steve bannon
© David Dee Delgado/Getty ImagesSteve Bannon, former advisor to former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after his arrangement in NYS Supreme Court on September 08, 2022 in New York City. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia A day after his arraignment, Bannon said the FBI had raided the homes of 35 allies of Trump.
Steve Bannon, former adviser to ex-President Donald Trump, says the same day he was arraigned on criminal fraud charges, the FBI carried out raids on the homes of nearly three dozen allies of the former president.

Speaking to conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk Friday, Bannon made the explosive allegation, saying law enforcement is part of a broader conspiracy to hobble opponents of President Joe Biden. Bannon's remarks come a day after he pleaded not guilty in a New York court to fraud charges and amid efforts by conservative figures to cast the FBI as being politically weaponized.

Bannon told Kirk that the FBI "rolled in on" 35 "senior members of MAGA, Republican supporters of Donald Trump." Saying the alleged searches were unnecessary because their targets have lawyers, he called the FBI the "jackbooted Gestapo," a reference to the secret police of Nazi Germany.

"This is this globalist apparatus," Bannon said. "This is the American arm of that: the Biden regime."


Bannon added, "They're trying to use lawfare, financial terrorism, law — you know, everything legally — and quite frankly, up to assassinations."

A prominent figure in conservative politics, Bannon blasted Biden's speech in Philadelphia last week denouncing Trump and his allies as a threat to democracy. Bannon called the speech "demonic" and a "primal scream" from a "dying regime."

An FBI spokesperson declined comment to Newsweek on Bannon's remarks.

Bannon linked the alleged FBI searches to political and legal pressures facing right-wing figures, including Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, Trump and himself.

The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI have increasingly become political targets after federal agents carried out a court-approved search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in southern Florida last month in search of classified materials. Conservative media outlets have echoed Trump's denial that he improperly handled government documents, while the former president's allies in Congress have called for defunding or investigating the FBI.

"The FBI is Biden's Gestapo," far-right Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said in a tweet reacting to Bannon's comments. "Federal law enforcement agencies that are used as political weapons should be dissected and the bad must be removed. Tyrants are a cancer that America should never allow to fester and grow."

Bannon, who served as Trump's political strategist, faces charges including money laundering, fraud and conspiracy brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James. The charges center on the investigation by James, a Democrat, which produced allegations that Bannon pocketed thousands of dollars from donors who gave money to We Build the Wall, an organization he led that promised to help build Trump's vowed border wall with Mexico.

Speaking to Kirk Friday, Bannon maintained his defiant posture, calling his arraignment in New York on the charges "one of the best days of my life."

"It was a very powerful, spiritual day for me," said Bannon, likening the experience to being "in the zone" during a sports game. He added, "they're not going to shut me up."