WASHINGTON (AP) β Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is stepping down as chairman of Breitbart News Network after a public break with President Donald Trump.
Breitbart announced Tuesday that Bannon would step down as executive chairman of the conservative news site, less than a week after Bannonβs explosive criticisms of Trump and his family were published in a new book.
A report on the Breitbart website quotes Bannon saying, βIβm proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform.β
Trump lashed out at Bannon for comments made in Michael Wolffβs βFire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,β which questions the presidentβs fitness for office. As Trump aides called him disloyal and disgraceful, the president branded his former chief strategist on Twitter as βSloppy Steve,β an apparent reference to Bannonβs often unkempt appearance, and declared that βhe lost his mindβ when he was pushed out of the White House last August.
After days of silence amid withering criticism from his former colleagues and his largest benefactor, Bannon tried to make amends. He issued a statement Sunday praising the presidentβs eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., whom he was quoted accusing of treasonous behavior in the book. Bannon did not apologize for his criticism of the presidentβs daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, with whom he had squabbled inside the West Wing.
Bannonβs departure from Breitbart came as a shock to some of his allies. One said Bannon was telling people as recently as Monday that he expected to stay on.
Inside the White House, Bannon was viewed as the keeper of Trumpβs nationalistic flame, charting the progress on the presidentβs promises to his base on dry erase boards in his office. But Bannon was marginalized in the months before his ouster over Trumpβs concerns that the top aide was being viewed as an Oval Office puppeteer.
The White House did not immediately respond to the news of Bannonβs ouster, but press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week called on the conservative site β which has been a steadfast backer of the president β to βlook at and considerβ parting ways with Bannon.
On Monday, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Bannonβs apology did not alter his standing with the president. βI donβt believe thereβs any way back for Mr. Bannon at this point,β Gidley said.
