US presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s
newly-appointed campaign manager was charged with domestic violence in
1996, New York newspapers reported Friday.
According to both the New York Post and
the New York Times, the case against conservative media mogul turned
political operative Steve Bannon ended when his wife failed to appear to
testify against him.
Bannon — head of the incendiary
conservative news site Breitbart — was a controversial choice when Trump
hired him to replace a previous campaign chief tainted by his past as a
lobbyist for pro-Kremlin interests.
It is understood that Bannon no longer
faces any proceedings relating to the 1996 case, but its revelation may
complicate Trump’s task as he seeks to woo wary women voters.
According to a police report seen by the
papers, police were called to the couple’s Santa Monica, California
home on New Year’s Day in 1996 and found Piccard upset and with marks on
her neck and wrist.
She told police that she and Bannon had
had a fight and that he had seized a telephone when she had attempted to
call for help, throwing it across the room and smashing it.
The city attorney brought charges
against Bannon and served him with a domestic violence protective order,
but when the case came to trial in August Piccard did not appear and
prosecutors dismissed the case.
According to court records, Piccard told
investigators that Bannon had ordered her to leave town during the case
and threatened to leave her and their twin daughters destitute.
Bannon and Piccard declined to be
interviewed for the reports, but the Trump manager’s spokeswoman
Alexandra Preate told the Times that he now has “a great relationship”
with his now ex-wife and daughters.
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