Trump’s last minute amnesty… Bannon,’extreme kingmaker’, is being investigated again

Former White House strategist Steve Bannan, who was pardoned by former President Donald Trump last month, is on the verge of going back to prosecution. [NYT=연합뉴스]

Steve Bannan, 68, a former White House chief strategist, who once served as the king maker and bookmaker who founded the former US President Donald Trump, is again in crisis. Former President Trump, who had been arrested for a scam in Mexico’s’raising the walls of Mexico’, wanted to escape the crisis with a dramatic pardon.

On the 3rd (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others reported that “The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating Bannon for fraud under New York State law.” The WSJ quoted a source and said, “The investigation led by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is in its infancy.”

New York’s Manhattan District Attorney General Cyrus Vance is investigating allegations of not only Steve Bannan but also former President Donald Trump. [AP=연합뉴스]

In 2018, Bannon raised $25 million on an online funding site to build a border barrier between the United States and Mexico. Last year, the Southern Federal Prosecutor’s Office in New York turned it over to trial, claiming that Bannon had taken 1 million dollars (about 1.12 billion won) of the money raised with three accomplices.

The situation reversed on the 20th of last month. Former President Trump pardoned 73 people, including Bannon, with several hours left in office. In Bannon’s case, the trial did not even begin, but it was an unusual case from pardon. At the time, according to the New York Times (NYT) and others, the prospect that there would be no Bannon on the list of pardons was predominant until the day before, but former President Trump said that he took a strong last-minute drive. However, the amnesty was applied only to the investigation by the Federal Prosecutors’ Office. As a result, the Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office recently re-investigate according to state law and has become irrelevant to the amnesty.

Steve Bannan was regarded as the number one contributor to the victory of former President Trump. [AFP=연합뉴스]

Bannon is considered one of the top contributors to Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential election. In particular, the far-right media’Breitbart’, which he took over as a founding member in 2007 and took over management five years later, played a big part. The so-called’Brightbarters’, who declared themselves’Alternative Right’ and differentiated from existing Republican supporters, became a mark for Trump, who did not have a basis for orthodox conservative support.

Steve Bannan made the cover of Time magazine in February 2017. [타임지 캡쳐]

After entering the White House in 2017 under the position of Chief Strategist, he even decorated the cover of Time magazine in February of that year with the title of’The Great Manipulator’. Based on its strong power, it has enforced a policy of’U.S. Priority’, such as banning the entry of citizens of some countries in the Islamic world and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. However, he lost his influence as he climbed into the rumors with various unexpected remarks and clashed with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. In the end, he was stiff after seven months.

In the book “Flame and Anger,” written by columnist Michael Wolf in 2018 after interviewing 200 people around Trump, Bannon said that Trump’s son, Trump Jr., was “traitorous and unpatriotic” for allegations of contact with Russia. It is said that this was the decisive moment to live Trump’s anger. However, on the eve of the US Capitol raid last month, he encouraged Trump supporters, saying, “Everything will disappear” through his podcast.

American columnist Michael Wolf’s book, Flame and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. [EPA=연합뉴스]

Born in 1953 in Virginia, to a family of Irish-American workers, Bannon was raised as a child to support the Democratic Party of America, including John F. Kennedy. However, when he was enlisted as an officer in the U.S. Navy, his political orientation changed the opposite way. After completing Harvard Business School, he worked at Goldman Sachs for nearly two years, and also worked as a documentary producer. Later, in 2012, when Andrew Brightbart, the founder of Brightbart, died of a heart attack, it took over.

Reporter Kim Sun-mi [email protected]