The adviser to President Trump faces charges that he fleeced donors who thought they were helping to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The adviser to President Trump faces charges that he fleeced donors who thought they were helping to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The adviser to President Trump faces charges that he fleeced donors who thought they were helping to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Stephen K. Bannon’s trial on fraud charges will start in March, a week later than previously scheduled, and will include a high-profile lawyer after a judge granted Mr. Bannon’s request for new representation.
Earlier this month, Mr. Bannon asked the judge overseeing the case to allow him to replace his lawyers with Arthur Aidala, a well-known defense attorney. The judge, April A. Newbauer, ordered Mr. Bannon to appear in court on Wednesday to make his argument for the change.
Mr. Bannon said in court that he had begun seeking new representation after a November hearing in which he was dissatisfied by the performance of his legal team.
“I’ve been smeared by political prosecution — and persecution,” he told the judge Wednesday, adding, “I need people who are more aggressive and will use every tool in the toolbox.”
Mr. Aidala’s past and current clients include Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and also President Trump’s former lawyer; the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein; and a former top aide to New York’s current mayor, Eric Adams.
Justice Newbauer ruled Wednesday that Mr. Aidala could join the case and pushed back the trial’s start one week, to March 4, to let him prepare.