President Donald Trump's White House went scorched earth on Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser, on Thursday as a fight between the two men continued to dominate the national conversation.

In his first public appearance since excerpts from an explosive book that quoted Bannon seared through his administration, Trump said that he's not on speaking terms anymore with his one-time strategist.

'He called me a great man last night. He obviously changed his tune pretty quick,' Trump said, referring to comments Bannon made yesterday on Brietbart News' Sirius XM program.

Trump then told reporters as he met with Republican senators to discuss an immigration compromise, 'I don't talk to him. I don't talk to him.'

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said later that Breitbart 'should look at or consider' firing Bannon over the dispute with the president as she tangled with reporters at her daily briefing.

President Donald Trump said Thursday in his first public appearance since excerpts from an explosive book seared through his administration that he's not on speaking terms anymore with former chief strategist Steve Bannon

Trump 's White House went scorched earth on Bannon as a feud between the two men continued to dominate the national conversation. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Breitbart News should consider firing Bannon

Sanders said that they were never 'particularly close' as she doubled down on a claim that they had not spoken since December and had only been in touch a handful of times since Bannon departed Trump's service.

Responding to a question about DailyMail.com about a claim that they would frequently have dinner together, Sanders said, 'The book also says that he had been sidelined by April, which I think further goes to indicate that he had very little credibility to give much information, particularly after that point, which most of the book is based after that time frame.'

'Again, this book is mistake after mistake after mistake,' she said, refusing to acknowledge that she'd just validated at least one aspect of Wolff's reporting. 'I would certainly say they've spoken a few times since they left the White House, but it's not like there were regularly scheduled calls or certainly no meetings between the two of them.

Trump said in his remarks before senators that it was just a 'misnomer' that he was ever as close with the Breitbart News chief and former aide who spilled White House secrets to author Michael Wolff as 'Fire and Fury' makes him out to be.

A statement Wednesday from the president himself stressed that Bannon had 'not only lost his job, he lost his mind.'

One of Trump's personal lawyers demanded on Thursday that a publisher cancel next Tuesday's release of the explosive book about the president and his White House.

Bannon has emerged as the villain in the new year's first seismic political quake, drawing condemnation and a separate lawsuit threat from the president's legal orbit.

But Thursday morning's letter from California attorney Charles J. Harder, known for representing pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, puts 'Fire and Fury' – Wolff's book about the Trump's first year in the White House – on dicey footing.

Harder demanded publisher Henry Holt and Co. 'immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book,' including excerpts and summaries.

'Your publication of false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other claims, defamation by libel per se, false light invasion of privacy, tortious interference with contractual relations, and inducement of breach of contract,' he wrote.

Michael Wolff, 64 (right) is the man behind the sensational tell-all from Donald Trump's first months in the White House, and now the president is trying to stop the book before it's released on January 9

Lawyer Charles Harder, who has represented Trump won-in-law Jared Kushner and former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan in the past, wrote a scathing 11-page letter to Henry Holt & Company and its newest star author Michael Wolff

Representing the Trump Organization, the president's private company, harder has already accused Bannon of breaching a confidentiality agreement, saying legal action was 'imminent.'

'You have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company,' read Harder's letter to Bannon.

In a brutal statement Wednesday, Trump denounced his former campaign CEO as a self-promoting political faker who was exposed as a fraud when he was fired last year.

'Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency,' the statement said. 'When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.'

Bannon said later on the Breitbart News Tonight program on Sirius XM, 'The President of the United States is a great man.'

'You know, I support him day in and day out,' Bannon said.

Attorney Charles Harder (center) is leading the charge for Trump again Michael Wolff and his publisher; Harder previously represented Hulk Hogan (right) in a case against the now-defunct Gawker website

20 MOST JAW-DROPPING CLAIMS IN EXPLOSIVE TRUMP BOOK Steve Bannon described Don Jr's Trump Tower meeting with Russians as 'treasonous and unpatriotic' and thinks he will 'crack like an egg' under the pressure of the Russia investigation

Bannon said there's 'zero' chance Donald Trump didn't know about the meeting and said Don Jr likely 'walked them to his father's office'

First Lady Melania Trump openly wept on the night her husband won the election - and the tears 'were not of joy'

The whole campaign from the top down thought Trump would lose and everyone had planned for defeat, with Trump himself planning a TV network because he would be 'the most famous man in the world'

Trump and Melania sleep in separate bedrooms and he demanded a lock on his bedroom door against the wishes of the Secret Service

Trump orders McDonald's so he's not poisoned, told staff not to touch his toothbrush and strips his own bedsheets

Trump regularly sits in bed eating a cheeseburger at 6.30pm while calling his friends and watching three TVs

Rupert Murdoch called Trump a 'f***ing idiot' after a phone call and billionaire backer Tom Barrack said 'he's not only crazy, he's stupid'

Trump's aides say he doesn't read and 'for all practical purposes is no more than semi-literate'

Trump would try to bed his friends' wives by goading their husbands to cheat while the wife listened in on speakerphone

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks dated married Corey Lewandowski and Trump later told her: 'You're the best piece of tail he'll ever have.'

The president called acting attorney general Sally Yates a 'c***' after she refused to enforce his immigration ban

Sean Spicer, then press secretary, said 'you can't make this s*** up' after his first briefing and went on adopt the phrase as his personal mantra

Trump tells the same stories three times in ten minutes and forgot a succession of old friends' names at a Mar-a-Lago party

He called Jared Kushner a 'suck-up' and said he should never have let Ivanka and her husband move to Washington

Among his verdicts on his staff: Bannon 'looked like s***', Reince Priebus was a midget and Kellyanne Conway was a crybaby

Among his staff's verdicts on him: 'dope', 'dumb as s***', 'hopeless idiot', 'just a f***ing fool', 'lost his mind', 'incapable of functioning in his job'

Trump wondered what a 'golden shower' was after reading reports about the notorious Russian dossier

Trump offered to marry Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough - and mocked Jared Kushner for saying he'd do it

Ivanka Trump jokes with friends about her father's hair secrets: He had a scalp reduction, combs over from the sides, and uses Just for Men badly


The White House had also released a statement from first lady Melania Trump's office slamming the Wolff book as a 'bargain fiction' offering.

The Republican National Committee defended Trump by claiming Wolff has 'a long history of making stuff up.'

Sanders told reporters Wednesday that the president was 'furious' at and 'disgusted' by the pre-release material from Wolff's book that found its way online.

She also said Wolff had 'never actually sat down with the president' since Inauguration Day and had shared only on brief phone call 'that had nothing to do, originally, with the book.'

Trump's spokeswoman doubled down on the claims on Thursday, offering that Wolff requested an interview with the president and that was denied. In all, more than 30 requests for information from the White House for the book were denied, she said.

Trump has unleashed the full weight of his presidential bully pulpit on Bannon, casting him Wednesday as an opportunist who sought to steal credit for his stunning 2016 election victory.

'Steve doesn't represent my base – he's only in it for himself,' Trump said in his Wednesday statement.

'Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was,' the statement continued. 'It is the only thing he does well.'

Trump also said, 'Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.'

Asked Thursday if he felt betrayed by Bannon, the president commented that his former aide had 'changed his tune' pretty quickly.