U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres formally dismissed the fraud case against Steve Bannon, former aide to Trump, who received a presidential pardon just before the former guy left office.
Bannon and three others were charged with fraud last year over what prosecutors described as a massive fundraising scam targeting the donors of a private campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was suggested that Bannon pocketed over $1 million of the “We Build the Wall” campaign, while donors were told all of the proceeds were going for construction.
The judge quoted in her dismissal from an 1833 New Jersey court that stated pardon implies guilt.
“‘If there be no guilt, there is no ground for forgiveness … A party is acquitted on the ground of innocence, he is pardoned through favor. And upon this very ground it is that the pardoning power is never vested in a judge.'”
Bannon’s attorney Robert Costello said the judge reached the correct conclusion.
The federal prosecution argued that a presidential pardon does not require that the case be outright dismissed — just that the prosecution be aborted. Prosecutors told the judge in April that “there is no need for action beyond terminating Bannon from the docket because the presidential pardon has been docketed in this case and speaks for itself.”
Bannon’s three co-defendants were not issued pardons and are preparing to stand trial in federal court. All have denied wrongdoing.