The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff, Wire Reports
Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:21 PM
Stephen Bannon Steps Down As Chairman Of Breitbart News
Stephen Bannon has stepped down as
executive chairman of the pro-Trump, populist website Breitbart News,
less than a week after a dramatic falling out with President Trump.
Breitbart announced the news Tuesday afternoon on its website, saying it
would work together with Bannon on “a smooth and orderly transition.”
“I’m proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a
period of time in building out a world-class news platform,” Bannon said
in a statement on the site.
“Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful
for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish,”
Breitbart CEO Larry Solov said.
John Roberts reports from the White House on statements made to Fox News
about the tell-all book.Video
Steve Bannon clarifies comments made in 'Fire and Fury'
A source at Breitbart told Fox News that staffers were told after news
of Bannon's departure broke that “we will continue doing what we do as
well as anybody in the world, and that is report the news.”
His departure also means Bannon will lose his radio platform.
"Breitbart News has decided to end its relationship with Stephen K.
Bannon, therefore he will no longer host on SiriusXM since our
programming agreement is with Breitbart News," SiriusXM said in a
statement.
Last week, Trump issued a blistering, four-paragraph takedown of Bannon,
after the former adviser was quoted in a new anti-Trump book speaking
ill of members of the president’s family.
"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was
fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."
- President Trump
“Steve Bannon
has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Trump said last week. “When
he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a
staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by
defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented
field ever assembled in the Republican Party.”
Bannon is a dominant figure in Michael Wolff's new book, “Fire and Fury:
Inside the Trump White House.” The president was so enraged by the book
that his lawyers demanded that the publisher halt the book's
publication, a request that was rejected.
Trump’s attorney also has sent a “cease and desist” notice to Bannon,
arguing he violated a non-disclosure agreement signed during the
campaign by disclosing confidential information, speaking to the media
about the campaign and disparaging members of the Trump family.
Bannon spent just over a year formally working for the president,
leaving the White House in August and returning to Breitbart News.
When he left the White House last summer, Bannon said he would work to
help Trump and wage a populist campaign from the outside.
“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the
White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents -- on
Capitol Hill, in the media and in corporate America,” Bannon said at the
time.
During a news briefing last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah
Sanders was asked if Breitbart should cut ties with Bannon, leading her
to say: “I certainly think it's something they should consider and look
at.”
Bannon joined Trump’s team in August 2016, when he was tapped as chief
executive of the campaign.
After Trump won the presidential race, Bannon was appointed to a senior
adviser role at the same time that Reince Priebus was named chief of
staff.
Alex Pappas is a politics reporter at FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter
at @AlexPappas.
