Steve Bannon, Who Is Accused of Defrauding Trump Supporters, Gets One of Trump’s Last-Minute Pardons
As expected, Donald Trump used the final hours of his presidency to issue some pardons and commutations, among them his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, and rappers Lil’ Wayne and Kodak Black. All total Trump pardoned 73 people and commuted sentences for 70 more.
Bannon was arrested in August and charged in connection to his We Build the Wall campaign, which purported to raise funds to help build a wall along the border with Mexico. But federal prosecutors contend that the effort was a way to bilk credulous Trump supporters of their savings, and that Bannon and three accomplices pocketed most of the money for themselves. Each charge could have sent him to prison for 20 years.
Bannon has pled not guilty and denies the charges, but fun fact, during a 2019 “Wall-a-Thon” fundraiser for We Build the Wall, Bannon joked about stealing the money, saying in the clip “We’re off the coast of St. Tropez in southern France in the Mediterranean. We’re on the million-dollar yacht of Brian Kolfage. Brian Kolfage, he took all that money from Build the Wall.”
According to the New York Times, which broke the news of Bannon’s pardon, Trump intended it as “a pre-emptive move that would effectively wipe away the charges against Mr. Bannon, should he be convicted.”
As the CEO of right wing website Breitbart, Bannon emerged as a key Trump supporter in 2015 and in 2016 he joined Trump’s presidential campaign as chief executive officer. After Trump’s electoral college victory, he joined the administration as Trump’s chief strategist and Senior Counselor to the President serving until August, 2017 when the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, held in August 2017, erupted into violence and Bannon became the focus of particularly heavy criticism for his perceived role in how the White House handled the situation. He was fired less than a week later as part of the administration’s damage control efforts. Bannon maintains he resigned, however, and had always intended to do so.
Interestingly, Bannon and Trump had a very public falling out 5 months later when in early 2018 he was quoted criticizing Trump and members of Trump’s inner circle in Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury.” All is clearly forgiven now, however.
