Daily Mail: Steve Bannon is released on $5m bail and says 'this entire fiasco is to stop the wall being built' after appearing in court in handcuffs over $25m border wall fundraiser fraud following his arrest on Chinese billionaire's superyacht
* Steve Bannon emerged from Manhattan federal court on Thursday evening after posting $5million bail
* It came after the former top Trump aide appeared before a judge and pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering
* He is accused of ripping off the We Build The Wall scheme that pledged to build a crowd-sourced border wall
* The group raised money claiming the idea was 'Trump approved' and took in $20 million on GoFundMe before being kicked off the platform, then $5 million more
* 'Non-profit' told hundreds of thousands of donors the people behind it were volunteers when they were secretly being paid, feds say
* Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say he helped run scheme which funneled donations to its co-founders
* Some of the cash has built sections of wall - and Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle took part in a fundraiser; first son now claims he too was 'deceived'
* Bannon received $1 million and kept hundreds of thousands for his personal expenses
* Massive amounts of cash went to Brian Kolfage, the triple amputee co-founder who prosecutors say spent it on his lavish lifestyle
* Kolfage used the money he received on home renovations, boat payments, an SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery, tax and credit card debt
* His wife Ashley, 34, received cash too and posted on Instagram about their lifestyle and said Thursday that Kolfage, 38, was on his way back home
* All four indicted men face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison
* Bannon was arrested Thursday morning on a yacht, the Lady May, owned by Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui
* Wengui and Bannon broadcast a podcast interview from the yacht on Wednesday - with Kolfage
Steve Bannon has been released on $5 million bail after appearing in court in handcuffs and pleading not guilty to being part of an alleged crowd funded border wall scam.
The former Donald Trump campaign strategist beamed with excitement as he emerged from Manhattan federal court on Thursday afternoon with his coronavirus mask in one hand and papers in the other.
As he approached a throng of reporters, Bannon said: 'This entire fiasco is to stop people who want to build the wall.'
Read more ....
Update #1: Ex-Trump aide Bannon pleads not guilty in border wall scheme (AP)
Update #2: Steve Bannon, key to Trump's rise, charged with defrauding border-wall supporters (Reuters)
WNU Editor: It is always troubling to me when a charity ends up being used to lavishly reward its managers and directors. Is the "We Build The Wall" charity one of those schemes? We will soon find out. I live in Canada, and the Canadian Prime minister is also experiencing a charity scandal (and maybe police investigation) over his support for a no-bid billion dollar contract to a charity that paid his family hundreds of thousands of dollars for speaking engagements .... WE charity scandal - A simple guide to the new crisis for Trudeau (BBC).
On a side note. There is one thing about Steve Bannon that has still stuck with me since the 2016 Presidential election and is relevant in today's race. After the 2016 election Steve Bannon's primary focus was on making sure President Trump would win in 2020. His strategy was simple. Pursue policies that would result in 60% of whites and 40% of the Black and Hispanic community supporting Trump .... This Is How The Trump Presidency Will Operate (November 19, 2016). According to the latest tracking poll, President Trump is enjoying a 30% to 35% approval number among blacks. Among Hispanics, about 40% would vote for him .... Trump’s surprising resilience with Hispanic voters, explained (VOX). His approval numbers among whites is between 50% to 55%.
8 comments:
What would make a smart guy like Bannon do something so stupid. He has to know that the entire establishment is gunning for him - watching his every move. Then to play these games with that money? And to be in a Chinese billionaire's yacht? WTF. Bannon was a good strategist, but if this thing is half as bad as it looks, he's in deep trouble.
Russin.. good points. But. Dig a little deeper. That Chinese billionaire is wanted in China for corruption. China's "wanted for corruption" is more along the line of "critical of Xi and the CCP)
My guess is that this Chinese billionaire is exchanging information through Bannon between mainland and Trump
Bannon still operates for Trump and there's something bigger going on than the wall lol no one cares about the wall, when it comes to these billionaires. They care about where to put their money and where to live. The Chinese billionaire is not welcome in China. You can figure out the rest
Someone has said that Bannon will never get a fair shake in NY. I agree.
I also agree with Russ.
Many, many people in Washington DC go the charity route. Rick Santorum did. I believe his wife was on the payroll. The charity never really took off so it was closed down. He got criticized for it. I do not see a legal problem so long as you file the proper tax documents and are transparent.
The Rule of thumb used by many Americans is to use a site like Charity Navigator and look for a overhead fee of 10% (thereabouts) or less. I prefer govt. and professional organizations over all govt. If you need the government to rule on every last item to the smallest detail, you might as well give up and write an obit for the human race.
Bannon has always lived like a college bachelor living at other people homes and being an idea person. I think you can stick a fork in Bannon, but we'll see.
Still the charity actually built wall, which is more than Obama did. As far as I know there is no minimum pass though rate or efficiency required a charity.
There is no human resources requirements for a charity in hiring or seems to not be one. Maybe there is a size limit where HR rules kick in. How else to account for Chelsea having been picked t head a gargantuan charity. Did she have any competition or was the charity small enough in personnel that the rules did not apply?
I'm of the opinon many of these charities are in part, self serving. Not much sacrifice. Most of my charity money goes to the Salvation Army and a bit to two others. Plus volunteer time to a small extent.
Uncool man. you know that the Salvation Army started of as a Christian Charity. You are NOT sufficiently WOKE!
Late last month, as the Texas Republican Party was shifting into campaign mode, it unveiled a new slogan, lifting a rallying cry straight from a once-unthinkable source: the internet-driven conspiracy theory known as QAnon.
The new catchphrase, “We Are the Storm,” is an unsubtle cue to a group that the F.B.I. has labeled a potential domestic terrorist threat. It is instantly recognizable among QAnon adherents, signaling what they claim is a coming conflagration between President Trump and what they allege, falsely, is a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophile Democrats who seek to dominate America and the world.
The slogan can be found all over social media posts by QAnon followers, and now, too, in emails from the Texas Republican Party and on the T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts that it sells. It has even worked its way into the party’s text message system — a recent email from the party urged readers to “Text STORM2020” for updates.
The Texas Republicans are an unusually visible example of the Republican Party’s dalliance with QAnon, but they are hardly unique. A small but growing number of Republicans — including a heavily favored Republican congressional candidate in Georgia — are donning the QAnon mantle, ushering its adherents in from the troll-infested fringes of the internet and potentially transforming the wild conspiracy theory into an offline political movement, with supporters running for Congress and flexing their political muscle at the state and local levels.
Chief among the party’s QAnon promoters is Mr. Trump himself. Since the theory first emerged three years ago, he has employed a wink-and-nod approach to the conspiracy theory, retweeting its followers but conspicuously ignoring questions about it. Yet with the election drawing ever closer and Mr. Trump’s failure to manage the Covid-19 pandemic harming his re-election prospects, the White House and some Trump allies appear to have taken to openly courting believers.
The president, during a White House news conference on Wednesday, described QAnon followers — some of whom have been charged with murder, domestic terrorism and planned kidnapping — as “people that love our country.”
And you want to be taken seriously, this is right up there with your Bugaloo Boys, lololololololo!
I have not seen any QANON loot stores, carjack people. murder people on camera, commit arson, etc.
I have sewn Antifa do all of the above. since 1999
So until then blab a way, I won't believe a thing you say.
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