Steve Bannon was among the most prominent voices pushing Donald Trump's "big lie" about his election loss -- but those close to him say he never believed it.
The former White House chief political strategist was the subject of a lengthy profile in The Atlantic, where one of his former 2016 campaign colleagues said Bannon was dependent on the former president for his reputation and his freedom after his arrest for allegedly defrauding investors in a crowdfunded effort to build a wall along the southern border.
"Steve was in on the joke,” said Sam Nunberg, who was one of the first hires on Trump's first presidential campaign. “He never believed that the election would be overturned. Steve needed a pardon.”
Nunberg said Bannon's reputation as an intellectual heavyweight was just as phony.
READ MORE: Jan 6th committee plans 'blockbuster' production with help of veteran 'Nightline' producer: report
“The tragedy of Steve Bannon, is that when he leaves the White House, he’s known as the great manipulator, the intellectual heavy of the international populist uprising," Nunberg said. "But still he ends up in the fetal position at Donald Trump’s feet.”
Correspondent Jennifer Senior asked if that quote was on the record, and Nunberg explicitly said yes.
“F*ck yeah," he said.
