Attorney for Steve Bannon defends guilty plea to avoid jail time, says compensating charity for fundraising was justified

Attorney for former White House political strategist Steve Bannon defended his guilty plea on Tuesday as the plea deal will see Bannon serve no prison time. Bannon’s lawyer Arthur Aidala, spoke outside the Manhattan court house on Tuesday, addressing the guilty plea to defrauding New Yorkers that donated to the “We Build the Wall” fundraiser.

Aidala emphasized that there was never any accusation that Bannon put a cent of the donations in his pocket: “This is all about him giving money to the person who actually was doing the work to actually build three miles of the wall, and he gave that person money as a salary, and that individual lost both legs and an arm because of his military service.”

Bannon pleaded guilty, answering “yes” when the court clerk asked, "Do you now plead guilty to count 5, scheme to defraud?” according to ABC7.

Aidala added in his comments, “You know what [donors] would say? We don’t care if someone actually got compensated for doing the work. As long as the money didn’t go to buying a yacht or a new Corvette, these are people that actually did the work, and the wall was actually built.”

“When they raised the money… they said this individual was not going to take any money. That was before they knew how much work he was going to do. Bannon thought that it wasn’t fair that [Brian] Kolfage wasn’t getting any money, so—of almost 30 million, they took $140,000 and gave it to this man for his hard work. That’s what happened. He admitted that today, and we’re moving on,” the attorney added.

At the court, prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson said, "The parties have worked out a plea agreement, Mr. Bannon will plead guilty to count 5 of the indictment, which is scheme to defraud in the indictment. He will receive a conditional discharge.”

A judge handed down a three-year conditional discharge to Bannon, barring him from directing charities, fundraising for nonprofits, or using donor data from We Build the Wall.

The organization had pledged that all donations would fund a US border wall, but prosecutors revealed Bannon diverted funds elsewhere. He was indicted in September 2022 and had been set to stand trial next month before accepting the plea deal.

Originally charged in federal court alongside three co-defendants, Bannon received a pardon from Donald Trump, though his co-defendants did not. Prosecutors stated that donor funds were funneled to We Build the Wall president Brian Kolfage, despite previous comments that he would not get any compensation. Financial records indicate Kolfage received an initial $100,000 payment, followed by $20,000 monthly payments, routed through third-party entities.