The controversial strategist has been stood down by President Donald Trump
The internal tensions of Donald Trump's White House have been laid bare by the man who used to be his top adviser.
In a revealing interview with Vanity Fair, Steve Bannon, who was Trump's political strategist before he was pushed out of the job in August, got remarkably candid about the simmering rivalries that plagued the President's inner circle.
At the centre of it all is Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, who repeatedly clashed with Bannnon, the former investment banker and co-founder of Breitbart News.
Bannon used the interview with Vanity Fair to repeatedly slam the couple, referring to them disparagingly as "Javanka".
He also blamed them for bad decisions made during Trump's first year in office. Ivanka Trump believed Bannon was behind the leaks damaging her father's presidency, and their relationship deteriorated so badly that Donald Trump called a meeting in the Oval Office in an attempt to defuse the situation, according to Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman.
The interview revealed exactly how toxic the relationship became, and how much contempt Bannon still has for "Javanka".
Bannon said it was clear Kushner, whom the President gave a wide portfolio of responsibilities, was in way over his head.
"He doesn't know anything about the hobbits or the deplorables," Bannon said, referring to Donald Trump's voters. "The railhead of all bad decisions is the same railhead: Javanka."
Bannon said Kushner's decision to hold meetings with Russians during the election campaign may have given the impression the Trump camp sought Moscow's help.
The article also highlights how any hopes the pair had of a decent working relationship were over after FBI Director James Comey was fired in May and Kushner's involvement in that decision.
In an earlier interview, Bannon called it "the dumbest political decision in modern political history".
Sex scandals
Bannon also referenced the now-withdrawn allegation that Donald Trump raped a 13-year-old girl and took aim at Ivanka Trump for her intervention in the recent Senate election in Alabama, a deeply conservative state where his favoured candidate, Republican Roy Moore, still managed to lose.
Moore's campaign became embroiled in allegations of sexual misconduct after multiple women came forward to accuse him of preying on teenage girls. One accuser claimed Moore molested her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s.
Moore denied all the allegations, but Trump moved to distance herself from him, saying "there is a special place in hell for people who prey on children".
Bannon, meanwhile, continued to support Moore during the campaign, even introducing him at events.
Referring to Ivanka Trump's comments during his Vanity Fair interview, Bannon didn't hold back, dredging up the now withdrawn allegation that her father raped a 13-year-old girl.
"What about the allegations about her dad and that 13-year-old?" he said.
Bannon was referring to unproven claims from a California woman that Donald Trump had raped her. The President denied those claims, which have since been withdrawn.
Unhappy White House
After his inauguration last January, Trump quickly set about appointing members of his family, including his daughter and son-in-law, to key advisory roles in the White House. However things were far from rosy in his administration from the start.
Blunt-spoken Bannon repeatedly clashed with other top advisers, most notably Kushner, and some critics argued it was fuelling division and instability in the US government.
After Bannon's departure, Republican politician Pete King said Bannon had to go because he was creating chaos in the West Wing and undermining the President.
"The White House has just not been functioning. There's been leaks coming out, one faction is undermining another," he told the Cats Roundtable radio show in the US.
Bannon's demise capped off a turbulent seven months during which most of Donald Trump's original senior staff left.
Trump sacked a number of high-ranking officials, including acting Attorney-General Sally Yates and FBI director James Comey when their agendas clashed with his own. He also farewelled two press secretaries - Sean Spicer and the pugnacious Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted just 10 days in the job.
Trump also forced out his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
After leaving, Bannon resumed his role as executive chairman of the conservative Breitbart News website, which he led before joining the Trump campaign.
