Story highlights "I think you see from Occupy Wall Street, you start to see how Brownshirts operated," Bannon said in 2012.

"You start to see it as instrument of intimidation, bully tactics," he added

(CNN) Steve Bannon, chief strategist to President Donald Trump, repeatedly in 2012 interviews equated the Occupy Wall Street movement to Nazi Brownshirts, the paramilitary group that harassed and instigated violence against opponents.

Bannon made the comments in appearances to promote his film, "Occupy Unmasked," a movie that, according to its official description, "reveals the sinister, organized, and highly orchestrated nature of its leaders and their number one goal: Not just to change government, but to destroy it."

In his interviews and through the film, Bannon argues that the Occupy movement was part of the professional and highly organized left.

In an interview with Breitbart.tv at the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference, Bannon argues the media helped the left-wing protesters shift the conversation from deficits and spending towards income inequality. Bannon said you could see this professional left trying to stop people from gathering at CPAC.

"To see government employee unions, to see union thugs, to see anarchists out there to try to stop people from -- which you would never see anybody on the right try to do, to stop people from assembling -- you see the violent nature. I gotta tell you, this organized left and what you're gonna see in the film, is what I consider the Brownshirts."

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