President Trump embraced analysis of the 2020 Democratic field from former strategist Stephen Bannon, whom he previously derided as “sloppy” and a leaker, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “Nice to see that one of my best pupils is still a giant Trump fan. Steve joined me after I won the primaries, but I loved working with him!”

Trump shared a clip from Bannon on CNBC in which he dismissed the chances of the current field of Democrats against Trump in 2020.

“Steve Bannon found himself back in the hot seat last month as the former White House adviser answered questions from Senate intelligence committee investigators behind closed doors,” the Daily Beast reports.

“The sources said investigators asked about Cambridge Analytica, the controversial and now defunct data firm he co-founded.”

Playbook: “Can anyone point us to any money that Steve Bannon spent on this election? He told various new outlets that he was going to spend many millions of dollars on digital ads supporting House Republicans. We cannot find evidence he spent one dollar.”

“The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is pursuing a wide-ranging investigation into former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s activities during the 2016 presidential campaign,” Reuters reports.

“The committee is looking into what Bannon might know about any contacts during the campaign between Moscow and two advisers to the campaign, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.”

“As Donald Trump held midterm rallies this week in front of thousands, his one-time chief strategist Steve Bannon made his own, rather more low-key return to the campaign trail,” the Guardian reports.

“Bannon appeared in front of 200 people at a firehouse outside Buffalo, New York, ostensibly to campaign for Republicans based in the area. But in a visceral demonstration of just how far Bannon’s stock has fallen since leaving the White House 14 months ago, none of those Republicans running for office turned up.”

Steve Bannon told Bloomberg that next month’s congressional elections will be a referendum on the president and that Republicans can still hang on to a slender House majority with the GOP base energized by the bitter confirmation fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Said Bannon: “I’ve called this now for many months to be his first re-elect. There’s a very narrow gate you have to go through but it’s doable. The Kavanaugh hearings gave us traction for the first time to try to, against all odds just like in ’16, to try to close strong and try to save it by a seat or two.”