Kushner, Bannon met to clear the air after reports of infighting

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two of the top officials closest to President Donald Trump – Stephen Bannon and Jared Kushner – met Friday in an attempt to reconcile their differences and put an end to the infighting that’s plagued the administration in recent days.

Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, and Kushner, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, met at the urging of Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, who asked them to set aside their disagreements and focus on pursuing the president’s agenda, a senior administration official said on the condition of anonymity.

News stories this past week exposed the civil war within Trump’s inner circle, with anonymous sources describing factions led by Bannon and Kushner as being locked in perpetual battle.

Trump reorganized his National Security Council on Wednesday, removing Bannon from the principals committee on the same day the president was considering options for a missile strike against Syria.

Bannon, the former executive chairman of Breitbart News, is among Trump’s most trusted yet most controversial advisers. He’s channeled the populist and nationalist sentiment that propelled Trump’s campaign, and his placement on the National Security Council committee was criticized by some members of Congress and Washington’s foreign policy establishment, who said it risked politicizing the security advice provided to the president.

While he’s aligned with other White House aides, including Trump’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, Bannon has been criticized for the troubled roll-out of the president’s executive order on immigration and the failed attempt in March to pass health care legislation.

Meanwhile, Kushner’s star has been on the rise. The husband of Trump’s older daughter, Ivanka, recently returned from visiting U.S. troops in Iraq and was named to run an initiative to streamline the federal government. He’s also played a key role in Trump’s foreign policy, including the U.S. relationship with China. In an administration where proximity often equates to power, Kushner was one of the U.S. officials sitting closest to Trump on Thursday as the president dined with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Earlier in Trump’s administration, news coverage focused on possible tension between Bannon and Priebus, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. The two appeared together on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February in a public display of solidarity.