Controversial former White House chief strategist and Trump confidante, Steve Bannon will step down from conservative news outlet Breitbart after a public rift with the president that saw many of his backers and allies distance themselves from him.

In an article on the site, Breitbart said that the company and Bannon "will work together on a smooth and orderly transition" as he leaves his role as executive chairman. "I'm proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform," Bannon said.

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Breitbart CEO, Larry Solov, said: "Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish."

Bannon lost the support of many in the right-wing movement as he was publically denounced by the president.

After a new book by Michael Woolf quoted Bannon as saying that the president son, Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer was "treasonous", the White House issued a statement from the president saying Bannon had "lost his mind".

"Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party," Trump said.

The president added in the statement that Bannon had "little to do" with his own electoral victory and "everything to do" with the Republican's surprising loss in the Alabama senate race.

"Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phoney books," Trump said, referencing the book 'Fire and Fury' by Micheal Wolff that has caused a firestorm of its own in Washington, leading some to question the president's mental fitness for office.

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