Bannon surrenders in NY for defrauding with border wall

London England.- Steve Bannon, who was one of the main strategists of former United States President Donald Trump, turned himself in Thursday to New York authorities to face state charges in an indictment related to Trump’s effort to build a wall on the border between United States and Mexico.

Charges are expected to be announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Bannon, 68, and three other men had been charged by federal prosecutors in August 2020 with defrauding donors in a $25 million private fundraising campaign known as “We Build the Wall.” , to help build Trump’s iconic wall.

Bannon pleaded not guilty to that charge, including allegations that he misappropriated nearly a million dollars for personal expenses. But his indictment was dropped after Trump pardoned Bannon in January 2021, in the final hours of his presidency.

Presidential pardons, however, cover federal charges and do not bar state trials.

“This is ironic,” Bannon said outside Bragg’s office. “The same day that the mayor of this city has a delegation at the border, they are persecuting people from here (for trying) to stop them at the border.”

Bannon is expected to be arraigned on the state charges at 2:15 p.m. local time in New York criminal court in Manhattan.

He is charged less than two months after being convicted of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

The state investigation into Bannon began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance.

Bragg also inherited Vance’s investigation into Trump’s namesake company, the Trump Organization, which along with longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg, was indicted for tax violations in July 2021.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to a series of tax charges, and the Trump Organization faces trial scheduled to begin in October.