Steve Bannon: We Build the Wall Campaign

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Steve Bannon: We Build the Wall Campaign Aug 20, 2020 19:15:48 GMT

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Post by Admin on Aug 20, 2020 19:15:48 GMT

Federal prosecutors in New York announced Thursday that Steve Bannon, President Trump's former White House chief strategist, has been indicted along with three others for allegedly defrauding donors to a $25 million fundraising campaign to build a wall along the southern border.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea were arrested Thursday morning. Bannon was taken into custody by agents from the U.S. Postal Service off the coast of Connecticut on a 152-foot yacht registered to exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, law enforcement sources said. The indictment was unsealed Thursday morning, and Bannon is set to be arraigned before a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday.

Bannon, 66, joined the Trump campaign in 2016 and subsequently served in the White House as chief strategist until being forced out in August 2017. He is the sixth close associate of the president to face federal charges since 2017.

Mr. Trump distanced himself from Bannon on Thursday, telling reporters at the White House that "I haven't been dealing with him for a very long period of time." The president also said he disliked the private effort to fund construction of the border wall and believed "it was being done for showboating reasons."

In a July tweet, Mr. Trump referenced a section of wall built by a "private group which raised money by ads" and said "it was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps [sic] it now doesn't even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles." Others involved in the "We Build the Wall" project are former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, Sheriff David Clarke and Curt Schilling, none of whom were mentioned in the indictment.

The four men named in Thursday's indictment are accused of defrauding hundreds of thousands of people who donated to the "We Build the Wall" fundraising campaign that raked in more than $25 million to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the indictment.

Federal prosecutors said donors were repeatedly assured that 100% of the money raised would be used to build the wall, but those claims were false. Kolfage, Badolato and Bannon allegedly signed off on those assertions knowing that donors would be encouraged to donate if they believed all funds were going toward wall construction.

Last Edit: Aug 20, 2020 19:16:34 GMT by Admin

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Steve Bannon: We Build the Wall Campaign Aug 21, 2020 7:26:13 GMT

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Post by Admin on Aug 21, 2020 7:26:13 GMT

In case anyone forgot, Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney general failed in his attempt to make the SDNY an extension of Main Justice, and the SDNY has investigated and prosecuted close allies of the president. Regardless, having persuaded nearly 63 million Americans four years ago into voting for a reality TV star with a string of corporate bankruptcies to his name, it was time for one more score by the president’s erstwhile allies.

So this is what “law and order” means in the age of Trump: corruption at society’s highest levels, wholesale contempt for the constitution, and crime in the streets. To be sure, this is the same crew that made “lock her up” a campaign rallying cry and convinced a portion of the electorate that Mexico would pay for the wall.

Indeed, over the course of a morning, Bannon gained one more thing in common with Mike Flynn, Trump’s disgraced national security adviser who like Bannon was exiled from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue’s island of broken toys. For now, Flynn is a convicted felon; Bannon may yet become one.

Regardless, the news could not have come at a worse time for the president. There are only 75 days to the election, Joe Biden’s lead is fairly steady, and Hillary Clinton is not on the ballot. In other words, the indictment of Bannon & Co is one more rancid cherry sitting atop a disastrous week for Trump.

Minutes after federal prosecutors unsealed the criminal charges, a federal judge dismissed Trump’s latest lawsuit, which again sought to block the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, from obtaining the tax returns and business records of Trump and his company.

As for the merits of Trump’s arguments, the court observed, they are “as unprecedented and far-reaching as it is perilous to the rule of law and other bedrock constitutional principles on which this country was founded and by which it continues to be governed”.

It wasn’t enough that the US supreme court had previously refused to buy what the president was selling. Apparently, fear of his own indictment weighs heavily on the ageing one-time real estate developer.

In turn, all this comes on the heels of the US Senate’s intelligence committee report that confirmed that Trump had lied to Robert Mueller, the special counsel, and that Paul Manafort worked hand in glove with a Russian intelligence asset to help elect Trump. Yes, there really was collusion.

Indeed, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, could not have made things any clearer about how the president and his minions view re-election. As Barack Obama was warning the US of the danger posed by Trump to the country and democracy, Kushner proclaimed on Fox News: “In the Democratic convention, I’m hearing a lot of lecturing moralists … in this administration, we have a lot of doers, we have businessmen, we have people who are held accountable.”

Last Edit: Aug 21, 2020 7:26:59 GMT by Admin

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Steve Bannon: We Build the Wall Campaign Aug 22, 2020 1:34:59 GMT

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Post by Admin on Aug 22, 2020 1:34:59 GMT

President Donald Trump appeared baffled when questioned why he is surrounded by a “culture of lawlessness” following the arrest of another one of his close associates.

On Thursday Mr Trump was quizzed on his reaction to the arrest of his former advisor Steve Bannon, who was indicted the same day on conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering while raising money for a campaign to build the US-Mexico border wall.

The president was asked what he thought it meant that so many of his aides have been arrested since he took office in 2017.

“Respectfully, sir, it’s not just Steve Bannon. It’s Roger Stone, it’s Michael Flynn, it’s Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen,” a reporter said to Mr Trump, naming Trump administration and campaign officials who have been convicted on a variety of different charges.

“What’s that say about your judgment that these are the kind of people who you affiliated with, and the culture of lawlessness around people who were involved in the leadership of your 2016 campaign?”

Mr Trump began by saying, he “had no idea”, seemingly distancing himself from the controversy before shifting the discussion to the Obama Administration.

“There was great lawlessness in the Obama administration. They spied on our campaign illegally,” he said.

Mr Trump continued to distance himself further from the scandal saying he “was not involved in the project” and he had no idea who was.

The president later clarified that he “didn’t know” about Mr Bannon’s involvement and he “didn’t know the other people”.

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Steve Bannon: We Build the Wall Campaign Aug 24, 2020 5:28:54 GMT

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Post by Admin on Aug 24, 2020 5:28:54 GMT

The former FBI director James Comey has said Steve Bannon is “in a world of trouble”, after the former Trump campaign manager and White House adviser was arrested on a charge of skimming donations from a fundraising campaign for a wall on the border with Mexico.

“It’s another reminder of the kind of people this president surrounds himself with,” Comey told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.

Bannon is the latest figure with close ties to the president to have found himself in trouble with the law. Others include former campaign chair Paul Manafort, former lawyer Michael Cohen and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey is also a former US attorney for Southern District of New York, where Bannon was indicted last week.

“At this point they could almost start their own crime family,” Comey told CBS, echoing the passage in his book A Higher Loyalty, released in April 2018, in which he famously likened Trump, who fired him in May 2017, to mafia chiefs including Sammy “the Bull” Gravano.

“It’s a very serious case. The southern district of New York has laid it out in a very detailed indictment called a speaking indictment, and he’s in a world of trouble.”

Bannon has pleaded not guilty and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

“It’s a very serious fraud case with a huge amount of money stolen from innocent victims,” Comey said. “That’ll drive up potential punishments.”

Bannon was released on a $5m bond, backed by $1.75m in cash or real estate. He has until 3 September to find the collateral. Three other men, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, were also arrested in the alleged scheme to defraud the We Build the Wall campaign, which authorities said raised more than $25m.