Trump fires chief strategist...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, the blunt-spoken and divisive strategist who rose from Donald Trump's conservative campaign to a top White House post, was pushed out by the president Friday, capping a turbulent seven months marked by the departure of much of Trump's original senior staff.
A favorite in the farther-right portions of the Republican Party, Bannon had pressed Trump to follow through on some of his most contentious campaign promises, including his travel ban for some foreigners and his decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement. He returned as executive chairman to Breitbart News, which he led before joining Trump's campaign, and presided at its Friday evening editorial meeting, the news site announced.
Trump now has forced out his hard-line national security adviser, his chief of staff, his press secretary (whose last day will be Aug. 31) and two communications directors — in addition to the FBI director he inherited from President Barack Obama.
Bannon's departure is especially significant since he was viewed by many as Trump's connection to his base of most-committed voters and the protector of the disruptive, conservative agenda that propelled the celebrity businessman to the White House.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow if Steve is gone because you have a Republican West Wing that’s filled with generals and Democrats,” former campaign strategist Sam Nunberg said shortly before the news of Bannon’s departure broke. “It would feel like the twilight zone.”
From Breitbart, there was a dramatic one-word warning.
“#WAR,” tweeted Joel B. Pollak, a senior editor at large at the news site.
Indeed, Bannon’s nationalistic, outsider conservatism served as a guid-
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has lost another informal adviser from the business world: billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who gave the White House guidance on its deregulation efforts.
Icahn said in a letter to Trump released Friday that he is stepping down to prevent "partisan bickering" about his unofficial role that Democrats suggested could benefit him financially. Trump lost a pair of business advisory councils on Wednesday over his inability to condemn the role ing force for Trump’s rise to office. He injected a dark populism into the campaign and sharpened its attacks on Democrat Hillary Clinton, encouraging Trump’s instinct to fight and counterpunch at every turn. When the release of a 2005 tape, in which Trump can be heard boasting about groping women, threatened to capsize the Republican’s campaign, Bannon attempted to white supremacists played in violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.
But Icahn — who made his name and fortune as a corporate raider in the 1980s — indicated that his resignation was due to criticism regarding the appearance of possible ethical conflicts.
"I never had access to non-public information or profited from my position, nor do I believe that my role presented conflicts of interest," Icahn wrote.
He added that, out of an abundance of caution, he had limited his input to turn the tables by gathering a group of women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and trying to ambush the Democratic nominee at a general election debate.
Without him, Trump’s agenda is left in the hands of more moderate advisers, including his son-in-law, his oldest daughter and his economic adviser, whom Bannon has slammed as “globalist.” broad matters of policy about the oilrefining industry. Icahn controls a sizable stake in refiner CVR Energy. As an unofficial adviser, Icahn wasn't required to submit financial records to the Office of Government Ethics to address any conflicts of interest.
Icahn also said he was stepping down because he didn't want to cloud the work of Neomi Rao, who as head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is the administration's point person on regulations.