A Virginia bookstore owner called police Saturday after Steve Bannon was confronted by a woman who called the former White House aide a "piece of trash," The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Nick Cooke, owner of Black Swan Books, told the newspaper that Bannon was in his store when the woman confronted him. Cooke said he called 911 and the woman left.
"Steve Bannon was simply standing, looking at books, minding his own business. I asked her to leave, and she wouldn't," Cooke told the Times-Dispatch. "And I said, 'I'm going to call the police if you don't,' and I went to call the police and she left," Cooke said. "And that's the end of the story."
Bannon, a Richmond native who was President Donald Trump's chief strategist, is the latest former or current member of Trump's administration to be confronted by the public or by activists, Newsweek reported.
On June 20, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was confronted by demonstrators at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C. On June 22, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, by the eatery's owner.
On Monday, a woman and her 2-year-old son confronted Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt in a Washington restaurant. Pruitt resigned from his position Thursday, Newsweek reported.
The Richmond Police Department confirmed a call was made around 3:15 p.m. Saturday for a report of someone yelling at a political figure in the bookstore, adding that the call was canceled before officers could respond, the Times-Dispatch reported.
“We are a bookshop. Bookshops are all about ideas and tolerating different opinions and not about verbally assaulting somebody, which is what was happening,” Cooke told the newspaper.
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