Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief strategist, says he worked to remove alleged Ukraine whistleblower Eric Ciaramella from the National Security Council in 2017.
Bannon, who was fired by Trump in August 2017, said he shared Trumpâs daughter Ivanka’s views about the whistleblowerâs identity not being particularly relevant but added that he had worked to kick Ciaramella off the NSC during Trumpâs first year in office. Bannon did not name Ciaramella, a career CIA analyst, but clearly referred to him.
âI agree with Ivanka. I donât think the individual naming of the whistleblower is important, although there was a story in the Washington Times yesterday that tied me to the efforts to get the â at least the gentleman who was named â out of the National Security Council,â Bannon said during a Vice interview with Liz Landers last week.
It is possible Bannon was referring to a Washington Examiner article from last week that cited former National Security Council officials who said many on the NSC were suspicious of Ciaramella and believed he may have been responsible for leaking the contents of Trumpâs discussions with the leaders of Mexico and Australia in 2017. The sources said former national security adviser H.R. McMaster was unhappy with efforts by Bannon and others to push out Obama holdovers such as Ciaramella, who was criticized by pro-Trump writers in 2017.
When Landers asked whether it was true he had tried to remove Ciaramella, Bannon responded: âThe individual that was named? Absolutely true. When I was in the White House, there was a number of people on the National Security Council â the named individual eventually got let go, I believe because people were suspicious, and not me, but other people around him, were suspicious about his leaking, and thatâs why he was let go.
“But I believe you donât need to name the person, OK? But I do believe you need a thorough investigation of his intentions, relationships heâs had, etc.â
While the whistleblower’s identity has not yet been confirmed, Ciaramella, 33, has been named widely and has issued no denial.
Ciaramella was Ukraine director on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama and then worked as acting senior director for European and Russian affairs early in the Trump administration. He worked closely with Vice President Joe Biden and attended a State Department banquet at his invitation in 2016. Ciaramella was cited in a key passage of special counsel Robert Muellerâs report in connection to the May 2017 meeting between Trump and Russian officials in the Oval Office the day after James Comey was fired as FBI director.
It has been speculated that the whistleblower may have been the “shaken” official in the August 2019 complaint who said Trumpâs July 25 call with Ukraineâs president was âfrightening.â
