Steve Bannon has reportedly been fired, with White House sources saying President Donald Trump axed his longtime supporter after suspecting he is behind a series of leaks about the administration.
Bannon was fired on Friday from his position as chief White House strategist, ABC News reported. There had been reports for weeks that he was on shaky ground, with his relationship with Donald Trump growing fractured.
Bannon has been one of the most controversial members of Trump’s inner circle, with his Breitbart News serving as a platform for the alt-right. That put Bannon squarely in the public crosshairs after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent over the weekend, leaving a counter-protester dead. While Bannon himself may not have espoused racist views, many critics have tied both Bannon and Breitbart News in for giving this contingent a platform for their views.
But it did not appear to be public pressure that led to Steve Bannon’s firing. A report from Axios just before Bannon’s firing was announced reported that Trump suspected Bannon of leaking information from within the White House.
“Bannon, who has run afoul of Trump in the past, is now suspected by the president of leaking about his West Wing colleagues,” the report noted. “And Trump resents the publicity Bannon has been getting as mastermind of the campaign.”
Bannon was reportedly in danger this week after giving an unsolicited interview with American Prospect in which he appeared to undercut Donald Trump’s threats against North Korea. As the Guardian reported, Bannon noted that there was “no military solution” for North Korea, contradicting Trump’s threat of bringing “fire and fury” to North Korea.
Steve Bannon Out at the White House https://t.co/uY2qW7LU1N pic.twitter.com/GbguGtdNYp
— TheStreet (@TheStreet) August 18, 2017
BREAKING: Steve Bannon out as White House chief strategist, @ABC News has learned. https://t.co/n7TqA3E2wo pic.twitter.com/eeH3TRHBoO
— ABC News (@ABC) August 18, 2017
Trump was reportedly also upset that Steve Bannon was widely regarded as the “mastermind” that launched the Trump campaign and helped him reach the White House, the Guardian noted. Trump is reportedly very defensive about White House aides who outshine him, and Bannon’s perceived role as the power behind the Trump presidency likely does not sit well with Trump, the report speculated.
Steve Bannon’s firing came after he reportedly escaped the chopping block before. There had been a number of previous rumors that Donald Trump was planning to fire the chief adviser, but Bannon managed to escape with his job intact because of his longstanding relationship with Trump and connections to the wealthy Mercer family, one of the chief backers of Trump during the 2016 campaign.
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