Steve Bannon pleaded guilty Tuesday in a New York court to defrauding donors in a border wall scheme. But Bannon, a key Trump ally and former White House adviser, will avoid any jail time after striking a deal with prosecutors. Bannon pleaded guilty to one count of a scheme to defraud, and prosecutors under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to drop five other charges against him, including money laundering and conspiracy allegations. New York Judge April Newbauer sentenced Bannon to a three-year conditional discharge. He could be imprisoned if he commits a crime during that period. The seemingly lenient deal comes about a week after US Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “Weaponization Working Group,” which she said would examine “federal cooperation with the weaponization” by Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James “to target President Trump, his family, and his businesses.” In remarks to reporters after his plea Tuesday, Bannon urged Bondi to launch criminal investigations into Bragg and James. Bannon last year served four months in federal prison in Connecticut for contempt of Congress; he had refused to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 committee. Bannon was also named last year as co-conspirator in a federal racketeering and fraud cases against Bannon’s former patron, exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui. Bannon was not charged in that case. Guo and another codefendant were convicted and remain imprisoned. Federal prosecutors in 2020 charged Bannon and three other men with defrauding “hundreds of thousands of donors” to a crowdfunding campaign called “We Build the Wall,” which raised more than $25 million in private money to support Donald Trump’s promised border wall. Brian Kolfage, the founder and effort, had assured donors he would not take a salary, but prosecutors said that the defendants arranged to secretly pay Kolfage more than $350,000, in part with funds routed through a separate non-profit Bannon ran. Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon—who was famously arrested aboard Guo’s $28 million yacht—also used We Build the Wall to pay his own personal expenses. Hours before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned Bannon, who was a vocal supporter of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. The other three defendants, who Trump did not pardon, received prison sentences of three to five years. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office hit Bannon with similar charges in 2022, in a case Bannon has claimed was politically motivated. In a hearing in November, prosecutors in the case revealed that Bannon was initially wary of the wall fundraising effort. “Isn’t this a scam?” Bannon wrote in an email read in court by Manhattan prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson. “You can’t build the wall for this much money.” Bannon, according to Levinson, later added: “Poor Americans shouldn’t be using hard-earned money to chase something not doable.” Bannon changed his mind, Levinson said, after realizing that he could use the effort to make money for his own nonprofit group.

After being released from prison in October, Steve Bannon seemingly did everything in his power to get Donald Trump back in the White House. Now he appears interested in helping the president-elect remain in the Oval Office—even beyond what is constitutionally allowed. At an event hosted by the New York Young Republican Club on Sunday, Bannon reportedly floated the idea of a third Trump term, which if attempted, would be in direct violation of the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution. But to Bannon, that seems to be a mere technicality to overcome. “I don’t know, maybe we do it again in ’28. Are you guys down for that?” Bannon asked the crowd which cheered in response. “Trump ’28!” According to Bannon, GOP lawyer and Trump defender Mike Davis had told him that because the Constitution “doesn’t actually say ‘consecutive,'” Trump may be able to run for a third term. > BREAKING: Steve Bannon calls for Trump 2028 pic.twitter.com/bcPHFsNobu > > — RSBN (@RSBNetwork) December 16, 2024 It may be tempting to dismiss such remarks as Bannon being Bannon. But Trump himself has also pointed to the possibility of staying in power beyond another four years. At a July event hosted by the conservative political nonprofit Turning Point Action, Trump told the Christian audience that if he won reelection, “you won’t have to vote anymore,” as my colleague Arianna Coghill covered at the time. A few days later, he declined to walk back or clarify those comments, even doubling down on them in an interview with Fox News. Bannon also has a record of accurately characterizing Trump’s moves. As I reported last month, just after Trump’s reelection, Bannon on his War Room podcast promoted a social media post from right-wing podcast host Matt Walsh that said, “Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda. Lol.” After reading the post on air, Bannon chuckled, saying, “Fabulous. We might have to put that everywhere.” Trump would eventually confirm as much. In an interview with Time Magazine published just last week, Trump told the magazine, “I don’t disagree with everything in Project 2025, but I disagree with some things.” Spokespeople for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to questions on Monday afternoon about whether Bannon speaks for Trump or whether the president-elect will commit to vacating office at the end of his next term in accordance with the Constitution. Davis, the lawyer Bannon claimed proposed the idea that a third Trump term was possible, tried to dismiss the comments as a joke. “Steve Bannon is obviously trolling,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday. “Only Obama gets a third term, with his puppet Biden.”

Late last month, Donald Trump named Karoline Leavitt as his incoming press secretary, positioning her to become the youngest person ever to hold the job. That’s a big step up. Just two years ago—following a failed congressional campaign—Leavitt was putting her name on a series of op-eds in right-wing publications lauding a fugitive Chinese mogul who has since been convicted of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from fans of his purportedly anti-communist movement. Leavitt’s articles closely echoed topics, talking points, and even specific language that had been prepared for her by supporters of exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, as journalist Walker Bragman and I reported last year. I’ve since confirmed that Guo allies paid Leavitt for these op-eds. Leavitt’s articles did not include any disclosure to readers that loyalists of Guo—the main subject of these articles—had helped her write them. That omission appears to have led one outlet, Townhall, to take down two Leavitt op-eds from its website last year, shortly after I asked about them. “This column was removed for violating Townhall’s commentary submission guidelines,” the outlet said in editor’s notes where Leavitt’s pieces previously appeared. Leavitt told me last year that she’d written the articles herself. She did not deny that Guo associates had paid her to publish the stories. “I’m not going to comment to you about my clients or business relationships,” she said at the time. When I contacted Leavitt recently, she did not answer additional questions or dispute my reporting. In a text message, though, she said she did not read my article last year “because you work for Mother Jones and I, like the 70+ million Americans who just voted for President Trump, don’t pay attention to your left wing propaganda.” Leavitt, an aide in the first Trump administration who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022, is stepping into a job previously held by officials with more substantial resumes, some with backgrounds in serious journalism. But Trump’s selection of Leavitt, who said recently that she is prepared to take on a “hostile media,” suggests his preference for messengers who engage in performative combat with journalists. In the United States, Guo is perhaps best known for bankrolling Steve Bannon. Years earlier, he’d made a fortune as a real-estate developer in China. He fled that country in 2014 to avoid pending criminal charges there and settled in a Manhattan penthouse. Beginning in 2017, he fashioned himself as a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist Party. He posted videos full of mostly uncorroborated allegations of Chinese government corruption that won him a large following in the Chinese diaspora. After partnering with Bannon that year, Guo launched Chinese language news outlets, nonprofits, and other organizations. He used those groups to promote himself, spread disinformation about Covid and other topics, and, in 2020, to push false claims aimed at helping reelect Trump. Guo has long been dogged by allegations that his anti-CCP rhetoric was a cover for ongoing work on behalf of Chinese intelligence, claims Guo denies. In 2020, Guo ran into bigger problems as federal agents began probing complaints that he had defrauded investors who put up funds for financial ventures he promoted as part of a supposed effort to combat CCP influence. By early 2023, Guo’s legal troubles were mounting. He had been held in contempt of court by a New York state judge, filed for bankruptcy, and seen many of his assets frozen by federal authorities. Guo supporters responded with a public relations push in right-wing media. They paid broadcasters for the chance to appear to promote Guo on their shows. Guo supporters also worked to plant stories bolstering Guo’s image and attacking his perceived enemies on conservative websites. In addition to Leavitt, Guo’s backers recruited Gavin Wax, who heads the New York Young Republicans Club; Matt Palumbo, a far right pundit; and Natalie Winters, then an employee of Bannon’s streaming show, War Room, to churn out articles on his behalf. As Bragman, who writes for OptOut Media’s Important Context publication, first reported last year, “representatives working on behalf of Guo would recruit the writers to place their names on opinion pieces that spoke glowingly of him and his efforts.” These pundits “would to take prompts as well as pre-prepared drafts, which they could then edit,” Bragman reported. The articles, which were placed in various conservative outlets, echoed Guo’s routine allegations that all of his critics—including judges, journalists, lawyers, and former supporters accusing him of fraud—were working for China’s Communist Party. Last year, I obtained a document prepared by Guo supporters containing a list of prompts and talking points for proposed articles. Four of Leavitt’s articles repeated arguments or wording that appeared in these prompts. (See chart below.) One of the prompts suggested an article alleging that three men frequently criticized by Guo—who often uses the first name “Miles”—were Chinese agents. The article, the prompt instructed, should argue that “these three CCP billionaires, or white gloves, are the primary source of illegitimate funding for the CCP’s unrestricted warfare abroad, including the CCP’s #1 priority goal of removing Miles.” In a March 2023 Townhall article, Leavitt asserted that those three men—who she, too, described as “white gloves”—“are the primary source of illegitimate funding for the CCP’s unrestricted warfare abroad, including the CCP’s number one priority goal of removing a key Chinese freedom fighter, Miles Guo.” Leavitt’s pieces fawned over Guo. She called him “an incredibly influential Chinese dissident” and “a renowned critic of the Chinese Communist Party.” The articles also echoed highly specific complaints Guo often made. In a March 14 Headline USA piece, Leavitt wrote about a 2017 hack of computers at a law firm that had represented Guo in an asylum bid. The piece tracked claims in a lawsuit Guo filed against the firm, and called the little-know incident “a disturbing reminder of the lengths to which authoritarian regimes will go to silence dissent and suppress free speech.” Claiming credit for writing that was partially produced by others is not that unusual in online commentary. Senators do it. But Leavitt used material provided by people who were working on behalf of the subject of her articles, and she concealed the arrangement. Professor Debora Weber-Wulff, who studies media ethics at Berlin University, said in an email that “lack of disclosure is the most problematic part of this.” “It does smell,” Weber-Wulff added. Leavitt’s articles praising Guo appeared shortly before his March 15, 2023, arrest on fraud charges. Prosecutors said that Guo stole investments made by people who believed he would use the funds as part of an effort to oust the Chinese Communist Party. Instead he used them for items including a $25 million mansion, $1 million worth of chandeliers, $978,000 of rugs, a $3.5 million Ferrari, and two $36,000 mattresses. A Manhattan jury convicted Guo in July 2024 on nine counts, including racketeering conspiracy and securities fraud. Guo’s claim to be “a key Chinese freedom fighter,” the verdict suggested, was part of a massive con. Asked if she stood by her cheerleading for Guo, Leavitt did not respond. KAROLINE LEAVITT’S GUO OP-EDS Leavitt’s articles echoed talking points and language suggested by Guo’s supporters. Some of the claims below are baseless. Mother Jones is highlighting them not to suggest they are accurate but rather to show the similarities between the prompts and the published op-eds. What Guo’s Supporters Proposed: Professional Communist Moneyman: How Chinese Billionaires Are Bankrolling the CCP’s Foreign Expansion This article should focus on three people: Bruno Wu, Shan Weijian, and Jho Low. These three CCP billionaires, or white gloves, are the primary source of illegitimate funding for the CCP’s unrestricted warfare abroad, including the CCP’s #1 priority goal of removing Miles. What Leavitt Wrote: The American Denominator in CCP’s Global Dominance: Communist Moneyman and American Traitors …There are many white gloves, but three individuals Bruno Wu, Shan Weijian, and Jho Low are the primary source of illegitimate funding for the CCP’s unrestricted warfare abroad, including the CCP’s number one priority goal of removing a key Chinese freedom fighter, Miles Guo… Townhall, 3/2/23 What Guo’s Supporters Proposed: What The Hack: How CCP Cyber Warfare Brought an American Law Firm to its Knee This Article should focus on Clark Hill, a law firm hired by Guo to file his political asylum case. Clark Hill got all of its computers hacked and held as hostage by the CCP, and caved into the CCP’s influence, sold information to the CCP and helped to persecute Miles. What Leavitt Wrote: How a CCP Cyber-Attack Brought an American Law Firm to its Knees …However, strong questions remain that Clark Hill may have caved to pressure from the CCP and betrayed their client’s trust… Headline USA, 3/14/23 What Guo’s Supporters Proposed: First Amendment: Our First Line of Defense Against the CCP Use this article to talk about how the first admentend, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, is the most critical right in our fight against the CCP. And our enemies, the CCP and its enablers, absolutely hate it. Talk about how U.S. media is afraid of criticizing the CCP, how Shan weijian’s lawyers sent a letter to The Washington Times after they published Walker’s article, and how Judge Manning – the Bankruptcy Judge over Miles’ case – issued a court injunction against peaceful NFSC protesters… What Leavitt Wrote: American Media Must Stand Firm Against CCP-Sponsored Lawfare …On Jan. 30 this year, an American law firm, representing the “Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund”, a group with extensive links to CCP-controlled China, sent a demand letter to the Washington Times… Townhall, 2/10/23 What Guo’s Supporters Proposed: Exposed: DOJ-Employed Attorney Secretly Met with Chinese Ambassador to sell out America This article should focus on George Higginbathom’s trip to the Chinese Embassy in DC to meet with Cui Tiankai, then sitting Chinese Ambassador. The article should be very figurative, giving readers the freedom of imagination. The emphasis should be to show, from this example, how deep and how easily the DOJ could be and has been infiltrated by the CCP. We really want to hit home with this Higginbotham story. Make it thrilling! More sources coming What Leavitt Wrote: The Risk of CCP Influence on the DOJ for National Security and Legal System …The DOJ was swept up in a shocking infiltration that showcases how truly weak and vulnerable America’s intelligence agencies are to CCP infiltration… Epoch Times, 2/17/23

Steve Bannon claims he is setting up a new version of the Willard Hotel “war room”—the infamous locale from which he and other Trump allies attempted to oversee last-ditch efforts in January 2021 to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Bannon told CBS News’ Robert Costa that the “war room” is being “revived and reorganized” in the hours ahead of today’s election results, with he and other Trump backers gathering at the posh downtown DC hotel. As with much of what Bannon does, his Election Day announcement mixes self-promotion that may include exaggeration of his importance with genuine menace. Bannon has been courting media attention since he was released from federal prison last week, where he served four months for contempt of Congress. His new “war room,” on election night, differs from the 2021 gathering on January 5 and 6, where various Trump backers schemed to stop Joe Biden from taking office in part by lobbying GOP lawmakers. It’s not just earlier in the process: Bannon will be thousands of miles away from Trump and his top advisers, who are gathering at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. It is not clear that the assembly Bannon plans will be more than a watch party. But it’s safe to assume he sees it as potentially significant. Since 2021, Bannon has used his “War Room” podcast to push the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and to encourage election deniers to run for local positions that will allow them play a role in the counting of votes in key swing states. That effort appears to have enjoyed substantial success in placing far-right election deniers in key jobs, and could prove vital to Trump’s expected efforts to challenge results in key battleground states. In a news conference last week, Bannon urged Trump to falsely declare victory on election day, in a effort to convince Trump fans that a win by Vice President Kamala Harris could result only from cheating. “If the votes come in like it looks like they’re gonna come in, he should step up and inform American citizens of exactly what’s going on and not keep people in the dark like was done in 2020,” Bannon told reporters. Such a declaration would aim to improve on Trump’s false claim of victory at 2am four years ago. In an audio recording I first uncovered in 2022, Bannon told a group of allies assembled on October 31, 2020, that Trump would assert success on election day, even if he lost. “What Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory,” Bannon said. “Right? He’s gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s the winner. He’s just gonna say he’s the winner.” Special Counsel Jack Smith cited those statements in a motion last month that showed Bannon played a big role in what Smith alleges was a criminal conspiracy led by Trump to interfere with the certification of electoral votes in 2024. Bannon is not charged with a crime in that case. Smith also revealed that Bannon appeared to have influenced Trump’s decision to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to assert power to block certification of Biden’s victory on January 6. The filing noted that Trump had a conversation with Bannon less than 15 minutes before he called Pence on Jan. 1—a call during which Trump berated Pence for his reluctance to follow a plan Pence later called unconstitutional. It was on January 5 and 6, 2021, that Bannon, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney John Eastman, longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, and other Trump advisers gathered in a suite of rooms in the Willard to try to coordinate Trump’s efforts to retain power. (Women for America First, a nonprofit set by far right activists Amy and Kylie Kremer paid $70,000 to book the Willard Rooms used by Trump backers, using funds put up by Publix heir Julie Jenkins Fancelli, as I reported earlier this year.) Smith alleged in his motion last month that the efforts at the Willard Room included calls by Giuliani—made at Trump’s behest—to exploit the mob attack on Congress on Jan. 6 while it was underway, using that mayhem to urge senators to delay the certification of electoral votes. It remains to be seen if Bannon and other Trump allies get the chance to reconstitute such “war room” efforts on January 6, 2025. Bannon may be tied up then. Starting in December, he is set to face trial in New York for allegedly defrauding donors to a charity that claimed to be raising private funds to help build Trump’s promised wall along the Mexican border.