Despite receiving a pardon from Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency, Steve Bannon isn’t ducking charges for allegedly ripping off MAGA donors that easily. Bannon has been indicted by the state of New York, and the longtime Trump advisor is expected to surrender to authorities on Thursday.
“The precise details of the state case could not be confirmed Tuesday evening,” The Washington Post reported. “But people familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sealed indictment, suggested the prosecution will likely mirror aspects of the federal case in which Bannon was pardoned.”
Bannon had been previously targeted by federal investigators for allegedly funneling over $1 million to himself and a co-conspirator as well as use funds from “We Build The Wall” for personal expenses. He was arrested on a boat by the U.S. Postal Service, but Trump cleared him of federal charges. However, that doesn’t protect Bannon on the state level where he’s, clearly, still very much in trouble.
Ever the firebrand, Bannon has already denounced the charges as “phony” and “a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.”
“I am proud to be a leading voice on protecting our borders and building a wall to keep our country safe from drugs and violent criminals,” Bannon said in a statement via CNN. “They are coming after all of us, not only [President] Trump and myself. I am never going to stop fighting. In fact, I have not yet begun to fight. They will have to kill me first.”
(Via Washington Post)