Morning Joe Fingers Steve Bannon Source of Kushner Leaks

(Reuters Photo)

'Morning Joe' co-host Joe Scarborough claimed Friday morning that presidential strategist Steve Bannon is now effectively running the country – uttering the phrase 'President Bannon' seven times in 35 seconds for dramatic effect, reports mailonline.com.

And he said Bannon, not U.S. intelligence agencies, is behind a series of embarrassing leaks about Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner's alleged Russia ties.

'Steve Bannon has been leaking – I believe, based on everything that I've heard – has been leaking these stories,' Scarborough said.

'People very close to Steve Bannon were telling me before the stories were leaked that he was going to be leaking these stories.'

'Two days after I heard this – two days! – [there was a] front-page New York Times story about the links between Kushner and Russia,' he added. 'A coincidence? Absolutely not.'

Two White House correspondents confirmed on Friday that Bannon has fed them negative information about Kushner in the past – but wouldn't say when, or whether they had used the dirt in their published reporting.