Breitbart News announced on Tuesday that Steve Bannon, former White House Chief Strategist, would be stepping down as executive chairman of the company, The New York Times reports.
According to ABC News, Bannon had been facing substantial criticism after the release of Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, in which several scathing remarks that Bannon made about President Trump and the Trump family are quoted. A source told ABC News that Breitbart began discussions last week to decide is Bannon should remain at the company since his comments in the book, as well as his other political activities, were hurting the company.
Rebekah Mercer, a financial patron of Breitbart and high-profile Republican donor, according to The New York Times, may have been the reason that Bannon was forced out due to his remarks about Trump.
“She wasn’t going to put real effort into Breitbart as long as he was there,” a source close to Mercer told ABC News.
Bannon had been the executive chairman of Breitbart since 2012 until he left in 2016 and 2017 to work for the Trump campaign and then the administration as White House Chief Strategist, ABC News reports.
However, due to clashing with Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, Bannon was forced out of the White House after only eight months, The New York Times reports.
In a statement on Breitbart’s website, Bannon said that he was “proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform.”
Larry Solov, Breitbart CEO, said, “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.”
SiriusXM who has a programming agreement with Breitbart said that Bannon would no longer be hosting on its programming, ABC News reports.
According to The New York Times, the statement said that Bannon and Breitbart will work together on a smooth transition.