It was another illustration of the influence of Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, who undermined Christie, the prosecutor who put his father in prison a decade ago, throughout the campaign. Kushner, who is likely to maintain his influence in an unofficial role outside the West Wing, also flexed his muscle over the weekend as Trump was deciding on his chief of staff.
According to two sources inside Trump Tower, the president-elect himself was leaning toward naming Bannon as chief of staffuntil Kushner stepped in, raising concerns about putting the anti-establishment, alt-right figure in a position that holds so much symbolic and strategic importance.
Although Trump listened to his son-in-law and went with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to run day-to-day operations inside his White House, he elevated Bannon as senior counselor and chief strategist, even listing him above Priebus on the press release announcing the new roles. When he gathered both men to explain their jobs before sending that release out, Trump spoke for more than 30 minutes and laid out a very unstructured chain of command, a source said.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In the 48 hours since the announcement, the firestorm of criticism over the Bannon appointmentexactly what Kushner was worried about and attempted to blunt by giving him a title other than chief of staffhas dominated the nations airwaves, with a focus on Breitbarts propagation of content that appeals to white supremacists and his own history of anti-Semitic statements.