GOP Rep: Bannon ‘had to go’ after undermining Trump

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) praised Stephen Bannon’s White House exit, saying the former right-wing strategist had to go after undermining President Trump. 

“The White House has just not been functioning. There’s been leaks coming out, one faction is undermining another,” King told John Catsimatidis on New York’s AM 970 in an interview that aired on Sunday. 

“The president brought in John Kelly to be his chief of staff. General Kelly is a four-star general in the Marines. He was the secretary of Homeland Security. He’s one of the most honest, intelligent, decent people I have ever met. For him to do the job as chief of staff, he had to eliminate all of that internal skirmishing and fighting. Unfortunately, Steve Bannon had become a part of the problem,” he said. 

King’s comments come after it was revealed Bannon would resign from his White House post, after speculation swirled last week his departure was imminent. 

{mosads}Bannon gave what many called a bizarre interview to the liberal publication “The American Prospect” last week in which he said his rivals in the administration were “wetting themselves” at the thought of being ousted by him. 

Bannon also told the publication that there was no military solution to the ongoing nuclear tensions with North Korea, a statement that directly broke with the White House message on North Korea.

“He was publicly disagreeing with the president’s policy on North Korea. And this was the policy of President Trump, Secretary [of Defense James] Mattis, Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson, and the chairman of the national security council Gen. [H.R.] McMaster. For him to go public and basically tell North Korea that we have no military option against them, that was undermining the president of the United States,” King said. 

“The White House could not function with him there,” he added. 

Bannon promptly returned to Breitbart as the conservative publication’s executive chairman after his departure was announced and blasted his former workplace in an interview with the Weekly Standard.

“The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” he said. “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over.”