U.S. warns Bannon co-defendant against social media posts that could threaten trial
August 28, 2020
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Friday said a co-defendant of Steve Bannon, an architect of Donald Trump’s 2016 election, should not make social media posts that could undermine a fair trial on corruption charges tied to the U.S. president’s effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Prosecutors said Brian Kolfage’s online descriptions of their case as a “witch hunt,” an effort to take “political prisoners” and an “assault” on the freedom of donors to his “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign created a substantial risk that pretrial publicity could make it hard to find an impartial jury.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan, prosecutors said the defendants should be cautioned about making “extrajudicial statements” that could taint the jury pool and asked the judge to warn them accordingly at a scheduled Aug. 31 conference.
A lawyer for Kolfage did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kolfage, an Air Force veteran and triple amputee, was accused of diverting more than $350,000 in donations to We Build the Wall, a crowdfunding campaign that raised approximately $25 million, to fund a lavish lifestyle.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the campaign, including that he diverted several hundred thousand dollars for personal expenses.
Also charged in the case were Andrew Badolato, 56, and Timothy Shea, 49.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)