Steve Bannon called Mike Pence a 'disgusting coward' after the former vice president criticized calls to defund the FBI
- Steve Bannon skewered former Vice President Mike Pence for calling for attacks on the FBI to stop.
- Bannon, an ex-White House chief strategist, called Pence a "disgusting coward" for the remarks.
Trump ally and adviser Steve Bannon eviscerated former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday for rebuking GOP politicians who called for the FBI to be defunded, in another example of the widening gap between Trumpworld and Republican lawmakers who decline to take part in its rhetoric.
"Pence, you are a disgusting coward. Just even the sight of you bugs me," Bannon said during his show "War Room" on right-wing network Real America's Voice.
In a lengthy rant criticizing Pence's productivity in the Trump administration, Bannon blasted the former vice president with a series of insults, which included calling him a "mindless, gutless simp."
At a New Hampshire event earlier that day, Pence said: "These attacks on the FBI must stop. Calls to defund the FBI are just as wrong as calls to defund the police."
While he didn't mention any Republicans by name, some of Trump's most vocal supporters on the Hill — such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado — have advocated to defund, investigate, and "destroy" the FBI.
Their calls were prompted by the bureau's raid last Monday of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Shortly after the search, the FBI warned of an increased number of threats made to its agents and headquarters.
Pence also condemned the threats against the FBI and said that the Republican party "is the party of law and order."
In response, Bannon argued that the FBI's raid represented the actions of a "police state," which he said justified why some Republicans were calling for its dismantling.
"There is no comparison of any defunding the police," he claimed. "We've never called for defunding the police. We're calling for defunding the police state."
While Bannon has a history of making controversial remarks and wild claims without basis, his latest comments on Pence are another example of a high-profile Trump loyalist lashing out at even former close allies whose stances differ from Trump's.
Bannon, too, has fallen out with Trump before. He was one of the most influential people in the Trump White House until he was sacked in August 2017.
However, in 2020, Trump pardoned Bannon, who was facing charges of money laundering and mail fraud conspiracy. The two have since continued making positive remarks about each other.
In July, Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress, after he repeatedly refused to comply with the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol attack. He is set to be sentenced in October but has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict.