The NAACP says it is pleased with the departure on Friday of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon Stephen (Steve) Kevin BannonJuan Williams: Swamp creature at the White House Engineers say privately funded border wall is poorly constructed and set to fail: report Bannon and Maxwell cases display DOJ press strategy chutzpah MORE – but his resignation doesn't remedy President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE's defense of hate groups.

"The NAACP is glad to see Steve Bannon out of the White House,” Derrick Johnson, the group's interim president and CEO said in a statement.

"Ousting one key staffer, however, can’t erase the words used by President Trump this week in defense of domestic terrorists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. President Trump provided permission for these hate groups to exist."

ADVERTISEMENT

Bannon, who left his role as executive chair of Breitbart News last year to serve as chief executive of Trump's campaign, was widely seen as a driving force behind the president's populist-nationalist agenda, and was accused by critics of pushing racist policies.

The NAACP also called on Trump to oust "the people who share Steve Bannon’s poisonous beliefs," including senior policy adviser Stephen Miller Stephen MillerTrump confirms another White House staffer tested positive for COVID-19 Biden pick creates furor, underscoring bitterness over Obama immigration policy Ambassador to France says Trump never disparaged war dead MORE and national security aide Sebastian Gorka Sebastian Lukacs GorkaSunday shows preview: Trump, lawmakers weigh in on COVID-19, masks and school reopenings amid virus surge Trump taps Gorka for national security advisory board Sunday shows preview: Coronavirus poses questions about school safety; Trump commutes Roger Stone sentence MORE.

Trump has faced mounting pressure in recent days to disavow hate groups after he appeared during a Tuesday news conference to equate white nationalists with counterprotesters who had turned out in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend to oppose them.

In that press conference, Trump also criticized those he called "alt-left" demonstrators, accusing them of violently confronting racist groups protesting the city of Charlottesville's decision to remove a Confederate statue from a park.

Trump's comments on the matter have reignited a national debate over Confederate statues and monuments and whether they should be removed from government buildings and public locations.