The former chief strategist for former President Trump, Steve Bannon, was indicted for a second time by Democratic New York prosecutors since his first trial in September 2022.
Bannon, who ostracized the indictment as purely political, was charged with defrauding donors of over $15 million who contributed to the We Build the Wall charity.
The charity contributed more to the border wall than the federal government has within the past three years.
Crime May Be High… But Trump is Worse
The Manhattan judge has set Bannon’s trial for May 27, 2024, two months after Trump is set to appear in the same courthouse.
In a hearing, Bannon learned he would be facing similar charges in his trial that Trump previously pardoned him for in January 2021, on similar grounds pretraining to fraud in political projects.
Steve Bannon’s court date set for May 2024 after NYC DA Alvin Bragg’s leveled ‘fraud’ chargeshttps://t.co/v2VfGJhIlm
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 25, 2023
Bannon affirmed he will be backing Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The new charges involve Bannon lying to donors about charity president and former US Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage not taking a salary while heading the organization.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James accuse Kolfage of bringing in a salary of $250,000, while Bannon laundered over $140,000 of the total intake.
Kolfage was sentenced to four years in prison for misappropriating $350,000 in donation funds and spending them on personal ventures.
An Endless Cycle
Steve Bannon's court date set for May 2024 after NYC DA Alvin Bragg's leveled "fraud" chargeshttps://t.co/EifVqfxB5x
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 26, 2023
The six-count indictment involves money laundering, conspiracy, and scheming to defraud. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to all accounts.
The charges do have some similarities to accounts pressed against his colleagues, including Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea.
Questions about double jeopardy, explicitly forbidden by the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, have risen since the accusations appear to be almost identical to his 2021 case.
Manhattan District Attorney Bragg is said to have indicted Bannon under the doctrine of separate sovereigns to avoid double jeopardy.
This article appeared in The Political Globe and has been published here with permission.
