WASHINGTON (WASHINGTON POST) - Mr Steve Bannon called President Donald Trump a great man late on Wednesday (Jan 3) night and said he supported him "day in and day out".

Mr Bannon's comments on Breitbart News Tonight, which was broadcast on Sirius XM radio, came just hours after Mr Trump said his former chief strategist had "lost his mind" and had his lawyer issue a cease-and-desist letter designed to shut Mr Bannon up.

"The President is a great man," said Mr Bannon, in response to a caller's question about the extraordinary rift that developed on Wednesday between the two men. "You know I support him day in and day out."

It was apparently the only reference in a two-hour show, otherwise devoted to immigration, to the explosive day that had just passed as a result of the release of some searing book excerpts that quoted Mr Bannon.

Mr Bannon, among other things, is quoted describing as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic" a Trump Tower meeting during the campaign between Mr Donald Trump Jr; Mr Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law; and a Russian lawyer.

At another point in the book, he is quoted as calling the President's daughter Ivanka "dumb as a brick".

In response to the excerpts of Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House by Michael Wolff, Mr Trump erupted.

"Stephen K. Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency," the President said in a statement. "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."

Mr Bannon issued no denials pertaining to the quotes during the radio broadcast. Nor did he say anything about the cease-and-desist letter.