Spicer: Stories Of A Bannon-Kushner Rift Are ‘Overblown’

White House senior advisers Jared Kushner, right, and Steve Bannon, left, walk on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 15, 2017, after traveling to Detroit and Nashville with President Do... White House senior advisers Jared Kushner, right, and Steve Bannon, left, walk on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 15, 2017, after traveling to Detroit and Nashville with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) MORE LESS
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White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that reports of a rift at the highest levels of the White House, between the President’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and his chief strategist Steve Bannon, had been “overblown.”

At Spicer’s daily press briefing Monday, referring to reports that the President stepped in to resolve a heated division between the two advisers, CBS News’ Major Garrett asked what prompted Trump “to have, or order, this meeting on Friday where the two principals, Bannon and Jared Kushner, were essentially told by the President: ‘Cool this and get along and get on the same page.'”

“I think there was a lot of stuff that was overblown about this that makes it out to the media sometimes and gets a little bit more sensational than it truly is,” Spicer replied, adding later: “I think that he recognizes that sometimes some of this spills over — these policy differences and discussions — and he’s made sure the focus stays on advancing the agenda.”

Asked again later about reports of infighting, especially over Trump’s order of a missile strike against a Syrian airfield on Thursday, Spicer said Trump didn’t want “monolithical” thinking and advice. New York magazine reported Friday, citing two unnamed sources close to Bannon, that he was against the strike.

“I would say a couple things, Jeff,” Spicer told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny. “One is, a lot of this is frankly overblown. Number two is the reason the President’s brought this team together is to offer a diverse set of opinions. He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House. He wants a diverse set of opinions. He is the decider. He has people come in, give him a variety of options and plans.”

“I think sometimes some things might spill out in the public more than other things,” he added.

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Notable Replies

  1. Another day, another bowl of mush.

  2. Trump: Typical Liberal media creating Fake news. I know for sure that Bannon likes Kush. I think they are having sex if you ask me. They are fabulous together.

  3. Ok, wait a minute:

    Number two is the reason the President’s brought this team together is to offer a diverse set of opinions.

    Where is this diversity of which you speak? Your boss has surrounded himself with nationalists and hateful people who spout the same talking points whenever anyone in the administration is asked a question.

    Please show us solid quoted examples of the diversity of opinion the POTUS is receiving from his tribe of nimrods…

  4. Stories Of A Bannon-Kushner Rift Are ‘Overblown’

    If past Spicer form is any guide, that can only mean that the SS is about to haul Bannon’s tail out the White House. If you ask Kellyanne and she says something like: “Bannon and Jared are great friends, just this morning they were playing grab-ass by the microwave”… that means that Bannon is going to get arrested!

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