Source: Zero Hedge

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon said on Friday that the FBI served 35 high level supporters of the former president with subpoenas and warrants.

“35 members of MAGA, the Republican party, people close to Donald Trump, were rolled in on yesterday by the FBI with these intimidation tactics,” Bannon told host Charlie Kirk.

Bannon’s claim was corroborated by top Republican lawyer, Harmeet Dhillon of the Dhillon Law Group.

“The truth is that a few days ago, a political reporter called several people and said, ‘Hey, have you heard or been served yet? The FBI will be serving 50 approximately search warrants or subpoenas on Trump supporters,’ and then, you know, within 24 hours of that, two of our clients, three of our clients actually did either get search warrants or subpoenas, and the subpoenas are extremely broad,” she told Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

2/2 were served w/extremely broad subpoenas, or warrant for phone/device. Our clients @america1stwomen are among those targeted for their peaceful, First-Amendment-protected, speech about 2020 election. These bullying tactics are designed to target & intimidate Trump supporters.

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) September 10, 2022

“They’re from the Capitol siege section of the Department of Justice D.C. office, and ask for broad categories of documents. They ask for all communications dating from a month before the election until a month – two months after the election,” Dhillon continued. “They ask for all communications regarding dozens of people, and the categories are alternate electors, fundraising around irregularities around the election, and also a rally that happened before the Jan. 6 situation at the Capitol.”

Dhillon said the Biden DOJ is trying to “instill fear” in Trump supporters.

“Most of this activity, if not all of it, is protected by the First Amendment and the United States Department of Justice is telling reporters about the search warrants and subpoenas before they’re executed. There’s no other explanation for this, and I think the reason for this is to instill fear into Donald Trump supporters and into those who would challenge election irregularities right before an upcoming election, Tucker. This is really outrageous abuse by the DOJ and it is illegal for the DOJ to leak this information to the media, Tucker,” she continued (h/t Daily Caller).

According to the New York Times, Trump advisers Brian Jack and Stephen Miller were among those served.

The legal intimidation campaign comes as Bannon faces fresh charges in New York state over a scheme to raise money to build border wall on private land. He told the Epoch Times that it’s an attempt to silence him ahead of the November midterms.

More via the Epoch Times:

“They’ve got a populist revolt that’s out of control, and they’re trying to take me out of this election,” Bannon, host of the “War Room” podcast, told The Epoch Times.

“They were trying to de-platform me and shut me down. It’s not gonna happen.”

Bannon made the comments one day after he appeared in a New York state courtroom in Manhattan on Sept. 8 and pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy relating to a private crowdfunding campaign, known as “We Build the Wall” that sought to create a privately-owned section of the U.S.-Mexico border. He was released without bail.

Prosecutors allege that Bannon defrauded donors of the fundraising drive that raised more than $15 million by diverting more than $100,000 to the campaign’s chief executive, who had pledged not to take a salary.

“It is a crime to profit off the backs of donors by making false pretenses,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a Sept. 8 joint press conference with New York Attorney General Letitia James. Both are Democrats.

Bannon was hit with similar charges by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2020, but he was pardoned by President Donald Trump on his last night before leaving office in January 2021. Presidential pardons, however, do not prohibit state prosecutions.

Two other men who were charged by the DOJ pleaded guilty. The men, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, are awaiting sentencing for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They each face up to 20 years in prison. The trial of a third man, Timothy Shea, ended in a mistrial.

‘Political Targeting’

Bannon said the latest charges were “clearly political targeting,” noting that none of the other three men were indicted in the New York case.

“I never had an official role with ‘We Build the Wall.’ It’s a separate company,” he said.

The former Breitbart News chief called the case a  “total complete joke” and a “complete nothing burger.”

“None of our donors ever had a problem with any of this. ‘We Build the Wall’ is a fantastic project; one of the things I’m most honored to be in,” he said.

With about 60 days to go before the November midterm elections, authorities are singling out Bannon for targeting due to the success of his “War Room” podcast, the former Trump strategist alleged.

“They understand that the ‘War Room’ is a very dangerous apparatus because it gives a little guy a voice. It gives a platform to all the grassroots people,” he said.

“They understand that they need to shut that down. They can’t do it. It’s only getting bigger,” he added, noting that the audience jumped at least 10 percent in all shows on Sept. 9 in the wake of his court appearance.

Bannon, who faces up a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on the money laundering charge, remains defiant in the face of the new prosecution.

“We’re never going to back down from Soros-backed, left-wing radicals that are in the New York administration,” he said.

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