White House press secretary Sean Spicer calls reports of administration infighting 'overblown'

Trump had to personally intervene in the feud between Kushner and Bannon.

ByABC News
April 10, 2017, 3:54 PM

— -- Press secretary Sean Spicer attempted to downplay stories of infighting in the White House, calling a report that President Donald Trump personally intervened Thursday in an escalating feud between two of his closest advisers "overblown" and "little more sensational than it truly [was]."

"There's always going to be a healthy debate internally on a variety of policy issues among the Cabinet, among the staff, to make sure the president sees every option that's available, every opinion that he should weigh and counter before he makes a final decision," Spicer said Monday.

"The reason the president has brought this team together is [to] offer a diverse set of opinions," Spicer said.

Several administration sources told ABC News that Trump demanded his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his chief strategist Steve Bannon "work this out."

Bannon and Kushner had been allies during the campaign but their relationship has soured over a growing ideological divide, sources said. Bannon's signature nationalist views have at times clashed with the globalist inclinations of Kushner, who has also previously identified as a Democrat.

Kushner has been given increasing responsibility within the administration, while Bannon was recently pulled from the National Security Council's Principals Committee, and consequently threatened to resign, sources told ABC News. (Bannon called the reports of him threatening to quit "absurd.")

Spicer said Trump is "very confident" his senior advisers will resolve their ideological differences and "fully believes they are going to continue to push forward to advance his agenda."

"He understands that we have some smart, talented individuals who are opinionated on a lot of subjects, but that our battles and our policy differences need to be behind closed doors," Spicer said today.

"We need to focus and ultimately all come out committed to advancing the agenda," he added.

ABC News' John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, Jonathan Karl and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report/

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