Steve Bannon, the former Donald Trump campaign CEO who spent six months working in the White House and returned to his old life at the helm of Breitbart News in August, is stepping down from the conservative website.
The New York Times reported Tuesday on the departure of the outspoken ideologue whom Trump re-branded as ‘Sloppy Steve’ following the publication of a loosely reported tell-all book last week.
A source close to Bannon confirmed that his departure was the product of a revolt on the publication’s board of directors, led by longtime financier and donor Rebekah Mercer.
Trump has given no quarter in his caustic regard for Bannon following the release of Michael Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury.’
He tweeted last week that the political gossip tome is ‘full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist.’
‘Look at this guy’s past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!’
Bannon brought Wolff into the White House and persuaded an unknown number of administration officials to cooperate with him.
And Bannon himself spoke harshly of Trump and his son Donald Jr. in the book, at one point calling the younger Trump ‘treasonous’ for holding a campaign-year meeting that included a Russian lawyer.
Breitbart CEO Larry Solov told the Times that the company will find a way to transition Bannon out the door smoothly.
Bannon said in a prepared statement that he was ‘proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform.’
The Mercers, including Rebekah’s father Robert, a billionaire financier, had already cut ties with Bannon and said they would no longer fund his political projects.
That backlash came after Bannon’s failed attempt to shepherd the controversial former judge Roy Moore to the finish line of a U.S. Senate race Republicans expected to win in deep-red Alabama.
Moore defeated Trump’s chosen candidate Luther Strange in a primary race but then was beset with accusations that he had fondled teen girls when he was in his 30s.