Steve Bannon’s trial in a border wall charity scheme case delayed until February

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Bannon ‘s border wall fundraising trial was postponed to February as prosecutors disclosed Monday that the former Trump White House strategist himself once suggested the nonprofit venture was “a scam.”

Bannon — who recently finished serving federal prison time for a contempt of Congress conviction — had been due to go on trial next month on state charges related to the defunct “We Build The Wall” campaign. He has pleaded not guilty.

Launched in 2018, the fundraiser rapidly raised more than $20 million and privately built a few miles (kilometers) of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it soon ran into trouble with the International Boundary and Water Commission, came under federal investigation and drew criticism from then-President Donald Trump, the Republican whose policy the charity was founded to support.

Early on in the campaign, Bannon pooh-poohed it, prosecutors said at a court hearing Monday.

“Isn’t this a scam? You can’t build the wall for this much money,” Bannon wrote in an email, according to prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson. He said Bannon went on to add: “Poor Americans shouldn’t be using hard-earned money to chase something not doable.”

Yet Bannon changed his mind and got involved with WeBuildTheWall Inc. because he saw an opportunity to advance and make money for his own, separate not-for-profit group, Levinson said.

Bannon, who had served as Trump’s 2016 campaign CEO and White House adviser, chaired the wall charity’s advisory board.

Bannon was not in court for Monday’s hearing but listened in virtually. He did not speak except to say, “yes, ma’am” when asked whether he understood he must be in court when jury selection starts Feb. 25. Prosecutors asked Monday for an anonymous jury, but no decision has been made.

Bannon, who turns 71 next week, faces state charges including conspiracy and money laundering and has called them “nonsense.” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, brought the charges after Trump pardoned Bannon in a similar federal prosecution that was in its early stages.