Here’s the Whole Transcript of That Leaked Steve Bannon Tape, Annotated

The Halloween 2020 meeting in which Steve Bannon explained that Donald Trump planned to declare victory on election night, regardless of the actual results, was not supposed to be a big deal. The gathering was intended for Bannon to help associates of his patron, exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui, plan election night coverage on GTV News, one of Guo’s media companies.

Here’s the Whole Transcript of That Leaked Steve Bannon Tape, Annotated

More Leaked Audio: Bannon Bragged That He Used Porn to Help Smear Hunter Biden

Steve Bannon’s machinations around the 2020 presidential race were, at least according to his own words, sleazier and more cynical than even some of his harshest critics might have guessed. In leaked audio previously revealed by Mother Jones, the former Trump White House strategist said shortly before the 2020 election that Trump intended to declare victory on election night even if he was losing—part of a preexisting plan, Bannon made clear, to falsely assert that any Trump defeat was due to fraud.

More Leaked Audio: Bannon Bragged That He Used Porn to Help Smear Hunter Biden

Related:

Who is Guo Wengui?

Bannon Found Guilty of Obstructing Jan. 6 Probe

Bannon Found Guilty of Obstructing Jan. 6 Probe (archived)

Related:

D.C. Jury Swiftly Convicts Steve Bannon for His Defiance of Jan. 6 Committee Subpoena

Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, now a partner at Rottenberg Lipman Rich PC, predicted Bannon would have little room to mount an appeal before having to serve his sentence fully.

“Bannon never put up a legal defense, only an attack on the legitimacy of the process,” Epner noted. “He is now facing a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail. It will take 3 months to get to sentencing. The question is whether Judge Nichols will grant bail pending appeal. Absent bail, Bannon will have served his time long before an appeal could be briefed, let alone decided.”

Sentencing has been slated for Oct. 21, 2022.

‘I think the law is with us’: Bannon plans appeal of conviction

Australia’s Murdoch media and the Wuhan COVID-19 lab conspiracy theory + How a Bannon-linked conspiracy theory about coronavirus origins landed on Murdoch-owned media

Australia’s Murdoch media and the Wuhan COVID-19 lab conspiracy theory

What they missed:

How a Bannon-linked conspiracy theory about coronavirus origins landed on Murdoch-owned media, including Fox News

A week later, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Media Watch debunked the story with a roundup of reporting on the many holes in Markson’s work. According to its report, GNews was one of the earliest reported adopters of the conspiracy theory based on the discredited 2015 book.

The debunk explained that “a host of China experts say the book is not outlining China’s plans for biowarfare” but rather “it’s looking at defense against Western attacks, which it claims have already started.” Media Watch also noted that the document Markson based her reporting on is a readily available book that can be purchased online.