More Like (Forced to) LEAVE (Breitbart) Bannon

Former top Trump aide Steve Bannon is stepping down as executive chairman of Breitbart News, the site announced on Tuesday.

The New York Times, which broke the news, reported that Bannon’s departure was “forced by a onetime financial patron, Rebekah Mercer.”

The ouster came about a week after news broke that Bannon had been quoted questioning President Donald Trump’s intelligence and slamming his son, Donald Trump Jr., in Fire and Fury, the new tell-all by Michael Wolff. Bannon has been under siege from the right for not immediately refuting those statements, and the White House has since attempted to distance itself from its former chief strategist.

“Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish,” Breitbart CEO Larry Solov said in a statement Tuesday.

“I’m proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform,” Bannon said in the statement.