Steve Bannon leaves Breitbart News after Donald Trump rift

Steve Bannon has stepped down as the head of right-wing website Breitbart News.

Former White House strategist Mr Bannon quit his role as Executive Chairman following a public disagreement between him and US president Donald Trump.

Breitbart News Network announced his resignation on Tuesday, a role he leaves after five years.

Mr Bannon was criticised by President Trump after it emerged he had been critical of the US leader in the book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' by Michael Wolff.

President Trump said that Mr Bannon, who left the White House after a matter of months, had also "lost his mind".

Donald Trump claimed that Steve Bannon had 'lost his mind'. Credit: AP

A statement on the Breitbart website wrote: "Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish."

Mr Bannon described himself as "proud" of his tenure at Breitbart.

"I'm proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform," he said.

Mr Bannon felt President Trump's wrath after describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York between Donald Trump Jr, Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic".

But Mr Bannon has since said the description was aimed at former Trump campaign aide Paul Manafort, who also attended the meeting, and not the president's son.

He said his support for the president and his agenda was "unwavering".