Vice President Mike Pence on Friday morning claimed ignorance of former Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon’s alleged money laundering scheme in the “We Build The Wall” project, which landed the former White House chief strategist a bombshell indictment by Manhattan prosecutors on fraud charges.
“I want to allow Steve Bannon to have his day in court,” Pence told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “I don’t know any more about that than what I’ve read in the paper.”
“What I do know is that President Trump denounced that effort months and months ago,” he added.
Trump did claim to have no involvement in “We Build The Wall” for the first time in July (not “months and months” ago) and again on Thursday following Bannon’s arrest, but multiple people in Trump’s inner circle had rallied around the project and its founder, Brian Kolfage, who was also indicted over the scheme.
On Thursday, Trump said he hasn’t “been dealing with” his former campaign manager “at all,” invoking his typical response to news of an associate getting caught in alleged criminal activity.
Watch Pence below:
Pence distances himself from Bannon's border wall scheme: "I don’t know any more about that than what I’ve read in the paper." pic.twitter.com/2aOyFqdadU
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 21, 2020
