Steve Bannon will be the next ally of President-elect Donald Trump to be railroaded simply for his association with the next president when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg tries him in February for money laundering, conspiracy, and a scheme to defraud. 

Bannon's trial has been set for February 25, and this time Trump can't pardon him like he did in 2021 because presidents can't pardon state cases, only federal ones.

It all stems from Bannon's association with We Build the Wall, a group that is now defunct and has been accused of stealing donations meant to build a border wall with private funds.

Bannon has pled not guilty to the charges and said that they were born of political animus, not any actual wrongdoing.

Just released

The trial was scheduled for November 2023, but has been delayed several times.

The charges are similar to the ones Trump pardoned him from previously.

Bannon has already spent time in jail on Trump's behalf. He just got released from a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena to testify against Trump in front of the January 6 subcommittee.

Although his sentence is complete on that charge, Trump could still pardon him and expunge his record.

Pardon promised

While campaigning, Trump has said he would pardon many of those convicted on charges stemming from the January 6 Capitol breach. In his reasoning, prosecutors unfairly targeted many of the protesters and slapped overly heavy charges and sentences on them.

The Supreme Court has already ruled against January 6 prosecutors and forced them to lessen or remove some charges, like obstruction of justice, that were commonly used to charge hundreds of defendants in the incident.

Trump has not specifically said whether he would pardon Bannon, however.

It's not a great look for Trump to let Bannon off the hook if he was collecting donations for a project Trump favored and then stealing the money.

Bannon, who is 70, has remained defiant despite the charges against him, and has also remained loyal to Trump.

On his War Room podcast, Bannon said following his release, “I’m not broken, I’m empowered."