Twitter bans former White House strategist Bannon over call for beheading
White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is seen in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb. 7, 2017. (AP Photo)


Social media giant Twitter banned former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon from its platform after he released a video Thursday suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump should execute federal employees if he wins reelection.

In a video posted on YouTube and then shared on social media, Bannon said Trump should eliminate Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious-disease expert, and the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Christopher Wray, by means of medieval execution.

"I'd actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England. I'd put the heads on pikes," Bannon said. "I'd put them on the two corners of the White House, as a warning to federal bureaucrats."

Twitter permanently suspended the account connected to Bannon's YouTube show, "War Room," after he posted the video on the platform, and YouTube removed the video from its site.

Mailchimp, an email marketing platform, also closed the account for Bannon's YouTube show, citing violations of its terms.

Trump has criticized both Fauci and Wray after they contradicted his public messaging on the coronavirus and foreign election interference respectively, and he has suggested that he might fire Fauci if he wins reelection.