The Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation into Bannon and the crowdfunding effort called “We Build The Wall” after the pardon. Bannon issued a statement late Tuesday, calling the indictment in part “false accusations” and “nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.” “I’m proud to be a leading voice for protecting our borders and building a wall to keep our country safe from drugs and violent criminals,” he said in a statement, adding: “They’re after all of us, not just this one. Trump and myself. I’m never going to stop fighting. Actually, I haven’t started fighting yet. They’ll have to kill me first.” His lawyer declined to comment to CNN. As CNN previously reported, federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had charged Bannon and three others, alleging they defrauded donors to the border wall effort, which has raised more than $25 million. dollars. Bannon was accused of shelling out more than $1 million to pay off an alleged conspirator and cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses. Prosecutors alleged that donors, including some in New York, were falsely told that all the money they contributed would go toward the construction effort. Manhattan prosecutors subpoenaed the bank records and quietly worked on the investigation for the past year as they investigated Trump and his real estate holdings, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. But the district attorney’s office delayed charging Bannon until federal prosecutors finished their case against his three co-defendants, who were not granted clemency. In April, two of the alleged co-conspirators in the border wall effort, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Kolfage also pleaded guilty to two counts of filing a false tax return and one count of fraud in connection with the filing of a false tax return. Timothy Shea, a fourth man charged in the fundraising effort, was indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy in the alleged scheme, but a judge in June declared a mistrial after the jury told her several times that it was deadlocked. This story has been updated with additional details. CNN’s Zachary Cohen and Paula Reid contributed to this report.
