Breitbart editors tell staffers to stop writing stories critical of Jared Kushner, sources say

Employees at Breitbart News have been asked by senior editors to refrain from writing stories critical of Jared Kushner, two people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that allies of Kushner, a senior White House adviser, had complained to President Donald Trump about the negative coverage he was receiving from the far-right website.

Kushner had become a target of Breitbart News amid reports that he was feuding with Stephen Bannon, the news website's former executive chairman who is now the White House chief strategist.

On Wednesday night, for instance, Breitbart published three stories critical of Kushner and promoted them heavily on its homepage. The next day, Axios reported that Bannon had told associates, "I love a gunfight."

Soon after the feud spilled out into the public's view, Trump told Bannon and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus he was fed up with the bickering in the press and instructed the pair to "work this out," The Times reported.

In the days that followed, Breitbart conspicuously refrained from leveling criticism against Kushner, choosing to lay off Trump's son-in-law.

Bannon resigned from Breitbart News in November and has insisted he no longer has any editorial involvement with the website.

However, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider in March that Bannon had instructed Matthew Boyle, the website's Washington editor, to stop publishing articles critical of Priebus, who reports said had been feuding with Bannon. Alex Marlow, the website's editor-in-chief, also told NBC News in March that Bannon reached out to him "every so often."

Kushner is viewed by some of Trump's more hardline supporters as a Democrat who doesn't share their worldview. Administration officials, for instance, told The Daily Beast last week that Bannon had referred to Kushner as a "globalist" and a "cuck," a slur frequently used by members of the so-called alt-right movement.

After this story's publication, Chad Wilkinson, a spokesman for Breitbart News, told Business Insider it was "an absurd suggestion that Breitbart would muzzle critical coverage of any senior White House official."