NEW YORK — Trump adviser Steve Bannon appeared in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday, where a judge questioned whether he’d been stonewalling his lawyers to delay his criminal fraud case.
The rabble-rousing right-wing strategist — who Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged with money laundering in September in the We Build the Wall scam — hasn’t communicated with his attorneys in weeks.
At a fiery hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court, lawyer David Schoen told Justice Juan Merchan the “direct breakdown in communications” was because of differing opinions between Bannon and his attorneys about how they should approach his case, prepare it, and what defense theories they should pursue.
Schoen represented former President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial and he almost quit on the eve of closing arguments. He said Bannon was awkwardly communicating with him and his other lawyer, John Mitchell, through a third party and that he’d hit up seven law firms looking to replace them over the holidays.
At one point, Schoen and the usually even-tempered Merchan got into a shouting match as the lawyer sought to legally untether himself from Bannon.
“I’m sorry you feel you were dragged in here when you didn’t want to be,” Merchan said after a tense sidebar. “You and your client will be treated the same as anyone else in this courthouse.”
Merchan agreed to give Bannon until Feb. 28 to find a new team.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel Passeser said prosecutors gave Bannon virtually all the evidence, including hundreds of thousands of emails. He argued that Bannon’s refusal to engage with his lawyers jeopardized court-ordered deadlines, “rendering the last five months of the case useless.”
Outside of the courtroom, Bannon declined to answer questions about his dissatisfaction with his legal team but piped up to say he’s “never” going to prison and that the Brazilian presidency was stolen from ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.
The political strategist declined to say whether he was consulting riot efforts supporting Bolsonaro, who’s currently laying low in Florida. Tensions in the Latin American nation resulted in a chaotic uprising last weekend bore similarities to the Jan. 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty to two counts of money laundering, three counts of conspiracy, and one count of scheme to defraud in his Manhattan case. We Build the Wall Inc. fund also faces charges.
The Manhattan DA claims Bannon was the architect of a multimillion-dollar swindling of thousands of donors across the country and New York who thought they were sending money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, the donations to the fund’s campaign chair, Brian Kolfage. The Air Force veteran and triple amputee pleaded guilty to federal charges last April.
Bannon was previously hit with federal crimes concerning the scheme with Kolfage and two others — who have since been convicted — but Trump pardoned Bannon in his final hours as president.
He was sentenced to four months in prison in October for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. He is appealing.
Bannon faces up to 15 years if convicted on the top count in his Manhattan case. The fund faces steep financial penalties.
