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Registered
People close to Steve Bannon tell NBC News he feels on safe ground amid White House infighting stemming from President Donald Trump's controversial response to the violence in Charlottesville.
Bannon, who has rarely given on-the-record interviews since assuming his position as Trump's chief White House strategist, reached out to speak with three news outlets in the past 48 hours, using those conversations to criticize colleagues, threaten to fire others and appearing to relish in the ongoing national racial tensions.
His comments signal that the former head of Breitbart News is digging in for the long-haul amid the turmoil and turnover that has roiled Trump's cohort of top advisers in recent weeks.
Bannon, in one interview with the American Prospect published late Wednesday, said his adversaries at the State and Defense Departments were "wetting themselves" and vowed he would soon be "changing out people" including Susan Thornton, the acting head of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department.
Bannon, who as Trump's campaign chief who was widely credited with helping the mogul cultivate support among the alt-right, also called that wing of the party "losers", "a fringe element," and a "collection of clowns."
Though he has survived a number of these episodes in the past, Bannon's stature within the White House has remained unclear in recent weeks.
In the past, Bannon has expressed quiet certainty when his job was thought to be on the line.
