Is Steve Bannon’s Ouster From National Security Council A Win For Jared Kushner?
Trump campaign CEO Stephen Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News. Image by Getty Images
President Trump on Wednesday yanked his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, off the National Security Council in a possible victory for rival aide Jared Kushner.
Bannon’s removal from the NSC, which includes senior members of Trump’s foreign policy team, was seen by some as a boost to national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who officials said has struggled to work together with Bannon.
It also might signal that moderates within the administration, including Kushner and chief of staff Reince Preibus, may be making headway in sidelining the former Breitbart News head and unapologetic white nationalist.
Because he is a political adviser with no experience handling sensitive matters like foreign intelligence and threats to the homeland, Bannon’s appointment as a principal to the NSC rankled within the national security establishment when it was announced in January. While Bannon was elevated to a principal, the attendance of of the head of national intelligence and the military’s joint chiefs of staff chairman was changed to optional.
The White House at the time defended its move, asserting that Bannon’s service in the Navy and familiarity with “geopolitical affairs” qualified him for the position.—With Reuters
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
