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The Law Is For Losers

Trump’s accomplices are winners

It’s a criminal free-for-all:

Steve Bannon pleaded guilty to a state charge on Tuesday for his role in a plot to defraud donors to a nonprofit devoted to building a wall on the country’s southern border.

Bannon won’t serve time behind bars under the plea agreement, which was laid out during a hearing in a New York courtroom on Tuesday. In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of scheming to defraud in the first degree, he received a sentence of conditional discharge for three years. The sentence means he can’t serve as the director of any nonprofit in New York or raise money for charities with assets in the state. He was also forbidden from using donor data stemming from the scheme…

The Trump ally attended the hearing in his usual courtroom attire, a brown jacket and untucked black button-down shirt, over gray jeans. He was charged with two counts of money laundering in the second degree, two counts of conspiracy in the fourth degree, a scheme to defraud in the first degree and conspiracy in the fifth degree. Under the plea agreement, Bannon entered a guilty plea to just the first degree scheme to defraud charge. He also waived his right to appeal the case.

A federal grand jury indicted Bannon in a similar case in August 2020. That prosecution came to an abrupt halt when Bannon was pardoned by Mr. Trump in the final hours of his first term in office. Mr. Trump’s pardon authority extends to federal matters, meaning he is not able to pardon Bannon in this case, which is in a New York State court.  

He cheated MAGA true believers out of 15 million dollar. I guess since they don’t seem to mind we shouldn’t either? Ok then.

I think it’s pretty clear that no Trump associate is ever going to suffer any legal consequences going forward. Even the ones not known as an accomplice are immune if they make the right moves to lick his boots the way he likes them licked:

The Justice Department on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, arguing in a remarkable departure from long-standing norms that the case was interfering with the mayor’s ability to aid the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

In a two-page memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told prosecutors in New York that they were “directed to dismiss” the bribery charges against Adams immediately.

Bove said the order was not based on the strength of evidence in the case, but rather because it had been brought too close to Adams reelection campaign and was distracting from the mayor’s efforts to assist in the Trump administration’s law-and-order priorities.

“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime,” Bove wrote.

There’s a method to the madness:

Biggest part of crooked Adams deal which is only barely being noted is that the charges aren't really dropped (not in the ordinary sense of the word). They're put on hold with the letter explicitly saying they'll be considered again after November. So Adams has ten months to perform for his freedom.

Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) 2025-02-11T14:25:14.836Z

I get the sense that he’s more than willing. Watch out NY. Things are about to get really crazy.

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