Bannon Could Face Felony Charges in Florida

The Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office is
investigating White House Chief Advisor Steve Bannon
for voter fraud. Photo CC-BY-SA Gage Skidmore

Stephen K. Bannon, the head of Breitbart and chief advisor to President Trump, was relatively unknown outside of conservative circles before he assumed his role in Trump’s campaign. And he was also relatively unknown in the places he claims to have lived in the years leading up to his role as advisor to the president.

In fact, his claims are suspect enough that the State Attorney’s Office for Miami-Dade County is investigating him for voter fraud. Although he listed himself as residing in Florida for years, his residence shifted three times, and at none of those houses was he seen by neighbors. He was often in New York or Washington, D.C., working for Breitbart. He never got a driver’s license in Florida, which is usually key to proving residency, and never disposed of property in California. He even had his bills sent to his business manager in California, despite claiming to live in Florida.

Bannon’s job could reasonably have kept him on the road quite a bit, but there is reason to think that he chose to use Florida as his legal residence because they state does not have income tax, whereas California charges up to 12 percent.

Dodging state income tax could have legal ramifications, naturally. But the real issue is that Bannon registered to vote in New York quite close to the election, and even then he cast an absentee ballot. He was still registered to vote in Florida at that time, but was removed from their voter rolls since he was registered in two places.

Florida state law makes providing false information on voter registration forms a third-degree felony, facing up to five years in prison. First time offenders usually face only probation, but even that would deny him his security clearance for the White House.

However, proving wrongdoing in Bannon’s case could be difficult because Florida’s state law doesn’t clearly define residency, an official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Washington Post.