In Battle for Trump’s Heart and Mind, It’s Bannon vs. Kushner -
By MAGGIE HABERMAN, JEREMY W. PETERS and PETER BAKERAPRIL 6, 2017
WASHINGTON — Thick with tension, the conversation this week between Stephen K. Bannon, the chief White House strategist,
and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, had deteriorated to the point of breakdown.
Stone Jr., an on-and-off adviser to Mr. Trump for 30 years, accused Mr. Kushner of planting negative
views of Mr. Bannon on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” a show the president is known to watch.
While alliances have been fluid in this White House, Mr. Kushner is joined by more centrist-minded advisers including not only his wife, Ivanka Trump, who now has her own West Wing office,
but also Gary Cohn, the president’s national economics adviser, and Dina Powell, a deputy national security adviser, both veterans of Goldman Sachs.
“Many of the anti-Steve Bannon stories that you see, the themes
that you see on ‘Morning Joe,’ are being dictated by Kushner, while Mr. Kushner’s plate is very full with Middle Eastern peace and the China visit and so on,” Mr. Stone said this week on the radio show hosted by Alex Jones, an avid fan of Mr. Trump’s who loathes establishment figures and traffics in conspiracy theories.
