Vegas Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson issued a statement on Monday that he will not support former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s efforts to defeat GOP establishment-aligned Senate incumbents in 2018.

Bannon and his conservative allies plan to replace these incumbents with Republican primary challengers who support the populist and economic nationalist agenda that propelled President Trump to victory.

Alex Isenstadt and Josh Dawsey report in Politico:

“The Adelsons will not be supporting Steve Bannon’s efforts,” said Andy Abboud, an Adelson spokesman. “They are supporting Mitch McConnell 100 percent. For anyone to infer anything otherwise is wrong.” The public pronouncement comes about a month after Adelson met with Bannon in Washington. Bannon has been huddling with major Republican contributors across the country in hopes of building a war chest to take on party lawmakers. Bannon aides said they were not surprised by the news, given that Adelson has a long track record of generously backing establishment causes. They said they never expected Adelson’s financial support. … Bannon had been slated to introduce Adelson and his spouse, Miriam, at [the Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner on Sunday night], according to a copy of the program. The Adelsons, however, did not make it to the event, one person close to the couple said — in part because Adelson was concerned that appearing publicly with Bannon would be seen as a tacit endorsement of his efforts.

Read the rest here.