Former White House strategist Steve Bannon's federal fraud charges were dismissed by a federal judge in New York City on Tuesday because of his presidential pardon by former president Trump.
Why it matters: U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres' decision to dismiss the criminal charges over a scheme to privately finance a southern border wall follows a months-long legal fight over how to deal with Bannon's pardon when related cases are before the court.
The big picture: While Trump pardoned Bannon as one of his final acts in office in January, he did not do the same for Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea, all of whom were also charged for allegedly defrauding donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a crowdfunding campaign.
- Prosecutors had asked the judge to dismiss Bannon, who pleaded guilty last year to the charges, as one of the defendants in the case, rather than dismissing the indictment.
Details: Torres noted in her order that prosecutors didn't dispute that Bannon's pardon was valid and that "it is not the practice of this district to remove a defendant from the docket without resolution of the indictment."
- But she added that "pardon implies guilt," quoting an 1853 New Jersey Supreme Court rule.
What they're saying: Bannon's attorney Bob Costello told the Washington Post the judge had "reached the right result" as an "unconditional pardon should always result in the dismissal of the indictment."
- He noted to the Wall Street Journal that Bannon "has never been found guilty of anything, and he's not guilty."
- The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the ruling.
Read the judge's memorandum and order, obtained by the Court Listener, via DocumentCloud:
