REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Right-wing agitator Stephen Bannon has been ghosting his defense lawyers in his "We Build The Wall" charity scam case for months, those lawyers said in a court appearance in Manhattan state court Thursday.
Prosecutors and the judge presiding over the case complained in court that Bannon's ongoing refusal to speak directly to his previously-chosen legal team risks delaying the case, which has sputtered along in the months since his September arraignment on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and scheme to defraud.
David Schoen, one of Bannon's current lawyers, asked the judge to let him and another lawyer, John Mitchell, stop representing Bannon immediately.
The judge instead gave a typically rumpled-looking Bannon a deadline and an ultimatum: Either chose new lawyers before his next court date on February 28, or return to court with his current ones.
If Bannon persists in not getting a new legal defense team one may be appointed for him by the judge.
Bannon, who served as a 2016 campaign official and top White House advisor to Donald Trump, is facing six charges brought by the Manhattan district attorney's office, including money laundering and conspiracy.
Prosecutors allege he helped orchestrate a scheme through a nonprofit that claimed to be raising private funding to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.
The nonprofit raised $15 million from thousands of donors across the country with the false promise of building the wall as envisioned by former President Donald Trump, prosecutors said in a September indictment. In reality, prosecutors said, Bannon and others laundered funds through third-party entities to line the pockets of people running the organization.
Bannon has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He walked into the courtroom in downtown Manhattan Thursday wearing his typical getup of a waxed olive jacket layered over a black button-down shirt, which was layered over a black polo shirt, along with tuxedo pants.
At the court conference, Schoen told Judge Juan Merchan that Bannon was no longer speaking with him or Mitchell. Both asked without success to be allowed to withdraw from the case.
"There has been a direct breakdown in communications," Schoen said, calling their differences over defense strategy "irreconcilable."
Since September, Schoen said, Bannon has only communicated with him and Mitchell through a third attorney, Adam Katz. Katz didn't show up to the Thursday hearing.
Despite their stated communication breakdown, Schoen and Bannon whispered to and smiled at each other while seated at the defense table only moments later, as a lawyer representing the wall-building fundraiser discussed discovery issues with the judge.
After the hearing, Schoen told Insider that he and Mitchell disagreed with Bannon about what defense to make, and how to prepare for the case.
"It's cordial — we're very friendly," Schoen said. "We just disagree about the case."
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Prosecutors didn't oppose Schoen and Mitchell's attempts to withdraw from the case, but opposed delaying the case's schedule — a point the judge ultimately agreed with.
"The law gives the court great discretion to move a case along in the public interest," Merchan said.
Merchan said the Manhattan District Attorney's office should "set aside" discovery evidence for whichever lawyers Bannon hired. He also allowed letters that were previously submitted to the court by Bannon's current lawyers, and which lay out their disagreements with Bannon, to remain under seal.
In August 2020, federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought a similar set of fraud charges against Bannon and three other people who they said had misused funds from the nonprofit to enrich themselves. But then-President Trump pardoned Bannon shortly before he left office.
Trump didn't pardon Bannon's three codefendants in the federal case, who were referred to as unindicted coconspirators in the Manhattan district attorney's indictment. Two pleaded guilty to their role in the scam, and the third was found guilty at trial.
Bannon was found guilty in July of contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas issued by the panel investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. A Washington, DC, federal judge ordered him to serve four months in prison, but Bannon has staved off the sentence as he appeals the verdict.
On his way into the courthouse Thursday, Bannon was met by a small group of protesters demanding he be jailed for his role in the Capitol attack. As he left, he was heckled by a lone protester.
—Laura Italiano (@Italiano_Laura) January 12, 2023
If Bannon's conviction in DC is upheld, it could weigh against him if he's also found guilty in the border-wall case, as the judge would be able to consider his criminal history.
The judge overseeing the case, Merchan, recently oversaw a trial in which the Trump Organization was found guilty of tax fraud. He's scheduled to sentence the company on Friday.
