Donald Trump has granted clemency to Steve Bannon, his former White House strategist, as part of a sweeping set of pardons in one of his final acts ahead of Wednesday’s inauguration of Joe Biden as president.
Mr Bannon was charged last year with defrauding hundreds of thousands of Trump supporters who donated to a crowdfunding campaign to build a wall on the US-Mexico border touted by the president during his 2016 election campaign. Mr Bannon had pleaded not guilty and was released on bail pending his trial.
Mr Trump did not issue pre-emptive pardons for himself or any of his family members. The president had floated the idea in conversations with White House staff after losing the election. Most constitutional scholars had argued that he could not pardon himself but the theory has never been tested in court.
The move to pardon Mr Bannon, one of the most divisive individuals in Mr Trump’s circle who managed the final leg of the president’s 2016 campaign, will…