Steve Bannon expected to surrender Thursday on New York state charges related to border wall effort
By Kara Scannell, CNN
Steve Bannon is expected to surrender Thursday to face New York state charges related to his fundraising effort to build a wall along the southern US border, people familiar with the matter say.
The state charges, which have been returned in an indictment, are based on the same conduct Bannon was charged with by federal prosecutors in 2020. Then-President Donald Trump pardoned Bannon on the federal fraud charges related to the alleged scheme as he was leaving office. Presidential pardons do not apply to state investigations.
The Washington Post first reported Bannon’s plans to surrender.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation into Bannon and the crowd-fundraising effort called “We Build The Wall” after the pardon.
The district attorney’s office launched the criminal investigation into Bannon’s “We Build the Wall” crowd-fundraising activities early last year after Trump pardoned Bannon.
In recent months, several people close to Bannon were brought before the state grand jury, CNN previously reported.
Bannon’s lawyer declined to comment to CNN.
When reached for comment by The Washington Post, Bannon issued a statement through his spokesperson calling the indictment “phony charges” and “nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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