Twitter chief and billionaire Elon Musk has hit back at former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon, who accused him of being owned by the Chinese Communist Party. Mr Bannon made the remarks at a podcast hosted by Tim Pool, a right-wing podcaster, according to Independent. Mr Musk said he "used to think" that Mr Bannon was smart, but he was wrong. Mr Bannon, a key player in Donald Trump's 2016 election win, was last year sentenced to four months in jail after being found guilty of contempt of Congress. But he remains free as he appealed against the conviction.
During the podcast, Mr Pool asked Mr Bannon for his thoughts on Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan's suggestion that Twitter should buy Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which recently collapsed. Mr Musk had responded saying that he was "open to the idea".
But Mr Bannon made fun of Twitter chief's statement and accused him of being owned by China's ruling party. He also alleged that Mr Musk has refused to reinstate the Twitter accounts of anti-Chinese government personalities since taking over the platform.
US Congressman Matt Gaetz, who was also on the podcast episode, clipped the portion of the interview where Mr Bannon is blasting Mr Trump and posted it on Twitter. Mr Gaetz also tagged the Twitter CEO and asked him for his thoughts.
"I used to think Bannon was smart & evil, but now I realise I was wrong about the first part," Mr Musk replied.
Mr Bannon served in the White House for the first seven months of Mr Trump's term as chief strategist, leaving reportedly due to conflicts with other top staffers. He now runs a streaming political commentary website.
In 2020, Mr Bannon was charged with wire fraud and money laundering for taking millions of dollars for personal use that donors had contributed for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico.
While others were found guilty in the scheme, Mr Trump issued a blanket pardon for Mr Bannon before leaving office in January 2021, leading to the dismissal of the charges against him.
