Trump: ‘We’ll see what happens’ with strategist Bannon

The status of Steve Bannon's job is still undecided, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, amid an ongoing review of White House staffing and as his chief strategist has become increasingly isolated in the West Wing.

“We’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon," Trump said at a news conference on infrastructure at Trump Tower in New York City. "He is a good person, and I think the press treats him frankly unfairly.”


Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, has been increasingly isolated in the West Wing after reports by Breitbart and other conservative outlets that attacked his colleagues. Bannon has also come under criticism for his involvement with the so-called alt-right, especially after that group was tied to a weekend rally in Charlottesville, Va., that turned deadly.

“I like him. He is a good man. He is not a racist,” Trump said of Bannon. “I can tell you that. He is a good person.”

Bannon has survived sharp criticism before, though aides to the president have indicated that Bannon could get pushed out by new chief of staff John Kelly. Kelly, a general brought in to restore order to a chaotic West Wing, has spent recent weeks reviewing current White House staff for any possible personnel changes.

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Bannon has drawn scrutiny for having a large staff but no clearly defined role, as well as for having an outside public relations team working for him. Several aides also have blamed Bannon for a recent push by some Trump supporters to publish negative stories about National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, who has serious policy differences with the populist strategist.

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted less than two weeks in the job last month, told late-night host Stephen Colbert Monday that Bannon should be fired.

"If it was up to me, he would be gone," Scaramucci said. "But it's not up to me."

While Trump said Bannon was a friend Tuesday, he also said the strategist joined his 2016 campaign late in the game; Bannon became the campaign's chief executive in August 2016. Trump has since chafed at media reports that credited Bannon for the November election win.

In an April interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump called himself his own strategist. Bannon, he said, was "a guy who works for me."

