Steve Bannon has been booted from his role on the National Security Council, according to documents filed Tuesday in the Federal registry, reversing one of President Trump’s most controversial decisions, and possibly signaling Bannon’s retreat from influence.
The filing also adds Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, to the NSC.
Bannon was added to the lineup in January, after Trump signed an executive memorandum authorizing his placement on the committee, typically made up of generals and intelligence experts – not senior White House Advisers (though Valerie Jarrett was said to have attended some NSC meetings during the Obama era).
The memo demoted Coats and Dunford, who were welcome at the NSC only if their respective departments were on the agenda.
The move was unprecedented, and caused furor even among Republicans who felt Bannon was taking too large a role in dictating Trump Administration policy. Today’s decision to remove Bannon appears to be well-received as the right move, building confidence in Trump’s team to assess serious foreign policy issues.
A source close to Bannon told media that Bannon left the group of his own accord, and claimed that since Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn was no longer on the council, it didn’t need a moderating force.
“He was there to babysit [former National Security Adviser Michael] Flynn, to watch him as he ‘de-operationalized’ the NSC from [Obama-era National Security Adviser Susan] Rice,” the source said. “Mission done.”
But its also possible that after a spate of high-profile failures, including the doomed-from-the-start Obamacare replacement, Bannon’s influence within the Trump White House has waned. His late-night berating of the House Freedom Caucus fell on deaf ears, and there’s been a steady stream of bizarre Bannon-focused anecdotes flowing from White House sources to members of the press.
Perennial gadfly and former Trump aide Roger Stone claims that’s the work of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and he may not be wrong: Kushner, not “military buff” Bannon, was the Trump White House’s first unofficial emissary to Iraq, and officials on the ground there would likely have given Kushner their thoughts on how the White House was handling things on the ground.
Kushner, of course, traveled with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dunford, who is now a permanent member of the NSC. That may not be a coincidence. Kushner has a direct line to his father-in-law and Trump is said to have signed off on the changes.