In a resignation letter, Sebastian Gorka cited "forces" that do not support President Trump's "MAGA promise" as being ascendant in the White House. White House aide Sebastian Gorka ousted from post

Sebastian Gorka, a deputy assistant to the president who was closely aligned with former chief strategist Steve Bannon, was ousted from the White House, officials said Friday.

In a resignation letter, published Friday night by The Federalist and confirmed by POLITICO, Gorka cited “forces” that do not support President Donald Trump’s “MAGA promise” as those that drove him out of the White House.


But a White House official indicated in a statement that Gorka had been forced out: "Sebastian Gorka did not resign, but I can confirm he no longer works at the White House," the official said.

In the resignation letter, Gorka wrote: “Regrettably, outside of yourself, the individuals who most embodied and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in recent months,” Gorka wrote.

A second White House aide said Gorka's departure was a continuation of new White House chief of staff John Kelly's effort to shape president's staff. "Questions remain," the aide said, about whether Sebastian Gorka's wife, Katie Gorka, an official at the Department of Homeland Security, would stay on after her husband's White House departure.

Gorka's departure came one week to the day after Bannon was fired from his White House position.

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The latest high-profile resignation from the populist faction of Trump’s ideologically divided West Wing erupted over a major policy disagreement about Afghanistan. Gorka, a White House official said, disagreed with Trump’s decision to dispatch more American troops to Afghanistan, a tortured decision the president outlined in his first national security address, on Tuesday night.

In his resignation letter, Gorka wrote that “the fact that those who drafted and approved the speech removed any mention of Radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism proves that a crucial element of your presidential campaign has been lost.”

The news of Gorka’s departure was greeted with resignation by Trump loyalists, who believe the president has handed over too much power to military officers and former generals — including his new chief of staff, John Kelly, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster — and is losing any connection to the base that elected him.

“I guess that means the seven-day-in-May crowd is making steady progress and trying to convert the Trump administration to George Soros-style globalism,” said political operative Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser and confidant. “The decision over Afghanistan was very disappointing. I’m sorry that Gorka is leaving. He’s one of the few people who actually voted for Trump and understands Trump’s worldview.”

Stone, who helped Trump think through his presidential bid, warned that while he is not yet throwing in the towel on the Trump presidency, “I can find another candidate for 2020 who can win the primary, believe me.”

Gorka was closely aligned with Bannon, and often attended meetings as Bannon’s surrogate and worked with his former Breitbart colleague in his West Wing office.

Internally, Bannon was his biggest defender against skeptics who accused him of holding anti-Semitic views and playing up his intellectual status by insisting on going by “Dr. Sebastian Gorka.” But he was not seen as a power player in the administration other than as an effective television surrogate. That role endeared him to Trump but made him thin-skinned about the media that covered him: He often blocked mainstream-media journalists from following him on Twitter.

It was not clear whether Gorka, like Bannon, would return to Breitbart News, where he previously served as national security editor.

Eliana Johnson and Tim Starks contributed to this report.