NEW YORK — Following a four-month stint in federal prison for ignoring a congressional subpoena, conservative strategist Steve Bannon delivered a striking message on Tuesday to the prosecutors involved in his current legal battles. “You wait. The hunted are about to become the hunters,” Bannon remarked outside a New York courthouse, where he is facing a state conspiracy trial set to commence next month.
Bannon was cautious not to divulge further details regarding his cryptic statement about “the hunters” as he entered a vehicle after making his remarks.
His upcoming trial is slated for December 9 but may face delays after a court hearing scheduled for Monday. This trial is taking place at the same Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump, the former and soon-to-be president, was found guilty in a separate hush money case. At the same time, a judge postponed a crucial ruling in the hush money proceedings by at least a week, allowing prosecutors time to consider their options in light of Trump’s upcoming presidency.
Bannon characterized Trump’s recent electoral victory as a “verdict on all this lawfare,” suggesting that voters had rejected the legal challenges faced by the former president and those affiliated with him. According to Bannon, this election showed a public disapproval of the proceedings taking place in the courts.
As a prominent ally of Trump, Bannon is facing charges for allegedly deceiving donors who contributed to the campaign to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He has entered a plea of not guilty to charges including conspiracy and money laundering. This case echoes an abandoned federal prosecution that was underway when Trump granted Bannon a pardon in the final hours of his presidency in 2021.
In 2022, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, revived the case in a state court, where presidential pardons are not applicable. Bannon and the associates involved with the nonprofit organization WeBuildTheWall Inc. assured contributors that their donations would directly fund the construction effort. However, prosecutors allege that Bannon directed at least $140,000 from the organization to its president as a covert salary.
The charges against Bannon primarily allege that he facilitated these payments rather than personally receiving the funds, although it is suggested that he only relayed a fraction of the WeBuildTheWall money that came under his control. In court, prosecutors stated that some of these funds were utilized to settle Bannon’s credit card bill and expressed a desire to showcase these transactions during his trial.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson argued that Bannon seized the chance to utilize those funds to promote his political ambitions. In contrast, Bannon’s defense attorney, John Carman, contended that Bannon merely received reimbursement for expenses incurred during his efforts to support the WeBuildTheWall initiative, asserting that Bannon held a key role as the chair of the group’s advisory board.
Carman claimed that prosecutors were attempting to tarnish Bannon’s reputation by indicating that he misappropriated funds, emphasizing that the money in question was legitimately owed to him. He requested Judge April Newbauer to postpone the trial, indicating that the defense needed to secure financial and nonprofit experts to counter the evidence prosecutors aimed to introduce.
Judge Newbauer has scheduled a hearing for Monday to determine whether to admit the aforementioned evidence, and she will decide afterward whether the trial will be postponed.
Bannon, 70, appeared relaxed during the hearing, which occurred less than two weeks after his release from a federal facility in Connecticut. He had been convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to provide testimony and documents in relation to the investigation into the events of January 6, 2021, when the U.S. Capitol was attacked. Bannon has referred to himself as a “political prisoner” and is currently appealing his earlier conviction.