Steve Bannon, 3 others charges with defrauding donors in fundraising scheme
Bannon arrested for allegedly funneling money from 'We Build the Wall' fund; David Lee Miller reports.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's campaign says that the arrest and indictment of former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was no surprise.
"No one needed a federal indictment to know that Steve Bannon was a fraud," Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield told reporters on Thursday.
Bedingfield charged that “Donald Trump has run the most corrupt administration in American history. He has consistently used his office to enrich himself, his family and his cronies. Is it really a surprise that another one of the grifters he's surrounded himself with and placed in the highest levels of government was just indicted? Sadly, it is not. The American people deserve better.”
TRUMP REACTS TO 'VERY SAD' BANNON ARREST
Bannon, who served as chief executive of Trump’s 2016 general election campaign before becoming a top adviser to the president, was arrested and indicted in connection with an online fundraising campaign that allegedly defrauded donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Bannon and co-defendant Brian Kolfage told the public that they were a "volunteer organization" and that 100% of the money raised would go toward their stated goal, which was to raise money for the federal government to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Those representations were false," the indictment said. Prosecutors claim that Kolfage, Bannon, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea took money for themselves as the campaign raised upward of $25 million. The indictment alleges that Bannon received more than $1 million through a nonprofit that he then used for personal expenses and to pay Kolfage.
The president appeared to distance himself from Bannon as he made comments during an Oval Office meeting with Iraq’s prime minister.
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"I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a very long period of time," Trump told reporters. "I haven't been dealing with him at all."
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