A group of Breitbart News Network board members are pushing to have Steve Bannon removed from his role as chairman, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The drama is fallout from a multitude of defamatory comments from Bannon directed at Trump and his family, revealed this week in a new book detailing the first year of the Trump White House. Beyond his own statements, Bannon has been accused of enabling author Michael Wolff’s unbelievable access to Trump’s inner circle.
Board members seeking the Breitbart mastermind’s ouster include longtime financial backer of Bannon’s, Rebekah Mercer, who along with her father Robert Mercer, has moved to quickly distance herself from Bannon.
While tweeting about the Breitbart-Bannon fallout on Thursday, conservative pundit Matt Drudge also suggested Bannon’s newfound isolation has driven him into the arms of eccentric Chinese billionaire exile Guo Wengui, aka Miles Kwok.
LIFE AFTER MERCER! BANNON FINDS NEW BILLIONAIRE, MILES KWOK… https://t.co/s6DOsoRCXS
— DRUDGE REPORT (Not Matt) Text TRUMP to 88022 (@DRUDGE_REPORT) January 4, 2018
Guo, a member of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, is wanted by the Chinese government in relation to at least 19 criminal cases, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Commentary on political news website Axios speculated Thursday on the potential partnership between the two unconventional outcasts. “Drudge provides no further evidence beyond the tweet, but I have been hearing similar things,” wrote DC-based China watcher Bill Bishop.
“Given Bannon’s apparent issues with donors, Kwok and Bannon’s convergent views of the PRC, and their love of the spotlight, this could be an interesting partnership. That is, until it collapses in recrimination, as every partnership eventually seems to do for both men.”