Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, is the latest official to exit the administration. He announced his decision in a letter to the president on Friday.
“[G]iven recent events, it is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are – for now – ascendant within the White House,” Gorka wrote in the letter, obtained by the Federalist. “As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the People’s House.”
Gorka joins a growing list of White House officials who have stepped down in recent days, including chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, communications director Anthony Scaramucci and press secretary Sean Spicer.
While Gorka says that he resigned, The New York Times reported late Friday that he was forced out and another source now quotes the White House as saying he had security clearance revoked and then left.
Gorka’s letter expressed frustration with the direction the Trump White House has taken in recent days, accusing the individuals closest to the president of betraying the promises made on the campaign trail.
“Regrettably, outside of yourself, the individuals who most embodied and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in recent months,” he wrote.
“This was made patently obvious as I read the text of your speech on Afghanistan this week,” Gorka continued. “The fact that those who drafted and approved the speech removed any mention of Radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism proves that a crucial element of your presidential campaign has been lost.”
“Just as worrying, when discussing our future actions in the region, the speech listed operational objectives without ever defining the strategic victory conditions we are fighting for,” Gorka wrote. “This omission should seriously disturb any national security professional, and any American who is unsatisfied with the last 16 years of disastrous policy decisions which have led to thousands of Americans killed and trillions of taxpayer dollars spent in ways that have not brought security or victory.”
Gorka has been a much-criticized member of the administration from the start.
In April of this year the New York Times noted that Gorka “has been accused of having links to far-right groups in Europe.” Other publications including The Guardian accused Gorka of sympathizing with the genocide carried out by the 1930s and 1940s regime of Nazi Germany due to his father’s membership in the Hungarian Historical Order of Vitéz.
A New York Times op-ed piece in February called Gorka an “Islamophobic Huckster,” further describing “Sebastian Gorka, an itinerant instructor in the doctrine of irregular warfare and former national security editor at Breitbart.”
Gorka appeared on Fox News on the evening of the U.S. presidential inauguration wearing a badge, tunic, and ring of the Order of Vitéz, which the State Department lists as having been “under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany” during World War II.
“Your presidency will prove to be one of the most significant events in modern American politics,” Gorka wrote. “November the 8th was the result of decades during which the political and media elites felt that they knew better than the people who elect them into office. They do not, and the MAGA platform allowed their voices to be heard. Millions of people believe in, and have chosen, you and your vision of Making America Great Again. They will help eventually rebalance this temporary reality.”