The hedge-fund billionaire Mercer family turned on Stephen Bannon months ago and were "forcing his hand" at Breitbart, where he stepped down Tuesday, Axios reported.
According to Axios, President Donald Trump, who the conservative donor family also backed, had told "everyone inside and close to White House to make a binary choice — 'it's me or Steve'" after Bannon's disparaging remarks about Trump and his family in Michael Wolff's tell-all, "Fire and Fury," Axios' Jonathan Swan wrote.
Almost everyone abandoned Bannon, Axios reported.
"This was the Mercers forcing his hand," Swan also wrote. "It wasn't just Bannon's quotes to Wolff, but how he mishandled the fallout. He took five days to issue a weak apology, which fell flat."
Further, Axios reported, Bannon's associates "knew this was coming."
"The Mercers had turned against him months ago," Swan wrote.
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