Steve Bannon's criminal fraud trial in New York no longer falls under the judicial supervision of the judge who presided over Trump's hush money case.
A previous advisor to the ex-president is about to report to prison next Monday, having disobeyed a congressional subpoena in a distinct legal matter. Judge Juan Merchan will no longer preside over the trial in the same courthouse where the former president was convicted. Merchan wasn't removed from the case, but is occupied with another trial that clashes with the accused's time in court, according to the court administration office.
The administrative judge for the New York County Supreme Court Criminal Term informed the parties through an email on Friday that the reassignment would be beneficial to the court.
"Judge Juan M. Merchan, acting Supreme Court Justice, who is assigned to this case, is set to preside over a six-defendant trial that is planned to start on September 16, 2024 and is projected to last at least three months," Judge Ellen Biben wrote in the email.
The defendant's legal team was informed about the transfer on Friday. The case is now assigned to Judge April Newbauer, and the defendant has a scheduled appearance before her on July 23rd. By then, he would already be a few weeks into serving his sentence in a low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, unless the Supreme Court steps in before Monday.
Merchan had overseen the case since the defendant's arraignment in September 2022. Initially, the trial was scheduled for the spring before it was postponed to the fall, coinciding with Judge Merchan's engagement with the ex-president's seven-week trial.
The accused stands charged for deceiving donors in a crowdfunding effort known as the "We Build the Wall" project for constructing a border wall between the US and Mexico. The defendant pleaded not guilty in 2022 to state charges that include money laundering, conspiracy, and fraud in relation to an alleged digital scam.
As previously reported by CNN, the state charges are based on the same actions that federal prosecutors accused the defendant of in 2020, alleging he and three others had misled donors involved in the border wall project, which amassed over $15 million. He was later granted a pardon by the former president.
Presidential pardons, however, have no effect on state investigations.
