Breaking from The Washington Post:
NEW YORK — Stephen K. Bannon has been charged with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy in connection with the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scheme, for which he received a federal pardon during Donald Trump’s final days in the White House.
Trump’s pardon will not insulate him from state charges. Trump should have waited until Bannon was actually convicted of something; then Svengali here could have pled double jeopardy. But that post-2020 election period was a really busy, confusing time, lots of stuff going on for the big guy to think about, amirite?
Instead, we’re getting the “poor, poor, persecuted me” shtick:
Arriving at the Manhattan district attorney’s office in a black SUV shortly after 9 a.m., Bannon stopped to shake hands with his attorneys before speaking briefly to a horde of journalists. In his remarks, he echoed past declarations that he was being prosecuted for political reasons, including in an effort to influence November’s upcoming midterm congressional elections.
“This is all about 60 days until the day!” he said, before being escorted into the building.
Oh Please.
I’m sorry, Steve, but I think you exaggerate your popularity with the electorate. I just don’t see an army of voters waving “Bannon” flags and storming the courthouse. Or anyone ever mentioning “Steve Bannon” as their motivation for voting. But I guess everyone has some kind of fanbase. Hopefully they won’t realize they’re the ones you’re being accused of bilking.
“Stephen Bannon acted as the architect of a multimillion dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents,” the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said in a statement.
The New York attorney general, Letitia James, whose office partnered with the district attorney in the investigation, said Mr. Bannon had taken “advantage of his donors’ political views to secure millions of dollars which he then misappropriated.”
That’s generally how cons work. Sounds like a microcosm of the entire Trump administration.
In August 2020, Bannon was yanked off a yacht by law enforcement agents to face his indictment in the federal “We Build the Wall” case. In that indictment, he was accused of personally pocketing $1 million from “We Build the Wall,” a Trump-aligned cash collection drive that Bannon helped to orchestrate starting in December 2018.
Yanked off a yacht, huh. See, now that’s something lots of people would really pay to see, no questions asked.