Reports: Steve Bannon to be removed from White House adviser position

Impact

President Donald Trump has reportedly told aides that he will remove his controversial alt-right affiliated adviser, Steve Bannon.

According to a report in the New York Times, Trump and other senior White House officials have been contemplating how to dismiss Bannon for some time. Politico and the Washington Post followed with similar reports.

A source close to Bannon also told the Times that the departure was Bannon’s idea. The Times reported that Bannon had submitted his resignation to Trump on Aug. 7 and had planned the announcement for earlier this week, but it was delayed because of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Trump repeatedly referred to the chief strategist as “Mr. Bannon” and emphasized that he had joined Trump’s campaign “very late” in the race. When asked about the fate of Bannon, the president would only say, “We’ll see what happens.”

Bannon, who served as the head of Trump’s campaign in its final days and as senior counselor to the president during Trump’s administration, earned considerable notoriety for his ties to the alt-right and for his tenure running the far-right Breitbart News.

Vanity Fair’s Gabe Sherman reported that Bannon is expected to return to Breitbart after departing the White House.

Aug. 18, 2017, 1:16 p.m.: This story has been updated.