Steve Bannon, the man credited with getting Donald Trump into the White House, is now out at Breitbart News, the Huffington Post reports. Bannon returned to the organization last year after working in the West Wing; he helped to found the news outlet, and began serving as its executive chairman following the death of its first leader, Andrew Breitbart, in 2012.

According to the Wall Street Journal, rumors first began to swirl about Bannon being booted out of the organization last week, after two of Bannon's wealthiest boosters, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, began to distance themselves from him.

In a statement on his departure, Bannon said, “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.”

Breitbart's current CEO, Larry Solov, acknowledged the role Bannon played in making the site what it is today in his statement on the move.

“Steve is a valued part of our legacy," Solov said, "And we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish.”

All this comes after Bannon offended President Trump last week through statements attributed to him in Michael Wolff's new book on the Trump era, Fire and Fury.

Bannon offers wide-ranging criticism of the Trump administration in the book. About the now-infamous meeting with a Russian lawyer Donald Trump, Jr. set up on behalf of his father, Bannon apparently told Wolff, “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers. Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.”

Immediately after excerpts of the book appeared online, President Trump slammed Bannon, who he began to call "Sloppy Steve." Last Wednesday, Trump said Bannon “has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”

Bannon was a senior adviser to the president until August of last year. At the time, it seemed that he had left of his own volition, although some reporting found, as the president now says, that he was fired.

Rebekah Mercer, who is a financial backer of Breitbart, also made it clear that she is not on #TeamBannon.

In an interview with the Washington Post she stated, “I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected. My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”

Bannon has not yet announced what he plans to do next, but has promised to do so "soon."

I am proud of what we have achieved with Breitbart News. As I now step down I leave at a world-class news platform that has come a long way but has really just begun it’s mission. And you have not heard the last from me, new announcements coming up soon!#MAGA

— Steven Bannon (@SteveKBannon) January 9, 2018

Michael Woff

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