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Factbox-What Trump allies faced criminal charges?

2023-08-02 05:56
WASHINGTON Even as former U.S. President Donald Trump was indicted for a third time on Tuesday, numerous people
Factbox-What Trump allies faced criminal charges?

WASHINGTON Even as former U.S. President Donald Trump was indicted for a third time on Tuesday, numerous people in his orbit have been charged with various crimes, with some still awaiting trial.

Six Trump associates, none of whom were named, were listed as co-conspirators in Tuesday's indictment. Prosecutors said they helped spread Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Here is a look at some of the Trump aides and allies who have faced criminal prosecution.

STEVE BANNON

Trump's former campaign and White House strategist was convicted in 2022 of contempt of Congress. Bannon was charged after defying a demand to appear before a U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack by Trump supporters seeking to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's November 2020 election victory. Bannon, who has appealed, has yet to be sentenced.

Bannon also faces New York state charges of money laundering and conspiracy, accused by prosecutors of swindling Trump supporters in a scheme involving donations solicited to help build his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon, who pleaded not guilty, is due to go on trial in May 2024.

He also was charged in federal court over that same project, but the case ended when Trump pardoned Bannon in the final hours of his presidency in 2021.

ROGER STONE

Trump's longtime friend and adviser was convicted in 2019 of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump commuted his sentence the day before Stone, a veteran Republican political operative, was due to report to prison to serve a sentence of three years and four months. Trump subsequently pardoned Stone.

ALLEN WEISSELBERG

The former chief financial officer at Trump's real estate company served more than three months in jail for helping to engineer a wide-ranging tax fraud. Weisselberg pleaded guilty in 2022 and served as a star witness in the Trump Organization's criminal trial on tax fraud charges. The company was convicted but Trump himself was not charged.

PETER NAVARRO

The former Trump White House adviser was charged with contempt of Congress after refusing to provide testimony to the House panel investigating the Capitol attack. Navarro, who has pleaded not guilty, has yet to face trial. Two other close Trump associates, Mark Meadows and Daniel Scavino, did not face similar criminal charges despite a House vote recommending them.

MICHAEL COHEN

Trump's former personal lawyer and "fixer" was sentenced to a three-year prison term after pleading guilty in 2018 for his role in making illegal hush money payments before the 2016 election to two women - porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal - who have said they had sexual encounters with Trump years earlier. Cohen also pleaded guilty that year to lying to Congress about negotiations concerning a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow, a project that never materialized. Cohen has become a fierce critic of Trump.

MICHAEL FLYNN

The retired U.S. Army lieutenant general served as Trump's national security adviser for less than a month in 2017. Flynn, who also previously served as head of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, pleaded guilty that year to lying to the FBI about his interactions with Russia's ambassador to the United States in the weeks before Trump took office, then tried to withdraw that plea. Trump pardoned him in 2020.

PAUL MANAFORT

Trump's former campaign chairman was found guilty in 2018 of fraud and pleaded guilty to money laundering and lobbying violations related to his work as a political consultant for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians. Manafort was sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison but was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.

Manafort also faced fraud charges in state court in New York but they were dismissed in 2019 by a judge who concluded that the charges violated Manafort's protection against "double jeopardy" - being prosecuted twice for the same conduct.

RICK GATES

Manafort's former business partner, who was also deputy chairman of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy and lying to investigators in the Russia campaign probe. Gates was sentenced in 2019 to 45 days in jail. He testified as a prosecution witness in Manafort's trial.

ELLIOT BROIDY

The former Trump fundraiser pleaded guilty in 2020 to violating foreign lobbying laws by attempting to influence Trump's administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests. Trump pardoned Broidy.

JAN. 6 PROSECUTIONS

More than 1,000 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack. The most serious charge has been seditious conspiracy - a felony involving attempts "to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States."

Roughly 570 have pleaded guilty and 78 have been found guilty at trial.

Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers militant group, was given the longest of the sentences - 18 years in prison - for seditious conspiracy and other crimes. Leaders of the Proud Boys, another right-wing group, also were convicted of seditious conspiracy. They have yet to be sentenced.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)