Steve Bannon’s New York criminal fraud trial will no longer be overseen by judge who presided over Trump’s hush money trial
Steve Bannon’s upcoming criminal fraud trial in New York will no longer be overseen by the same judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and instead a new judge has been reassigned to take the case.
As the one time Trump adviser prepares to report to prison next Monday for defying a congressional subpoena in a separate case, Judge Juan Merchan will no longer handle his trial in the same courthouse where the former president was convicted. Merchan was not removed from the case, but has another case that conflicts with Bannon’s trial, according to the office of court administration.
The administrative judge for the New York County Supreme Court Criminal Term notified the parties in an email Friday saying the reassignment will “best serve the needs of the Court.”
“The Honorable Juan M. Merchan, Acting Supreme Court Justice, who is assigned to this matter, is engaged to preside over a six-defendant trial that is scheduled to commence on September 16, 2024 and expected to last at least three months,” Judge Ellen Biben wrote in the email.
Bannon’s legal team learned on Friday about the move, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. His criminal case is now assigned to Judge April Newbauer. Bannon has a scheduled appearance before her set for July 23. By then, he will be weeks into serving his sentence at a low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, unless the Supreme Court intervenes before Monday.
Merchan had presided over Bannon’s case since his arraignment in September 2022. Before it was delayed to the fall, Bannon had been scheduled to go on trial in Merchan’s courtroom in May – when the judge had his hands full with Trump’s seven-week trial.
Bannon is accused of defrauding donors in a fundraising effort branded the “We Build the Wall” campaign for a border wall between the US and Mexico. Bannon pleaded not guilty in 2022 to the state charges that include money laundering, conspiracy and fraud related to an alleged online scheme.
As CNN previously reported, the state charges are based on the same conduct Bannon was charged with by federal prosecutors in 2020 that alleged he and three others had defrauded donors in the border wall effort, which raised more than $15 million. He was later pardoned by Trump.
However, presidential pardons do not apply to state investigations.
Source: CNN.com