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Bannon Co-Defendant Brian Kolfage’s Social Media Posts Could Threaten Trial, US Prosecutors Say

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Bradley Devlin General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
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Brian Kolfage, who was arrested along with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on fraud charges relating to their “We Build the Wall” crowdfunding campaign, could be undermining a fair trial due to his activity on social media, according to U.S. prosecutors.

This case by the SDNY is an assault on every WBTW donors freedom. They want to seize your information, which many of our…

Posted by Brian Kolfage on Tuesday, August 25, 2020


A letter sent by U.S. prosecutors to U.S. District Judge Analise Torres of the Southern District of New York says Kolfage’s “highly inflammatory” rhetoric on social media, particularly Facebook, “create a substantial risk that a large portion of the jury pool will be tainted by pretrial publicity.”

The fake news loves to attack innocent people, including my wife. She never had a single thing to do with anyone else…

Posted by Brian Kolfage on Tuesday, August 25, 2020


The posts, “typically contained expressions of opinion about the defendant’s innocence and the merits of the case, among other subjects,” the letter says.

Kolfage has called the case against him, Bannon, and two others, a “witch hunt” and an “assault” on the freedoms of “We Build the Wall” donors, Reuters reported.

The fake news loves to attack innocent people, including my wife. She never had a single thing to do with anyone else…

Posted by Brian Kolfage on Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Prosecutors drew attention to Local Rule 23.1, which mostly bars both parties from making statements that could lead to “a substantial likelihood that such dissemination will interfere with a fair trial or otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice.” Provision d of the rule lists the possible types of statements prohibited at this stage in the case, which include “Any opinion as to the accused’s guilt or innocence or as to the merits of the case or the evidence in the case.”

Before the letter was sent, prosecutors claim they notified Kolfage’s attorney about these possible violations, but the posts continued anyway. (RELATED: Steve Bannon And Brian Kolfage Indicted For Allegedly Defrauding Crowdfunded Border Wall Donors)

The indictment against Kolfage and Bannon says Bannon received $1,000,000 from “We Build the Wall,” and used those funds, in part, to pay Kolfage $350,000. It then accuses Kolfage of going on to use those funds to pay for “home renovations, payments towards a boat, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery, personal tax payments, and credit card debt.”