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Steve Bannon's arrest for We Build the Wall scam met with celebration on Twitter: ‘Admin full of grifters’

Bannon and three others are accused of defrauding donors via a crowdfunding campaign that raised over $25 million. Bannon allegedly raked in over $1 million from the scam and used part it for personal expenses

The words “We Build The Wall” were being tweeted by hundreds of thousands of people on Thursday, August 20. And for good reason. Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was taken into custody on Thursday after federal prosecutors in New York charged him with fraud.

Bannon and three others are accused of defrauding donors to line their pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars raised via a crowdfunding campaign called "We Build the Wall" that raised over $25 million. 

The “We Build the Wall” website says it “will focus on building portions of a U.S. Southern Border wall and manage the support operations required for, and the processes associated with, the design, engineering, construction, and maintenance of the wall.”

The indictment stated that Bannon raked in over $1 million from the scheme “and at least some of it was used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in [his] personal expenses.” Meanwhile, his co-conspirators were identified as Brian Kolfage, a USAF veteran who started the fundraising campaign, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea.

Former major league pitcher Curt Schilling is also among the prominent conservatives on the advisory board for “We Build the Wall”. Bannon's indictment notably makes him the sixth person linked to the 2016 Trump campaign to face federal charges, the others being Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, and Michael Cohen. 

One Twitter user noted, "Trump stooges who have been indicted or convicted since he took office: Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, Michael Cohen. Roger Stone. Remember when Trump claimed he would surround himself with 'only the best and most serious people'?" adding, "The laundry list of convictions and guilty pleas among Trump associates and officials should serve as a warning to those who still pledge their loyalty to Trump rather than to America: when you serve a man who operates with lies and corruption, he'll bring you down to his level."

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that "as everyone knows, President Trump has no involvement in this project and felt it was only being done in order to showboat, and perhaps raise funds." Trump himself told reporters when asked about Bannon Thursday morning that while he feels "very badly," he hasn't "been dealing with him for a very long period of time" and that he did not like the "We Build the Wall" project. Donald Trump Jr. visited the project in 2019.

Naturally, this news caused a kind of media frenzy that was very visible on social media. And many seemed to find it fitting that such a thing had happened. One Twitter user wrote, “Steven Bannon has been indicted. He’s in custody. LOL.”

And many more seemed pleased with the turn of events. “I went shopping and came back to find arch democracy wrecker Steven Bannon has been arrested for fraud! Happy happy dancing dancing, this is the best news ever!!!” wrote a Twitter user. 

Another said, “I’d like to see Bannon in cuffs. Actually, I’d like to see the whole administration full of fraudsters and grifters in cuffs.”

In response to the charges, Kate Bedingfield, Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager, told reporters, “No one needed a federal indictment to know that Steve Bannon is a fraud. Donald Trump has run the most corrupt administration in American history. He has consistently used his office to enrich himself, his family, and his cronies, so is it really any surprise that yet another one of the grifters he surrounded himself with and placed in the highest levels of government was just indicted? Sadly, it is not. And look, I think the American people deserve better.”

Although, not everyone seemed hopeful of any concrete action. A Twitter user noted, “It's late Summer the smell of dying roses and presidential pardons is already in the air. Steven Bannon indicted by the Feds.”

Yet, there was a definite feeling of a major victory in the air. One person noted in that regard, “It does kinda feel like when Capone went down for Tax Evasion - you cant get them for the awful things they do in power, you have to get them for the white-collar crime. Remember when Bannon helped Steven Miller craft the ‘kids in cages’ initiative?”

Another noted, “Some days it all feels like a David Mitchell novel, where despite all the goodwill in the world, everything just unravels into oblivion. And then some days we arrest Steven Bannon.”

To sum it up, a Twitter user said, “There was nothing that could have prepared anyone for this news about Steve Bannon. Absolutely mind blowing.”