Administration

White House: Bannon-Kushner fighting ‘overblown’

by Jordan Fabian 04/10/17 02:29 PM ET

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday dismissed reports of conflict between senior aides Stephen Bannon and Jared Kushner as “overblown” during his daily briefing with reporters.

“There’s a lot of stuff that was overblown about this that makes it out into the media sometimes and gets a little more sensational than it really is,” Spicer told reporters.

At the same time, the spokesman said President Trump believes his aides should hash out their differences on policy and personnel behind closed doors instead of through the media.

“Our battles and our policy differences need to be behind closed doors,” Spicer said. “We need to focus and ultimately all come out committed to his agenda.”

The comments came after chief of staff Reince Priebus reportedly arranged a sit-down between the two top advisers to broker a truce and end the infighting that has plagued the Trump administration for weeks.

{mosads}Spicer insisted, however, that Trump is “very pleased” with the last week, which included a military strike against Syria, the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“I think he recognizes, sometimes, some of this spills over — these policy differences and discussions — and he’s made sure the focus stays on the agenda,” the spokesman said of the president.

The meeting took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., following a string of news reports detailing clashes between Bannon, Kushner and their allies inside and outside the White House.

Tensions between the two camps have fueled speculation that another staff shakeup is in the works at the White House amid concerns that the feuding has hurt Trump’s ability to advance his legislative agenda in the crucial first 100-day period.