Former top White House adviser Steve Bannon said he won’t back down on fighting the federal fraud charges filed against him, Right Wing Watch reports.
Bannon was accused of lining his own wallet with donations meant to fund a private border wall, according to an indictment.
"I am not going to back down. This is a political hit job. Everybody knows I love a fight,” Bannon said on an episode of his show “War Room.” “I was called 'honey badger' for many years. You know, 'Honey badger doesn't give.' So, I'm in this for the long haul. I'm in this for the fight."
Shortly after a federal grand jury in New York indicted Bannon on charges of money laundering and wire fraud on Thursday, President Donald Trump distanced himself from his former senior adviser.
The president criticized Bannon’s group “We Build the Wall” for interfering in a government-run effort to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Bannon, who was one of three men charged, pleaded not guilty.
He is accused of cheating donors out of their money and sending $1 million obtained via donations to another organization he controlled.
“What he said yesterday was absolutely correct,” Bannon said of Trump. “Building the wall is a function of government. But look how much trouble President Trump has had.”
Right after he left a Manhattan courthouse on Thursday, he called his arrest a political move meant to stop construction of the border wall. He made similar comments on his Friday show.
"This is to stop and intimidate people that have President Trump's back on building the wall. We are never going to stop pushing the wall," Bannon said. "This stuff is complete nonsense. I am not going to back down one inch.”
He also laughed about the media frenzy that greeted him outside the courthouse.
“How did I miss turning to the TV cameras and going to the print cameras? Donald Trump would never make that mistake,” Bannon said.
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