How Charlottesville Shook Up Plans for Bannon's Exit

He says it's the most divided administration in history
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2017 3:11 AM CDT
Sources: After Charlottesville, Bannon Wanted to Stay On
Steve Bannon steps off Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. earlier this one.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Steve Bannon had planned an orderly departure from the White House, but it was scuppered by the violence in Charlottesville, insiders say. Sources tell the New York Times that new White House chief of staff John Kelly told the White House strategist in July that he would have to leave and they agreed on a date in mid-August, marking a year since Bannon joined the Trump team. But after Charlottesville, Bannon sought to push back the Aug. 14 departure date and stay on until at least Labor Day, worried that it would look like his departure was a response to events, the insiders say. He ended up leaving within days anyway after contradicting Trump's foreign policy in an interview with a liberal magazine.

The insiders say that Bannon's departure was hastened by the "mutual disgust" between himself and the couple he called "Javanka" behind their backs: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Bannon, who has now returned to Breitbart News, tells the Washington Post that he expects the turbulence in the Republican Party and the White House to continue. "No administration in history has been so divided among itself about the direction about where it should go," he says. According to Vanity Fair, Bannon now plans to use Breitbart to continue his feud with Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and other administration figures including National Security Adviser HR McMaster. (Here's what President Trump had to say about Bannon's departure.)

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