President Donald Trump reorganized his National Security Council on Wednesday, removing his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and downgrading the role of his Homeland Security Adviser, Tom Bossert, according to a person familiar with the decision and a regulatory filing.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was given responsibility for setting the agenda for meetings of the NSC or the Homeland Security Council, and was authorized to delegate that authority to Bossert, at his discretion, according to the filing.
Under the move, the national intelligence director, Dan Coats, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, are again “regular attendees” of the NSC’s principals committee.
Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, was elevated to the National Security Council’s principals committee at the beginning of Trump’s presidency. The move drew criticism from some members of Congress and Washington’s foreign policy establishment.
Trump’s move comes as new polling showing that Bannon is even less popular than the president , who is viewed unfavorably by more Americans than any other president at this point in his term.
The Quinnipiac poll showed that just 11 percent of those surveyed having a favorable opinion and 45 percent having an unfavorable one — a 4-to-1 negative.
Bannon is a self-styled nationalist who was one of the brains behind Trump’s “America First” policy.
But his pugnacious style irritated many in Congress as well as his own colleagues in the administration.
BLOOMBERG
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.