Bannon calls Zuckerberg 'a criminal'
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President-elect Trump, called Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a criminal during an interview on ABC's "This Week" with Jonathan Karl.
During a discussion about Zuckerberg's and other tech moguls' relationship with Trump and the fact that they will be getting prime seats at the inauguration on Monday, Bannon said Trump "broke the oligarchs" and they "surrendered."
Karl then asked if Bannon believed in Zuckerberg's "conversion."
"Absolutely not," Bannon replied. "I think Mark Zuckerberg is a criminal."
Bannon said he wants Zuckerberg to be "properly adjudicated" and referred to "Zuckerbucks," which Republicans use to refer to Zuckerberg pouring millions into a nonprofit that sent money to election boards in 2020. The contributions were intended to be "non-partisan,” per the Meta founder, but Republicans accused them of being unfairly distributed among left and right leaning areas.
"I want to see that in a systematic adjudication either in the House or, I think, better with a grand jury and a special prosecutor to go through 2020," he continued.
When Karl asked if Bannon was calling for the Justice Department, under President-elect Trump, to prosecute Zuckerberg, Bannon clarified that he was not saying that.
"I didn't say that," he said." What I want is the House to do it first. But if they're not prepared to do it, a special counsel's set up that looks at the 2020 election and looks at it seriously and adjudicates it. If there's nothing there, there's nothing there."
However, he noted that he believes Zuckerberg will "flip on us in the second."
It's not the first time Bannon heavily criticized the Meta CEO, saying earlier last week that Zuckerberg "can't be trusted" and pushed the unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
"When it's convenient for him, he will flip," he said.
Bannon's statements on ABC's "This Week" come after it was announced that Zuckerberg will host a black-tie reception on Jan. 20 after Trump’s inauguration. In recent weeks, Zuckerberg attended a series of meetings with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, made a $1 million donation to the inaugural fund and brought a swift end to Meta’s fact-checking program.