Steve Bannon says Democrats could drop Joe Biden for Hillary Clinton, insists ‘she’s running’

Democrats are willing to run Hillary Clinton for president again in lieu of current front-runner Joseph R. Biden, President Trump’s former adviser Stephen K. Bannon asserted Monday.

Mr. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, claimed during a television interview that Mrs. Clinton could emerge as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020.

“They’re prepared to sacrifice a rook to take down a king,” Mr. Bannon said on the Fox Business Network’s “Primetime” program. “They will throw Biden away, right? They will throw Biden away to get to Trump and hope Elizabeth Warren, or I even think Hillary Clinton or [Michael] Bloomberg or some centrist comes in here.”

Pressed by “Primetime” host Trish Regan, Mr. Bannon cited Mrs. Clinton’s recent comments critical of Mr. Trump and “a whole thing on media” she has planned in support of her new book released Tuesday, “The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience.”

“She’s running,” Mr. Bannon said. “She’s just trying to decide how to fit her way in.”

Mrs. Clinton, 71, unsuccessfully ran for the White House as a Democrat in both 2008 and 2016, and she has previously ruled out running a third time in 2020.

“I’m not running, but I’m going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe,” Mrs. Clinton said in March.

More recently, Mrs. Clinton slammed Mr. Trump in an interview on CBS that aired Sunday, calling him an “illegitimate president.”

Recent nationwide polling has placed Mr. Biden, the former vice president, and Ms. Warren, a Democratic senator for Massachusetts, as front-runners in a crowded pool of presidential hopefuls. Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said in March that he will not run for the White House in 2020.

Mr. Bannon, 65, served as chairman of Mr. Trump’s presidential election campaign during the 2016 race against Mrs. Clinton. He subsequently served as the president’s chief strategist prior to leaving the White House in August 2017.