Sebastian Gorka, the former Breitbart editor serving as a foreign-policy aide to President Donald Trump, is out at the White House, ending a controversial tenure with links to far-right groups, an administration official said Friday night.
Gorka, though, has said he resigned, according to two other officials with knowledge of his decision, and the website federalist.com published, at length, what it purported to be excerpts from Gorka’s resignation letter. All the officials agreed to discuss the decision only on the condition of anonymity.
Gorka told colleagues he quit after his close ally in the White House, chief strategist Stephen Bannon, was ousted last week in a purge led by Chief of Staff John Kelly, the officials said.
A ubiquitous presence on cable television and social media, Gorka was known for his strident defense of the president and criticism of the press, particularly on terrorism issues. That endeared him to the president, but critics in the foreign-policy community questioned his credentials and the far-right policies he frequently espoused.
Gorka, who previously worked with Bannon at Breitbart News, has appeared regularly on Fox News to speak on the Trump administration’s behalf. Earlier in the year, he drew sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers after reports he had links to a far-right group in Hungary alleged to be antisemitic. Gorka has dismissed those accusations as groundless and called Trump’s White House one of the “most pro-Israeli administrations in U.”
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued a statement Friday, saying "Gorka’s departure is long overdue," while adding, "He should not have been working in the White House in the first place.
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