Steve Bannon Indictment Dismissed by Federal Judge

A federal judge granted Steve Bannon's motion to dismiss the case against him over the objection of prosecutors who said it should stand, despite former President Donald Trump's pardon. The former Trump strategist pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he defrauded donors in a $25 million fund to build a wall along the southern border. After Trump pardoned Bannon in January, prosecutors asked the judge to let the indictment against him stand. In a ruling this week, Judge Analisa Torres said that it’s not the practice of the court to remove a defendant without a resolution of the indictment. Torres also noted that a pardon doesn’t make a defendant innocent of the crime. However, Torres noted in a filing that a pardon implies guilt, writing "If there be no guilt, there is no ground for forgiveness...it is an appeal to executive clemency. It is asked as a matter of favor to the guilty. It is granted not of right but of grace. A party is acquitted on the ground of innocence; he is pardoned through favor." 

The story received coverage from across the political spectrum.