A new judge has been assigned to oversee Steve Bannon’s upcoming criminal fraud trial in New York, according to an email sent to all parties in the case on Friday.
Bannon, former Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump and host of the popular show WarRoom, is accused of defrauding donors in a fundraising effort called the “We Build the Wall” campaign. He pleaded not guilty to charges including money laundering, conspiracy, and fraud in 2022.
While Judge Juan Merchan – the same judge that presided over the criminal trial of Trump last month – was originally assigned to oversee Bannon’s fraud trial, a new judge has been assigned to oversee the case.
In an email sent to all parties involved in the case on Friday, the administrative judge for the New York County Supreme Court Criminal Term announced that Judge Merchan would be relieved from overseeing the case in order to head another case that conflicts with Bannon’s trial.
The email from Judge Ellen Biben reads:
I have been informed that certain dispositive motions have been fully submitted in the matter of People v. Stephen Bannon, Ind. No. 73554-22/001, presently pending in New York County Supreme Court, Criminal Term: Part 59, and that trial in this matter is currently scheduled to commence on September 23, 2024. 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. In light of this, in accordance with section 200.11(d)(4) of the Uniform Rules of Trial Courts, and to best serve the needs of the Court, I am transferring the above matter to the Honorable April Newbauer, Acting Supreme Court Justice, Part 51. Judge Newbauer will follow up with the parties to schedule a status conference and for any further communication.
Bannon is scheduled to appear in court for the trial next month on July 23, at which time he may be incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution Danbury in Danbury, Connecticut for his 2022 conviction on contempt of Congress charges for ignoring a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee unless the U.S. Supreme Court steps in and delays Bannon’s July 1 self surrender date.
The new judge overseeing Bannon’s fraud trial, Judge April Newbauer, is an acting justice for the Bronx County Supreme Court in the 12th Judicial District of New York.
Judge Newbauer was in the news back in 2022 for her decision to let a “violent predicate felon” loose on an ankle monitoring device instead of jail time for a murder indictment.
The repeat felon, Eugene Clark, was previously indicted on charges of assault and grand larceny for the 2020 violent robbery of a man, who was knocked to the ground by a single punch allegedly thrown by Clark and was beaten by the parolee and two others, causing brain bleeds the put him into a coma for 11 months before dying in August 2021.
Despite prosecutors’ plead for the judge to order the repeat offender to jail or issue a high form of bail – citing the defendant’s prior two felony convictions, sixteen misdemeanor convictions, and eight failures to appear in court – Judge Newbauer sided with the defense and allowed the defendant to walk free on an ankle monitoring device.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Stephen K. Bannon” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0
