ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Bannon returns to Breitbart after firing

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 19 Aug 2017, 6:07AM
Steve Bannon (PHOTO NZH)
Steve Bannon (PHOTO NZH)

Bannon returns to Breitbart after firing

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Sat, 19 Aug 2017, 6:07AM

President Donald Trump has fired Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist in the latest high-level White House shake-up, removing a powerful and controversial figure known for far-right political views.

Bannon was a force behind some of Trump's most contentious policies, including a travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority nations, and has fought with more moderate factions inside a White House riven with rivalries and back-stabbing.

Bannon's ousting comes as the president is increasingly isolated after his comments following white supremacist violence in Charlottesville last Saturday.

"White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Friday. "We are grateful for his service and wish him the best."

A champion of economic nationalism, Bannon, 63, is a former US Navy officer, Goldman Sachs investment banker and Hollywood movie producer.||

Its the latest in a series of upheavals in the White House, which has seen former chief of staff Reince Priebus replaced with retired General John Kelly.

Trump then sacked communications chief Anthony Scaramucci just 10 days after his hiring prompted Sean Spicer to abruptly resign as press secretary.

Kelly had been evaluating Bannon's role within the White House.

"They gave him an opportunity to step down knowing that he was going to be forced to," a source said.

Bannon damaged his standing by an interview this week in which he was seen to be undercutting Trump's position on North Korea. Bannon told associates he thought he was talking to an academic and that he was off the record.

He has told friends he could go back to Breitbart News, which he formerly headed.

The right-wing Breitbart News website is a forum for the "alt-right," a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semitics.

In recent weeks, Breitbart has published a series of articles making a case for Lieutenant General HR McMaster's outsing as national security advisor on the basis that he is not a strong ally of Israel and that he has staffed the National Security Council with holdovers from the Obama administration.

Critics have accused Bannon of harbouring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. In a 2007 court filing during divorce proceedings, Bannon's former wife accused him of making anti-Semitic comments on at least three occasions.

Steve Bannon has returned to Breitbart News after he was ousted as President Donald Trump's chief strategist.

Charlie Spiering, the White House correspondent for Breitbart, tweeted that Bannon returned as executive chairman and chaired their evening editorial meeting.

Breitbart also ran a story on Bannon's return.

"The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today," said Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow.

"Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda."

The move had been widely expected.

Breitbart already has been taking aim at some of Trump's advisers with whom Bannon clashed, including the president's economic adviser Gary Cohn.
Cohn, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and others are viewed as moderates and even Democrats by Bannon, determined to move Trump's agenda away from the kind of populism and nationalism he favours.

 

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you