Trump's hush money judge quietly missing from Bannon's next appearance: court records
Steve Bannon will apparently get a fill-in judge for at least one of his criminal charity fraud case hearings.
While the longtime MAGA enforcer and former Trump White House strategist pleads with the Supreme Court to toss him a get-out-of-jail-free-card — after he was convicted of being in contempt of congress — his New York fraud case is expected to continue.
In at least one of the upcoming hearings where the 70-year-old was slapped with state charges in a charity fraud case, he won't appear before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
"It appears Bannon's New York criminal case is no longer assigned to Justice Merchan," reads a Twitter/X post by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney.
On July 23, Bannon's case will have a new face holding court: Judge April Newbauer. Raw Story verified the scheduled switch via online court records.
Merchan is scheduled to appear in Trump's critical sentencing hearing July 11.
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Merchan was assigned to Bannon's criminal matter and famously presided over the criminal trial where former President Donald Trump was convicted.
Newbauer, for her part, will come into the case even if just for the one hearing with much less exposure than Merchan. She has in the past shown extra consideration of defendants' protections.
Back in 2021, Newbauer sprung a man who had been locked up at at Rikers Island correctional facility on a felony burglary charge, ruling that the level of violence at the notorious prison justified his freedom while awaiting trial; opting he wear an ankle bracelet instead.
Bannon faces a six-count indictment that accuses him of money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud thousands of donors who pledged their support for "We Build the Wall," a grassroots group that preached a plan to raise a partition along the Southern Border and boasted $15 million.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Bannon of padding his own pocket with the funds.
He said Bannon and others "specifically represented that none of the donations would be used to pay the salary of We Build The Wall's president, who stated on multiple occasions that he was taking no salary... In reality, 'We Build The Wall' paid its president more than $250,000 in 2019, despite the organization’s promises to the contrary."
That president who was also CEO was identified as Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage.
Bannon is accused of funneling money from the "We Build The Wall" company he controlled to pay Kolfage.
Kolfage and Andrew Badolato pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Kolfage also pleaded guilty to tax and wire fraud charges.
On Jan. 20, 2021, Bannon was pardoned by Trump on the federal matter.
Only Bannon and the company were charged by New York state in the "fundraising scheme".
If convicted on the top charge, he faces up to five to 15 years in prison.
“The simple truth is that it is a crime to profit off the backs of donors by making false pretenses,” Bragg announced during a 2022 press conference.