US President Donald Trump’s embattled chief strategist Steve Bannon on Saturday left his position, a top White House official said, without elaborating whether he was fired, or resigned.
Bannon, 63, who played a key role in the electoral victory of Trump last year, became the fourth high-profile White House official to have left the Trump administration in recent weeks. The other three being White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci.
Over the past few days, there had been an increasing demand from Trump’s political opponents, Democrats in particular, to fire all those from the White House who are
believed to be close to right wing nationalists.
leading such a demand was Indian-American Congresswoman from Washington State Pramila Jayapal. The sudden departure of Bannon, a former editor of right- wing Breirbart news website, from the White House was celebrated by Democratic leaders and civil rights activists, who described this as a welcome step and demanded that Trump fire other right-wing nationalists within the White House.
“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
“We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,” Sanders said, thus bringing down the curtains on Bannon, who played a key role in electoral victory of Trump last year. The White House announcement comes three days after Trump said of Bannon, “I like him, he’s a good man.” He also said that press treats him “very unfairly.
The move was welcomed by Democratic leaders, civil rights activist and members of the diplomatic and think-tank community.