As Bannon is charged with money laundering donor funds, Trump's PAC faces similar scrutiny: analysis

On Friday, writing for Newsweek, Ewan Palmer noted that while longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon faces charges for diverting funds from his "We Built The Wall" project into his own pocket, the former president himself is facing new federal scrutiny over his own political PAC — raising similar legal problems.

"Bannon, who was previously charged in an almost identical federal investigation before being pardoned by Trump, pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of money laundering, two felony counts of conspiracy and one felony count of a scheme to defraud after turning himself in to prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office," wrote Palmer. "The same day, The New York Times and ABC News reported that subpoenas were issued by a grand jury in Washington D.C. investigating the events which led up to the January 6 attack in an attempt to probe the inner workings of Trump's Save America PAC fundraising efforts."

"While the precise details of the subpoenas are not known, The Times said they were part of the Department of Justice's probe into the former president's fundraising following the 2020 election," wrote Palmer. "The Save America Super PAC, which was set up just days after the 2020 election, has raised more than $135 million in contributions, according to a report from ABC. No formal investigation into the Save America PAC has been launched, but the move to issue subpoenas is the latest sign investigations into the former president are expanding."

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According to these reports, the grand jury wants to understand the exact timeline of how Save America PAC was founded, as well as how it has raised and spent money.

This comes after House January 6 Committee hearings that have highlighted how the former president used Save America PAC to raise money from people who believed it was going to fight nonexistent election fraud. "The Trump Campaign didn't use the money for that. The 'Big Lie' was also a big-rip off," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) during these hearings.

Bannon, who was separately convicted of contempt of Congress last month, denies any wrongdoing and has claimed that the charges are a politically motivated attack — although multiple people he worked with have already pleaded guilty as part of the state prosecution for which he was originally pardoned.