Trump planned to declare victory even as millions of ballots had yet to be counted.

Earlier this week, Bannon said he would testify before the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack following Trump’s waiving of executive privilege.

He then asked for his contempt trial to be pushed back, but the Justice Department said that his reversal did not change his refusal to cooperate with the committee’s subpoena for the past nine months. They added that Trump had never actually claimed executive privilege. A federal judge denied his request on Thursday.

Listen to a clip of the recording below.