Sebastian Gorka To Leave White House
Sebastian Gorka, an adviser to President Donald Trump, will take up a job outside the White House to deal with the “war of ideas” involved in tackling radical Islamic extremism, the Washington Examiner reported Sunday, citing two sources. This follows several reports saying Gorka was on his way out of the White House after serving on the Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG), an advisory panel formed by the president’s chief strategist Steve Bannon.
According to Washington Examiner, Gorka will be appointed at a federal agency after his temporary stint with the SIG. A White House source told the publication that Gorka’s role at the panel was unclear and he did not have national security issues in his portfolio.
"This guy has always been a big mystery to me," the source told Washington Examiner about Gorka, adding that his duties only included speaking on television about counterterrorism, as well as "giving White House tours and peeling out in his Mustang."
Sebastian Gorka participates in a discussion during the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, in National Harbor, Maryland, Feb. 24, 2017. Photo: Getty Images/Alex Wong
Earlier in the day, several reports, citing unnamed officials, stated that Gorka, a former counterterrorism analyst at Fox News, would bid adieu to the White House. According to the Hill, a senior official said the British-born would be leaving the White House role as soon as "this summer."
"To defeat extreme Islamic terrorism, you can't kill your way out of the problem. A plan is needed to defeat the ideology the same way Nazism was defeated" the unidentified official told the Hill. "[Gorka] was here to provide an overall strategy in that regard."
The official reason for Gorka’s reported departure is unknown, but, a source told CNN he was "generating too much controversy" for the White House. Gorka, who is in late 40s, was previously an editor at right-wing Breitbart News. He has been a regular on several cable news shows and has consistently warned of the threat of Islamic terrorism.
The reports about his departure came amid the controversy surrounding his clearance status for the National Security Council. He was unable to get the clearance after being charged last year with carrying a weapon at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Despite this, he played a key role in Trump’s team and accused the administration’s critics of endorsing “fake news.”
Recently, there were allegations that Gorka had links to a Hungarian right-wing group with Nazi ties. He was also accused of faking his PhD. He denied the allegations.
Last month, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) urged the White House to provide the House Judiciary Committee with Gorka's immigration documents for review. In a letter addressed to Trump, Nadler reportedly said the judiciary panel needs to "be assured that he did not enter this country under false pretenses."
Gorka was born in London to Hungarian parents who migrated to the United Kingdom during the country’s failed 1956 anti-Soviet revolution. At Trump’s inauguration, he wore a medal awarded to his father by the Hungarian group Vitezi Rend— Order of Heroes — which has been linked to Nazis. The move grabbed eyeballs at the ceremony. However, in a video posted on his Twitter account in February, Gorka said he wore the medal in honor of his father.
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