US President Donald Trump Fires Chief Strategist Steve Bannon

The New York Times, however, cited a person close to Bannon as saying he had submitted his resignation on August 7 and that it was to be announced this week. (Reuters)

Washington: US President Donald Trump has fired his chief strategist Steve Bannon, who is largely credited with getting Trump to the White House.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Bannon and Chief of Staff John Kelly agreed Friday would be his last day. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,” Sanders said in a statement.

The New York Times cited a person close to Bannon as saying he had submitted his resignation on August 7 and that it was to be announced this week, but had been delayed by the fallout from a rally by white nationalists in Virginia over the weekend.

Bannon damaged his standing by giving an interview to the liberal American Prospect this week in which he was seen to be undercutting Trump’s position on North Korea.

Bannon told associates he thought he was talking to an academic and thought he was off the record. He has told friends he could go back to the right-wing Breitbart News outlet if he were to leave the White House.

Bannon is the third high-profile White House official to have been fired in recent weeks. The other two being the White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and the White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer. The White House announcement comes three days after Trump said of Bannon, “I like him, he’s a good man”. He also said that press treats him “very unfairly”.