(JTA) — Stephen Bannon, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, has been removed from the National Security Council as part of a reorganization.
Bloomberg first reported the removal on Wednesday after it was published in a Federal Register notice.
The reorganization also reinstates the national intelligence director, Dan Coats, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, as regular attendees at the meetings.
Critics of Bannon’s appointment to the NSC, including many Jewish groups and lawmakers, had opposed a political official serving in a national security role. In February, at least 14 Jewish Democrats were among the sponsors of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to force Trump to remove Bannon from the NSC.
Bannon, the former executive chairman of the Breitbart News website, was the CEO of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
He called Breitbart a “platform for the alt-right,” which is a loose association of anti-establishment conservatives that has within its ranks anti-Semites as well as strident defenders of Israel.
Politico reported that Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior adviser, has been critical of Bannon, telling sources that Bannon’s hard-right nationalism is hurting the president.
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