The legal case brought against former Trump Administration adviser Steve Bannon by the state of New York will go to trial in November of next year.
According to the Post Millennial, Bannon has been charged with money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D-N.Y.). Bannon has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges. The former chief strategist and senior counselor for the Trump White House, who currently hosts the popular podcast “War Room,” was arrested in early September after surrendering to authorities.
The charges stem from Bannon’s involvement with a controversial non-profit group called “We Build the Wall,” which planned to use privately-raised funds to support building a barrier along the southern border with Mexico. The group’s founder, amputee veteran Brian Kolfage, was accused of laundering up to $350,000 of the group’s funds for personal use. Several others involved with the group, including Timothy Shea and Andrew Badolato, were accused of being involved in the plot to misuse funds.
Although there was never any evidence of wrongdoing on Bannon’s part, he was nevertheless also accused of corruption and financial crimes before ultimately being pardoned by President Donald Trump. Kolfage and Badolato pleaded guilty to their respective charges, while Shea’s trial ended in a hung jury.
Despite Bannon having been pardoned at the federal level, Bragg’s office brought state-level charges against him in a move that has widely been denounced as blatantly political.
“Stephen Bannon acted as the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country—including hundreds of Manhattan residents,” said Bragg in a statement in September, despite not providing any evidence to back up his claims.
Bannon has described the new charges against him as “nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.” Upon his initial arrest, he declared that the actions being taken against him were simply “what happens in the last days of a dying regime,” and added that “they’ll never shut me up.”