Sebastian Gorka, a national security aide whose hard-line views on immigration and terrorism caused discord inside and outside the White House, is the latest official to exit US President Donald Trump’s administration, with conflicting claims about whether he resigned or got the boot.
"Sebastian Gorka did not resign, but I can confirm he no longer works at the White House," an administration official said after reports that Gorka had left voluntarily.
Gorka, 46, had become a familiar face on television, offering a bombastic defence of the US president in a strong English accent. Born in London to Hungarian parents, he became a US citizen in recent years.
A deputy assistant to the president, he had been accused of ties to far-right groups and his claimed counter-terrorism knowledge was repeatedly questioned by peers.
His failure to gain security clearance cast doubts over his day-to-day role inside Trump's White House.
He had been seen entering Oval Office events not with staff but with the press, and snapping photos from the press position behind the wings of Air Force One.
String of hawkish
Gorka is the latest in a string of hawkish or nationalist advisers to leave the National Security Council and other parts of the White House in recent weeks, suggesting that in the battle among Trump's foreign policy advisers, internationalist voices such as those of McMaster, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are prevailing.
Earlier, the conservative Federalist news outlet, citing multiple sources familiar with the situation, said Gorka, a counterterrorism expert, had quit. In a letter of resignation, Gorka expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of the Trump administration, the Federalist said.
"As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the People's House," Gorka was quoted as saying in the letter.
Trump fired Bannon a week ago in the latest White House shake-up, removing a far-right architect of his 2016 election victory and a driving force behind his nationalist and anti-globalisation agenda.
"Regrettably, outside of yourself, the individuals who most embodied and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in recent months. This was made patently obvious as I read the text of your speech on Afghanistan this week," he said in the letter.
