Law & Crime reports
The day after Steve Bannon mused about beheading FBI Director Christopher Wray and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Trump loyalist’s powerhouse lawyers asked a federal judge on Friday to postpone a hearing scheduled for Monday because they intend to withdraw from his criminal case.
“Mr. Bannon is in the process of retaining new counsel, and Quinn Emanuel intends to move to withdraw. As a result, Mr. Bannon respectfully requests that the status conference in this matter be adjourned for three weeks so that he may formally retain new counsel,” Bannon’s current counsel William Burck wrote in a one-paragraph letter.
Burck did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment, with the inquiry prompting an automatic message stating that he will be difficult to reach as he defends another client at trial. The law firm did not state any reason for the shake-up, which follows Bannon’s fantasizing about putting Wray and Fauci’s “heads on pikes” as a warning to federal bureaucrats who do not bend to the president’s will. Social media companies quickly banned Bannon from their platforms, and ex-prosecutors warned that such remarks may have jeopardized Bannon’s bail as he awaits charges related to an alleged border-wall scam.
The Southern District of New York declined to comment on whether prosecutors will seek to revoke Bannon’s bail, but multiple alumni from that office found an upcoming motion likely.
“What I expect to see is that the prosecutors will move to revoke his bail,” Jaimie Nawaday, a former federal prosecutor from the district where Bannon is being prosecuted, told Law&Crime in a phone interview on Friday. “I don’t think they’ll be successful in having his bail revoked, but I would absolutely expect them to move for it.”
