Steve Bannon, CEO of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, brought up Hillary Clinton’s name on Monday as he spoke about the 2020 election bid on Fox Business.
Bannon, who was White House chief strategist, claims the Democrats are anxious that their candidates for this cycle are weak, and with the current House impeachment inquiry underway, are trying to "nullify the election".
"They think they have a weak field and they're — it's like in chess — they're prepared to sacrifice a rook to take down a king. They will throw [Joe] 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," said Bannon.
When the host expressed surprise at his mentioning Hillary Clinton, Bannon pointed out that she seemed to be energetically "doing a whole thing" this week, off on a tour with her daughter Chelsea to promote their new book Gutsy Women and all the while lambasting Donald Trump as an "illegitimate president."
"She is running. She's just trying to decide how to fit her way in," Bannon said.
Although Clinton, 71, has gone on record as ruling out a third run for president, she emphasised her determination to maintain a vocal presence while Donald Trump seeks reelection.
The former secretary of state, senator and first lady said in an interview posted 4 March by New York TV station News12:
"I’m going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe."
"Bad Blood" between Trump and Clinton
Recently, Hillary Clinton expressed support for the House of Representatives' decision to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
"I did not come to that decision [to support Trump's impeachment] easily or quickly, but this is an emergency as I see it … ," Clinton told People magazine.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on 24 September that the Democrat-controlled House was moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry into Trump over allegations that he exerted pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former US Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in order to boost his own 2020 re-election bid.
Trump dismissed the investigation of his conversation with President Zelensky as a political witch hunt.
There has long been “bad blood” between the political rivals, as during the 2016 election, Trump beat Clinton on electoral votes and went on to become the 45th US president despite the fact that his Democratic rival gained almost 3 million more popular votes.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2015 investigated former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for using a private server and email accounts for some official business during her tenure, but concluded that, while the former official was "extremely careless", she did not intend to violate US law.
President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked Clinton for her role in the email scandal, saying during the 2016 election campaign that she should be put in jail.