Story highlights The message came after the ideological divide between the senior aides spilled into the open through media reports

Bannon has told associates an extended battle with Kushner -- and by extension Ivanka Trump -- is "unwinnable"

(CNN) Amid the croquet players and lunch guests mingling at Mar-a-Lago Friday, a more sober gathering was unfolding under the palms.

Steve Bannon, the bomb-throwing former Breitbart executive who serves as President Donald Trump's chief strategist, was huddling at an out-of-the-way table with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner in an attempt to broker peace in a deepening -- and, increasingly, distracting -- rift between rival West Wing factions.

As Trump grew frustrated with the clear tensions between Bannon and Kushner, his ascendant senior adviser, he insisted they work out their differences.

"We gotta work this out," Trump told the pair on Thursday, according to a White House official. "Cut it out."

The message came after the ideological divide between Bannon and Kushner, which had split White House staffers and stood poised to determine the administration's agenda moving forward, had spilled into the open through media reports.

Read More