Trump takes Bannon off National Security Council

Former Breitbart publisher initially put on White House panel to monitor disgraced former NSC head Michael Flynn, official says

By Agencies and ToI Staff 5 April 2017, 7:39 pm

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White House chief strategist Steve Bannon speaks to reporters as he leaves a House Republican conference meeting at the US Capitol on March 23, 2017. (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

US President Donald Trump has removed chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council, reversing a controversial early decision to give Bannon access to the high-level meetings.

A new memorandum about the composition of the NSC was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. The memo no longer lists the chief strategist as a member of the Principal’s Committee, a group of high-ranking officials who convene to discuss pressing national security priorities.

The new memo also restores the director of national intelligence and the Joint Chiefs chairman to the Principal’s Committee.

Bannon’s addition to the NSC sparked concern from Trump critics within Congress and the foreign policy establishment, who said it was inappropriate for the political adviser, who has little military experience, to play a role in national security matters.

US President Donald Trump, left, congratulates Senior Counselor to the President Stephen Bannon during the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. (AFP/Mandel Ngan)

Bernie Sanders called it “dangerous and unprecedented.” Republican Sen. John McCain called it a “radical departure” from recent history. Former Clinton adviser Robert Reich called Bannon “nuts and malicious.”

At the time, Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and a friend of the president, told The Associated Press, “Steve’s the main ideological mover of the administration. He’s the chief ideological officer and he has a strong point of view…I think the bond is their world view.”

In February, at least 14 Jewish Democrats were among the sponsors of a bill in the US House of Representatives to force Trump to remove Bannon from the NSC.

Bannon, the former executive chairman of the Breitbart News website, was the CEO of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

He called Breitbart a “platform for the alt-right,” which is a loose association of anti-establishment conservatives that has within its ranks anti-Semites as well as strident defenders of Israel.

The Bloomberg news site on Wednesday quoted a White House official as saying Trump had put Bannon onto the committee partly to monitor Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, who resigned in February amidst reports he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia.

The official reportedly said that Bannon had not attended any NSC meetings and was no longer needed now that Flynn’s place as NSC adviser is National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster.