NEWS Trump pardons former White House strategist Steve Bannon By Bruce GoldingJanuary 20, 2021 | 12:24am | President Trump on Tuesday night pardoned former top campaign aide and White House strategist Steve Bannon, who was arrested for an alleged scam involving private donations to build a border wall with Mexico. Reuters cited senior administration officials saying that Trump had pardoned Bannon. An official statement from the White House was expected early Wednesday morning. Bannon, the nationalist firebrand who was formerly the executive chairman of Breitbart News, had been facing a May trial on fraud and money laundering charges in Manhattan federal court.
Bannon was accused of scamming $1 million from donors to the “We Build the Wall” GoFundMe campaign launched by US Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, who lost three limbs during a 2004 bomb blast in Iraq. He was busted in August aboard the “Lady May,” a $28 million yacht owned by Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. Bannon’s pardon was among a wave of last-minute clemencies the White House was expected to announce ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday and followed nearly 90 pardons and commutations previously granted by Trump since 2017. In August 2016, Trump named Bannon chief executive of his first White House bid...
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