Chinanews.com, May 27. According to a report by the US Chinese website, on the 25th local time, a US federal judge dismissed the prosecution of former President Trump’s chief strategist Stephen Bannon. The prosecution accused him of participating in a lawsuit. A deceptive crowdfunding campaign to build a wall on the southern border of the United States.
Data map: Former US President Trump.
According to reports, Trump included Bannon in the list of people pardoned before leaving office in January.
After Bannon was pardoned, the U.S. prosecutor asked the U.S. District Judge Torres to remove Bannon from the case instead of dismissing the prosecution completely.
Torres chose to support lawyer Bannon’s request, saying that based on legal precedent, she made a decision to dismiss the prosecution.
Torres wrote: "We have never done this before to remove a defendant from the proceedings (it is not feasible) without making a decision on the prosecution itself."
Bannon’s lawyer Robert Costello said in a statement, “The judge clearly made the right choice, and the result of the unconditional pardon should be to withdraw the prosecution.”
However, Torres admitted in his order that pardon does not mean that the defendant is not guilty of the alleged crime.
Torres said that courts, including the Supreme Court, have admitted that even if they have not formally admitted the crime, issuing a pardon may itself imply "guilt"; similarly, accepting a pardon may mean "confessing guilt."
According to previous reports, on August 20, 2020, US federal prosecutors accused Bannon and three other people of planning a fraud plan involving a $25 million crowdfunding campaign "We build a wall."
The three co-defendants were the initiator of the "We Build the Wall" project, Brian Colfech, and Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea, the owner of an energy drink company.
Except for Bannon, the other defendants in this case have not been pardoned and may still be tried.