Are Trump and Bannon on the outs for good?

I don't imagine anyone on the Trump team actually knew many laws governing their new positions, and Trump's whole life was a string of forcing people to sign nondisclosure agreements.

Also...

Assuming Wolff’s account to be accurate (and Bannon has said nothing so far to suggest otherwise) the former chief strategist considered Trump entirely out of his depth with regard to special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into possible links between Russia and the Trump team.

On a practical level, Trump did not have the “discipline to navigate a tough investigation”, Wolff writes, nor the savvy to bring on powerful lawyers. Most seriously, Trump was, in Bannon’s estimation, unable to grasp “how much Mueller had on him and his family”.

“He doesn’t necessarily see what’s coming,” Bannon is quoted as saying.

We now know from the Guardian’s account of excerpts of the book that Bannon believes the June 2016 meeting between Trump’s son and Russians bearing promises of dirt on Hillary Clinton to have been “treasonous”. We also know that Bannon puts the chances of Donald Jr failing to have informed his father of the encounter at “zero”.

[...]

“Bannon was an insider in the campaign at the highest level, and in the White House all the way to last August,” said Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush. “He was talking to the president constantly – I can’t imagine Trump not confiding in him, including over the Russia inquiry.”

That in turn raises the possibility that Bannon might cooperate [with the special prosecutor].

[...]

“Bannon may already be cooperating with Mueller for all we know,” Painter said. “He has no incentive to cover up for Trump, or his family members.”

[...]

When Trump gave an interview to the New York Times last July in which he warned Mueller not to delve into his family’s finances, Bannon’s response was scathing. Wolff writes: “‘Ehhh … ehhh … ehhh!’ screeched Bannon, making the sound of an emergency alarm. ‘Don’t look here! Let’s tell a prosecutor what not to look at!’”

Bannon is specific about what he regards as the most dangerous aspect of the Mueller inquiry: “It goes through Deutsche Bank and all the Kushner shit. The Kushner shit is greasy. They’re going to go right through that.”

[...]

“It used to hurt my feelings when I saw them running around doing things that were my job,” Sean Spicer, the then White House director of communications, is quoted as saying. “Now I’m glad to be out of the loop.”

The person who remained in the loop was Hope Hicks, currently a successor of Spicer’s as communications chief.

[...]

In the fallout from the Trump Tower meeting and false statement, Wolff reports a fight between Bannon and Hicks in the cabinet room. “You don’t know what you are doing,” Bannon is said to have shouted. “You don’t know how much trouble you are in … You are as dumb as a stone!”

The pair, Wolff writes, never spoke to each other again.

  Guardian

She knows now.

Breitbart News chairman Stephen Bannon on Wednesday was about to issue a statement praising Donald Trump Jr. and disputing his quotes in a book from Michael Wolff [wherein Bannon is said to have described Trump Jr. as treasonous and unpatriotic over the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June], but the statement was spiked after President Trump went nuclear on his former chief strategist.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation say that Bannon’s aides sought to impress upon him the need to put out a statement quickly. The aides had crafted a statement, which was pending Bannon’s approval, when the White House beat him to the punch.

[...]

Bannon and his allies did not see a need to release the statement once Trump accused his former top campaign aide of having “lost his mind.” They believe the president’s statement effectively ended the relationship between the two men.

[...]

Bannon would have also disputed Wolff’s account by saying he had been taken out of context — that he doesn’t believe Trump Jr. intentionally did anything wrong and that he only meant to convey his frustration that Trump Jr., a political novice, had created a mess for his father.

But Bannon waited too long, and his relationship with Trump now appears beyond repair, although those close to him believe the two can reconcile at some point.

“It’s a family fight, they always get back together,” said one source in Bannon's orbit. “Although this one could take some time.”

[...]

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump continued to downplay his relationship with Bannon, saying that the two don’t talk.

“He called me a great man last night," Trump said. "So he obviously changed his tune pretty quick.”

  The Hill

Then again, there's that threat to sue Bannon. He'll need to withdraw that if they're to make up.

UPDATE 1/5:

"Sloppy Steve".  I guess it's on for sure now.