Steve Bannon arrested and charged with fraud in border wall fundraising campaign

Eric

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Donald Trump drained the swamp and filled it up with sewer rats. Steve Bannon is just the latest member of Mr. Trump's team to be arrested for fraud over dirty dealings for border wall funding.

From CNN
New York federal prosecutors on Thursday charged President Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Steve Bannon and three others with defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a fundraising campaign purportedly aimed at supporting Trump's border wall.

Bannon was arrested Thursday morning, according to a spokesman for the US attorney's office. Bannon's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bannon will make his initial court appearance in New York later Thursday, according to the US attorney's office.

The four men are indicted for allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars donated to a group called We Build the Wall and using the funds for personal expenses, among other things.

According to prosecutors, Bannon, through a non-profit identified as Non-Profit-1, used more than $1 million from We Build the Wall to "secretly" pay another defendant, Brian Kolfage, and cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bannon's personal expenses.
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samcraig

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When do you think Trumpers will realize after the NRA and "Build the Wall" debacles, that Trump is just siphoning money out of his supporters pockets to line his own and he doesn't give a rats ass?
 

lizkat

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When do you think Trumpers will realize after the NRA and "Build the Wall" debacles, that Trump is just siphoning money out of his supporters pockets to line his own and he doesn't give a rats ass?


Never. They're in cult mode. Won't end well but that doesn't translate to ending with any insight.
 

lizkat

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I stopped thinking that it can't all get uglier with this guy and his defenders awhile back, but now I just tell myself it's not going to last forever and the only way to ensure that is subtract him from his powerful office. There are all these dire scenarios about what if he rejects election results. I figure just focus on getting the vote out and expect the Congress and the high court if necessary to do their parts to make it clear they too expect our usual processes of a transition of government in Washington DC. A congress can be replaced... a justice can be impeached... it's not like the Constitution is dead to us even if there are those in any branch of government who choose to think it's dead to them.
 

hulugu

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When do you think Trumpers will realize after the NRA and "Build the Wall" debacles, that Trump is just siphoning money out of his supporters pockets to line his own and he doesn't give a rats ass?

Probably never.

Here's the thing, it was abundantly clear that We Build the Wall was built to be a scam after Kolfage got some attention. Kolfage was once a supporter of Gabby Giffords, but he later became a border wingnut and started the GoFundMe that failed.

But, once Bannon, Tancredo, Schilling, et. al got involved, they moved the project to a 501c4, which made it easy to hide donations and expenditures. I suspect at the onset that it would be used to cover personal expenses, and that Bannon would shift money around for his political goals. And, as WBTW got going, they created an entire network of private media—involved with a couple of scumbags, including Jim Benvie who was convicted of fraud and impersonating a Border Patrol agent—which included militia types taking migrant families into custody.

And, the whole thing was used by Tommy Fisher to gin up the case for his wall construction, which involves a fast construction method that's likely unsound, and that the president enjoyed so much he gave Fisher Sand & Gravel a $1.3 billion contract despite misgivings from appropriation authorities—the DOD's OIG is investigating.

The fact that Kobach didn't get hung up in this is probably because he was too busy getting his ass handed to him in Kansas, and he was cited as the group's legal counsel on their website.

Ultimately, the sketchiness of WBTW was apparent, and for $25 million, they built under a mile of wall, 30-feet inside the U.S. because they were building north of the Roosevelt Reservation on private property. And, a gate they installed violates the IBWC treaty between the U.S. and Mexico and must be left open.

It was a money grab, and Kolfage apparently bought himself a boat, a Range Rover, and got his wife plastic surgery—I'm assuming, maybe he got a tuck.
 

iLunar

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Probably never.

Here's the thing, it was abundantly clear that We Build the Wall was built to be a scam after Kolfage got some attention. Kolfage was once a supporter of Gabby Giffords, but he later became a border wingnut and started the GoFundMe that failed.

But, once Bannon, Tancredo, Schilling, et. al got involved, they moved the project to a 501c4, which made it easy to hide donations and expenditures. I suspect at the onset that it would be used to cover personal expenses, and that Bannon would shift money around for his political goals. And, as WBTW got going, they created an entire network of private media—involved with a couple of scumbags, including Jim Benvie who was convicted of fraud and impersonating a Border Patrol agent—which included militia types taking migrant families into custody.

And, the whole thing was used by Tommy Fisher to gin up the case for his wall construction, which involves a fast construction method that's likely unsound, and that the president enjoyed so much he gave Fisher Sand & Gravel a $1.3 billion contract despite misgivings from appropriation authorities—the DOD's OIG is investigating.

The fact that Kobach didn't get hung up in this is probably because he was too busy getting his ass handed to him in Kansas, and he was cited as the group's legal counsel on their website.

Ultimately, the sketchiness of WBTW was apparent, and for $25 million, they built under a mile of wall, 30-feet inside the U.S. because they were building north of the Roosevelt Reservation on private property. And, a gate they installed violates the IBWC treaty between the U.S. and Mexico and must be left open.

It was a money grab, and Kolfage apparently bought himself a boat, a Range Rover, and got his wife plastic surgery—I'm assuming, maybe he got a tuck.

Thank you for connecting the dots. I can't believe this level of criminal enterprise is not only allowed to exist, but often sanctified by our elected leaders.

It's ridiculous how may corrupt people are associated with Trump.
 
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