Steve Bannon loses lawyer after suggesting beheading of Fauci
Stephen K. Bannon, the former adviser to President Trump who is known for his right-wing extremism, suggested on Thursday that the F.B.I. director and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci should be beheaded, and Twitter responded by banning one of his accounts.
On Friday, a prominent lawyer who was defending Mr. Bannon against fraud charges in federal court in Manhattan abruptly moved to drop him as a client, one person familiar with the matter said.
“Mr. Bannon is in the process of retaining new counsel,” the lawyer, William A. Burck, said in a brief letter to the court, giving no explanation.
Mr. Bannon could not immediately be reached for comment.
The loss of his white-shoe representation was just the latest setback for Mr. Bannon, 66, who has struggled for political relevance since losing his job at the White House eight months after Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
Most recently, in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Mr. Bannon teamed with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, laboring to create a narrative that former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter was corrupt, in a bid to harm Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign. The Biden campaign has vigorously denied the unsubstantiated allegations.
Since August, Mr. Bannon has been fighting the criminal charges lodged against him by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, the case in which Mr. Burck has been his lawyer. [Continue reading…]