Trump ex-advisor Steve Bannon faces state indictment in New York

Picture source - AP

Steve Bannon, a senior ally of former US president Donald Trump, is expected to face a fresh criminal charge and turn himself into state prosecutors on Thursday.

Trump pardoned Bannon in 2021 as part of a rush of commutations and pardons he delivered in the last hours of his presidency.

According to the Washington Post, the prosecution of Bannon would probably include elements of the federal case in which Bannon was exonerated.

Bannon was accused of defrauding the president’s supporters in connection with an initiative to solicit private funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

However, he pleaded not guilty.

The Washington Post said that it was unable to authenticate the specifics of the latest charge. It was brushed off as a political gimmick by a Bannon spokesperson.

The spokesperson told Reuters in an email that “this is nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system”.

Bannon worked as Trump’s primary White House adviser during his 2016 presidential campaign prior to a falling out between them that was ultimately patched up.