I tried not to cover Steve Bannon too much when he was actually relevant, because Steve Bannon is a g–damn Nazi and paying attention to his sleaze made me feel hopeless. Bannon was one of the white supremacists in Trump’s “brain trust” during the campaign and for about eight months into his presidency. Bannon was fired by Trump in 2017, but Bannon still acted as an informal advisor here and there, and Bannon was still involved with MAGA politics in a big way. Which is why everything about Bannon’s indictment and arrest yesterday is so f–king funny. Bannon was arrested for fraud in connection to the “We Build the Wall” scheme:
Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former adviser and an architect of his 2016 general election campaign, was charged on Thursday with defrauding donors to a private fund-raising effort called We Build the Wall, which was intended to bolster the president’s signature initiative along the Mexican border.
Mr. Bannon, working with a wounded Air Force veteran and a Florida venture capitalist, conspired to cheat hundreds of thousands of donors by falsely promising that their money had been set aside for new sections of wall, according to a federal indictment unsealed in Manhattan.
The fund-raising effort collected more than $25 million, and prosecutors said Mr. Bannon used nearly $1 million of it for personal expenses.
Despite the populist aura he tries to project, Mr. Bannon is known to enjoy the high life, and he was arrested at 7:15 a.m. on a $35 million, 150-foot yacht belonging to one of his business associates, the fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, law enforcement officials said.
Working with the Coast Guard, special agents from the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan and federal postal inspectors boarded the yacht off Westbrook, Conn., the officials said. Mr. Bannon, 66, was on deck, drinking coffee and reading a book, when the raid occurred.
The fact that Bannon and others were scamming millions of dollars from racist idiots who “donated” money to build Trump’s fakakta wall is kind of beautiful? It’s kind of perfect? And the fact that Bannon is a scammer who was arrested on a boat… well, I really need to do a marathon of Arrested Development now. And the fact that Bannon was arrested by members of the USPS inspector squad – amazing. I’m imagining the postal-person uniform with guns and a tasers. I would have given anything if they tased him. He’d apparently been on the yacht for “the last several weeks” and “Bannon would tell people he was ‘at sea.’” WHY IS THIS SO FUNNY.
Bannon already appeared in court yesterday to enter his plea (not guilty). The sketch of him from the video-conference… LMAO. He was apparently rocking in his chair and he seemed upset. Oh no.
Reuters sketch of Steve Bannon appearing handcuffed in court in Manhattan today. pic.twitter.com/H8KKrxTJuM
— Josie Ensor (@Josiensor) August 20, 2020
He’s already been released on a $5 million bond. Which begs the question… can you post bond for yourself with the money you scammed from a fake “we’re building the wall!” scheme?
Steve Bannon leaves a Manhattan federal courthouse after being freed on a $5 million bond. The former Trump adviser pleaded not guilty on charges of defrauding donors in a scheme to help build the president’s signature wall along the U.S.-Mexico border https://t.co/J1N00wWO7c pic.twitter.com/cWKNlU66hU
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 21, 2020
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
He’s disgusting – see how he mugs for the press, he was loving it. He looked so smug, he knows the Orange one will pardon him – he knows where all the bodies are.
well, he does have to be tried and convicted before Dump can pardon him…or plead guilty and be pardoned. he’ll NEVER cop a plea and there’s no guarantee that he’ll go to trial or be convicted before Dump is out of office.
Imma take this as a win, for now.
Just commented on this below.
And he immediately makes a big show of taking off his mask to walk into a massive crowd of reporters. And why was the security officer helping into his car not wearing his mask? He had it pulled down and hanging under his chin.
Wasn’t this the opening scene of Arrested Development?
“Are those police boats?”
If only he’d had an Aztek Tomb to hide in…
Perhaps a good trick for a human, but the dogs would find him almost instantly 🤣
Bannon needs to hire Michael Bluth who is well-versed in maritime law!!
😂😂😂😂
You’re….a…crook, Captain Hook!
And actually I believe it was Chareth Cutestory who was the maritime lawyer…
The Postal Service AND the Coast Guard, two entities Trump has tried to destroy. There’s a lot more to this too, I won’t be surprised if there are more arrests coming for this.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed! 🙂
My brother is a mailman and he and his union buddies were soooo proud of this news.
My brother is too and he was going nuts over this yesterday
@ Anng and @Lightpurple, please pass my condolences to both of your brothers as what DeJoy is doing is criminal and I hope that the House forces him to return all of the sorting machines back into their stations. I also made a donation to help keep the USPS afloat as I was so angry about this. DeJoy should never have accepted for his position. Drumpf and his criminal friends and donors. DeJoy wants to destroy the USPS so he can monopolize the postal service as a privately held company, just like the prisons and the shelter for illegal immigrants.
Now I just wish that they would gain some intel on Alex Jones and arrest him too given his atrocious and criminal actions. He is a boil on the butt of humanity. Then arrest all of the Qanon and boogaloos too! Talk about home grown terrorism.
My husband is with the USPS, and he was thrilled to hear this. Also, postal inspectors are badass, and they put up with zero bullshit. I hope they put the cuffs on extra tight on that Nazi.
@ Aang : I worked for Canada Post Corporation for eight years (health and safety) and I am LOVING this. So I understand how your brother feels! I know how hard posties work and how maligned they are. But this – this is like when the IRS took down Al Capone :). Posties rock!
I’m a Canada Postie as well and this news made me so happy!
FYI – Postal Inspectors are not armed, but they can arrest.
Okay I had no idea the USPS was so badass!
Any fraud that happens using the mail OR the internet, it’s USPS jurisdiction and yes, they are badass.
I remember in The Firm, they wind up going after the lawyers for mail fraud. as Cruise’s character says, “it’s not sexy but it’s got teeth”.
Love it! Just watched this last night.
There’s a “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” ep that affectionately goofs on USPS officers, but acknowledge that they do their jobs well.
Trump has spent years and especially the last few months vilifying China, and I think Bannon was instrumental in making this one of his shticks for the “rubes.” Now this guy is found on a luxury yacht of a Chinese billionaire. And yet I see people on line defending Bannon. Don’t they realize these people think they’re idiots?
USPIS! Jack Danger! LOL.
I think some of the charges against Lori Loughlin and her husband were mail fraud also? I might be wrong.
There used to be a Saturday morning show on CBS about Postal Inspectors and the crimes that they deal with!
I don’t think the donor-supporters are mad at this…they probably would say this is a fake investigation cos they’re crazy.
Agreed, although Trump is distancing himself. It’s depressing that no matter how obvious it is that these people are corrupt and criminal, it only makes the supporters dig in their heels harder.
The Oatmeal did a take on this phenomenon — the psychology behind digging in your heels even more when presented with facts that go against your deeply held beliefs. Of course, no MAGAt wants to understand psychology, but I (being of somewhat sound mind) found it interesting.
Right? Don’t get me wrong, this arrest is a good thing. But normal people who got robbed over this would be mad and want answers from Trump. Somehow I doubt this is the case for the crazies.
@waitwhat I’ve always thought only two things (policy-wise) would make his supporters abandon him:
1) if he turned pro-choice
2) if he banned guns
Good luck with Trump distancing himself when his own son and that son’s girlfriend both endorsed the scam.
Brainwashed people cannot think for themselves. They think DT is their G-d or something. It’s quite scary that they still support him after everything he’s said and done.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmm!
Will he be tracked? Did they get his passport?
This. How will they prevent this well-connected individual from fleeing the US on a private plane? Or being snuck into and out of an embassy with no extradition agreements? He’s very connected in Europe. He’s been traveling around for years helping white nationalist groups organize and rise up, in an attempt to destroy the EU.
He may end up joining the former king of Spain in the UAE for all we know.
$5 million bail was secured with minimum of $1.75 million in cash/real property (balance would be a bond), passport was surrendered, cannot get on private planes or boats without court permission. Travel was also restricted to SDNY/EDNY, VA, MD, DC, CT – sounds like homes/offices/medical & legal appointments. Very, very lenient under the circumstances. I didn’t see mention of tracking anklet
He’s gonna bounce. He should be locked up until his trial, just like Ghilly.
Is this the same ‘Build a Wall’ scheme/scam that the purely evil, nazi (and brother of just as evil Betsy DeVos) Erik Prince was involved in?
Yes. And Donald J. Trump, Jr. Daddy even endorsed it several times.
it sure is! fingers crossed that blackwater asshole goes down as well
I can’t wait for all the other rats to make deals to testify against this guy. Let the plea bargaining begin!
While I love this he looked WAY too happy at the attention when he walked out after posting bail. He knows odds are he’ll get pardoned, he knows too much, and he is thrilled beyond belief to be back in the news with another opportunity to preach his drivel.
This absolutely made my Friday!
Practical questions my US colleagues (from a Brit), IF (and I know it is sadly and terrifyingly an if right now) Trump is not re-elected and is only in office until January 2021, is this trial likely to be complete by then? Would be have been convicted and therefore be pardonable by the orange one?
If the re-election is a success then this monster is the least of our concerns.
I can’t imagine they’d rush this trial, especially with all the COVID stuff still going on, so hopefully it extends beyond Jan 2021 (and hope to GOD Biden is in the White House then, not Trump).
Here is what I found on pardons when I googled it.
“All federal pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. … A federal pardon can be issued prior to the start of a legal case or inquiry, prior to any indictments being issued, for unspecified offenses, and prior to or after a conviction for a federal crime.”
@ Swack, really? Oh, we are screwed. Drumpf will certainly pardon him. That sickens me, just as sickening when he pardoned Stone.
True Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon without any charges being issued. So it wouldn’t surprise me. I think Trump would do it because he knows it won’t piss off his MAGA/QAnon base so what has he got to lose? At this point I don’t think there are enough voters who are neutral on a Trump to be influenced.
oh, crap. let’s hope some of those crimes are violations of state statutes as well.
I mean, the USPS had GOT to know that Dump can pardon him, so I hope they have some kind of failsafe.
has any president ever pardoned someone before their trial/conviction? anyone know?
Let him pardon him. If he does it before the election he will just look even dirtier, good. If he does it afterwards, as a lameduck, well, trust, Bannon has committed worse crimes than these, and these criminals are gonna fall like dominoes once trump is not in power to protect them. If trump isn’t a lame duck in Nov, well, folks, we’re gonna have a lot bigger problems than this.
Ford pardoned Nixon, before he could be indicted. It was part of the agreement to get Nixon to step down – he would resign and would get a full pardon for anything and everything. It was a big reason why Ford lost his bid for election – pardoning Nixon was considered unforgivable at that time.
“The fact that Bannon and others were scamming millions of dollars from racist idiots who “donated” money to build Trump’s fakakta wall is kind of beautiful? It’s kind of perfect?”
OMG Yes. No sad old ladies here! I loved this. I was having a stressful day yesterday with orders, and I got the breaking news alert on my phone “Steve Bannon taken into federal custody”. Sometimes it feels like God sees me, and says “here, a gift for you, my child”.
I laughed and I laughed and I laughed.
May he rot in jail.
Another grifter charged and many more to go.
I doubt Fox let their viewers know about the key details (wall fund scam, yacht, fugitive Chinese billionaire, etc.). They might think they are being duped. Can’t let that happen.
This is wonderful news! I hope and pray something comes of it!
This explains the dismantling of the USPS that we were exposed to. You can’t tell me they were not trying their hardest to dismantle the investigation side along with the firing of Berman. I always had a feeling it was more than about the election.
Also Curt Schling was also arrested yesterday. I have a feeling they are coming for Prince as well.
I hope Curt Schilling gets arrested as he is a major con artist. I live in Rhode Island and we are still paying for his $75 million 38 Studios scam…though to be fair our state leaders were so enthralled to be around a Red Sox hero they gave him the money without doing any real due diligence.
He’s a horrible person. The people affiliated with this are just a big ol’ list of awful.
May this be the first of many!
He was arrested on a billionaire’s yacht, but he’s not a flight risk and can post bail? I know they’re trying not to hold (white) people to prevent covid spread, but this seems ridiculous to me. He’ll be on someone’s private jet to Russia if DT doesn’t get reelected.
Yup and we can kiss seeing him face charges or restoring any restitution. But after what Swack posted, I am think he will walk away.
Or to the UAE as I wrote above. Shady ex-king of Spain has already moved there. He’s trying to avoid prosecution for the 100 million he accepted from the Saudis.
He’s got a yacht and crazy funds. HOW and WHY was he released on bond?
Drumpf Twin. Both glory in attention for negative behavior. Three arrested. Will anyone flip?
How many people in shit stain’s orbit have to be arrested and federally charged before Republican voters rise up?
5,739?
I assume your question is rhetorical? I feel like the more people are arrested, the more the conspiracists and MAGAts dig in their heels on their support. This is the world we live in now, where truth and facts truly don’t matter.
They are. Republican Never Trumpers have been a powerful force on FB and Twitter. Video, commentary, information, powerful.
In some polls, his approval rating has GONE UP in recent days.
That court sketch is giving me LIFE!
Lol…he looks like a still-smoking, squashed cigarette butt.
May everyone connected with trump, even in the most tangential way, rot in whatever Hell there may be. For them, I’m sure it would be loss of wealth, having to choose between paying the light bill or buying a can of caviar.
Good news is, there are all these bountiful jobs to be had.
Imagine any of them having to do actual work, such as clean rooms or serve people at the family’s hotels. They would not last a day.
++1
Being arrested on a yacht by USPS workers is so ludicrous it’s almost poetic.
I struggle to keep track of all the misogynistic white supremacists in Trump‘s sphere. They basically all awful in a very similar way and feel somewhat interchangeable. However, it is delightful to know some are being arrested.
Gin blossom Bannon is going down. I hope Karma is swift and just.
Of all of Trump’s gross bloated white supremest man-tantrum Bros, Bannon is one of the worst. Also, not for nothing, but he looks like the embodiment of what hate does to eat you alive from the inside. I love every bit of this story.
Interesting company Bannon keeps. The guy whose boat he was on, Guo Wengui, was accused of corruption and other crimes by Chinese authorities and fled to the United States in late 2014. Some of his alleged crimes include bribery, kidnapping, money laundering, fraud and rape, and of course he’s a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Bannon’s going down for a lonnnggggg time.
This is poetic justice.
LOL I LOVE IT! Ugh he looks so gross. Make them suffer!
What a POS; looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The corruption is literally erupting from his skin.
It never fails to surprise me that so many working class voters could fall for the Trump campaign’s claims that they represent the common man against the ‘elites’, when they are the very definition of elites. Filthy rich, private school educated, Goldman Sachs bankers, corporate bigwigs, trust fund kids, the lot of them. How’s Trump going with his promise to raise the minimum wage? All they’ve done since they got in is cut taxes for rich people and try to destroy healthcare for everyone else, and yet there are people who’ve actually fallen for their Average Joe act?
Steve Bannon is the absolute epitome of an ‘elite’.