Steve Bannon allegedly ripping off Trump true believers who despatched of their {dollars} for his phony We Construct The Wall, Inc. was deemed a federal crime — conspiracy to commit wire fraud and cash laundering — by a Manhattan federal grand jury that indicted Bannon and three friends in August 2020.
However Bannon by no means confronted justice, as an alternative getting a pardon from President Trump on the day earlier than Joe Biden was sworn in. Two of his buds pleaded responsible and the fourth went to trial this spring.
So it’s totally proper and simply and authorized and constitutional for Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg, aided by state Lawyer Basic Tish James, to carry state jury grand fees of cash laundering and conspiracy and fraud towards Bannon for the scheme, which Bragg and James say saved among the donations regardless of guarantees that every one funds would go for the wall on the border with Mexico.
Double jeopardy? No, as Bannon was by no means prosecuted by the feds. No plea settlement, no trial, no nothing. The pardon short-circuited the method. Moreover, anticipating such a maneuver by Trump to help his circle of crooks and con artists, New York legislation was modified to permit prosecutions of people who had obtained presidential pardons. However that’s not even the scenario right here, as federal wire fraud and state conspiracy fees are totally different offenses. Bragg and James had been cautious, as they needed to be.
Nonetheless, assuming that Bannon, chairman of the advisory board for We Construct The Wall, Inc., doesn’t cop a plea like his two compatriots, he’ll go to trial. And that may very well be dicey. Tim Shea, the fourth federally charged man who went earlier than a Manhattan jury, obtained a mistrial in June when 11 jurors wrote the choose that the twelfth peer within the room wouldn’t deliberate, claiming the matter was a “authorities witch hunt.” It solely takes one to hold a jury that should be unanimous.
That wall case may very well be a preview of what any future prosecution of Trump himself might face.
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