Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, turned himself in to authorities Thursday to face new charges that he misled donors who put up money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The state trial against Bannon in New York is expected to resemble the attempted federal prosecution that ended abruptly when Trump pardoned Bannon on his last day in office. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, not state crimes. In Bannon’s case, any double jeopardy argument would likely fail because his federal case did not involve an acquittal or conviction.
Bannon, 68, arrived at the Manhattan district attorney’s office shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday. In a statement Tuesday, he said District Attorney Alvin Bragg “has decided to file bogus charges against me 60 days before the midterm elections,” and accused the Democratic prosecutor of targeting him because Bannon and his radio show are popular with Republican Trump supporters.
Bannon said federal prosecutors “did the exact same thing in August 2020 to try to get me out of the election,” referring to his arrest months before Trump’s election loss. “This is nothing more than partisan political weaponry of the criminal justice system.”
Prosecutor Bragg and New York State Attorney General Letitia James will hold a news conference Thursday after noon to announce the charges against Bannon.
In 2020, federal agents dragged Bannon off a luxury yacht off the Connecticut coast and arrested him on charges that he pocketed more than $1 million in donations for the wall. Prosecutors alleged that thousands of investors were misled into thinking all of his donations would go to the border wall project, but Bannon paid a campaign official a salary and personal expenses for him.
While the wall proposed by Bannon’s group would be built on the southern border, more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the Big Apple, Manhattan prosecutors have jurisdiction to bring charges against it because some of the donors lived in New York. York.
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