Trump pardons his former chief strategist Steve Bannon before he departs the White House for a final time

President Donald Trump has pardoned his former chief strategist Steve Bannon in his final hours in the office before departing the White House for a final time.

Bannon, 67, who helped Trump win the election in 2016 and was a senior White House adviser, was among the 73 individuals pardoned by the outgoing president, who also commuted the sentences of an additional 70 individuals on Tuesday.

In August 2020, Bannon was charged with a case over defrauding the public in an effort to raise private funds to build the US-Mexico border wall, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Pardoning Bannon the White House said: “President Trump granted a full pardon to Stephen Bannon. Prosecutors pursued Mr. Bannon with charges related to fraud stemming from his involvement in a political project. Mr. Bannon has been an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen.”

Trump also pardoned rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were prosecuted on federal weapons offenses, as well as former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.

Reacting after Bannon was pardoned, Daniel R. Alonso, a former prosecutor said Bannon can still be charged in state court in New York, where a pardon would not help him.

Fraud prosecutions are frequently brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Alonso added. 

‘Steve Bannon is getting a pardon from Trump after defrauding Trump’s own supporters into paying for a wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for,’ Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff also said on Twitter. ‘And if that all sounds crazy, that’s because it is. Thank God we have only 12 more hours of this den of thieves.’