Something had to be done about Steve Bannon after his comments to a leftist publication about military options for North Korea and his statements about the use of race as a political issue, Rep. Pete King told Newsmax TV on Friday.
"If Gen. [John] Kelly was going to be given the power or the responsibility of getting things under control what Steve Bannon did the other day by giving that interview really undermined the whole chain of command within the White House," the New York Republican told Newsmax TV's Brett Winterble on "The Brett Winterble Show."
Bannon, in his interview, publicly told North Korea that he disagrees with the president and administration, and "you can't have a staff person undermining American foreign policy in such a key issue in such a vital time."
Also, his comments "saying he would welcome the Democrats using races and issue because that worked to the Republicans' benefit" were "toxic," said King.
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Letting Bannon go will separate Trump from some of the recent chaos, King said, and will allow Kelly and Trump to go forward without internal feuds.
Trump works well with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Kelly, said King.
"You can't have somebody within that inner circle undermining or leaking out what's going on," said King. "I've heard this from many number of people at the White House that the leaks have been killing him."
There are always White House leaks, said King, "the amount of leaking on key national security issues and on leaks that affect the president's own agenda" left one person hurt the most: Trump.
"You cannot have the one top presidential aide leaking against the other because the real victim of that ends up being the president of the United States," said King, "so I know this had to be done."
Meanwhile, he does think Trump needs to step back and reassess the battlefield.
"The Democrats have been very unfair to the president," he said. "The reality is the president has to realize that and he can't be giving his enemies or his opponents every issue to use against him.... I think sometimes the president feels compelled that if he's attacked on something to double down. Don't do that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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