A White House aide who was Steve Bannon’s deputy is leaving the Trump administration less than three weeks after the former chief strategist was fired, CNN has learned.
Andy Surabian, who served as a strategist under Bannon and a special assistant to President Donald Trump, worked his last day on Tuesday. He will now become a senior adviser for the “Great America Alliance,” a group that is tied to the super PAC run by former Ronald Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins, “Great America PAC.”
Axios first reported Surabian’s White House departure.
In his departure, Surabian will stay closely tied to Bannon, a source familiar with the move said, and will serve as the main channel to him for the outside world, including coordinating his interviews and speeches.
“He will be involved in everything Bannon does,” the source told CNN.
However, not all of Bannon’s allies are following him out of the White House.
Julia Hahn, who served as a deputy policy strategist under Bannon and formerly wrote about immigration for Breitbart News, is expected to remain in the administration. She will take on a new, more defined role, a White House official told CNN, but the details of that position have not yet been finalized.
Bannon was forced out of the White House in mid-August, three weeks after retired Gen. John Kelly became the President’s chief of staff. In his time at the White House, Bannon was one of the most controversial staffers, and was generally perceived as one of the driving forces behind Trump’s nationalist ideology.
Trump had stewed over his chief strategist in the days before he fired him, especially after he was quoted in an interview with the American Prospect contradicting the President on North Korea and asserting that he was able to make personnel changes at the State Department.
Bannon has since returned to his role as the executive chairman of Breitbart News.