Will bannon Go to Jail?

He’s had a long association with Cambridge Analytics: 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/whistleblower-says-steve-bannon-was-at-the-heart-of-cambridge-analyticas-data-collection-operation.html

Probably not, since it's not illegal to be a sloppy, overweight, elitist and overaged preppy

.

No.

wishful thinking.

Well, not so sure that Bannon won't go to jail.  If he conspired with Cambridge Analytics, his firm, to collude with the Russians in stealing and then utilizing Facebook data to influence the election, those could involve significant felonies.  On the other hand, if he fully cooperated with Mueller in turning against Trump, he might not go at all.  I think the jury is still out.

I don't think Cambridge Analytics "stole" anything.  They mined data from Facebook that users voluntarily put there, such as "friends", "likes", and public profile information.

According to this article and others, the data was purchased by a professor whose use was supposed to be limited to purely academic studies, as per the uses permitted by Facebook.  The professor had links with Russia, and an academic appointment there as well as Britain.  The data was collected under fraudulent pretenses, and actually used by Cambridge Analytics, perhaps in collusion with Trump and Russia, to influence the US election.  No doubt this will all be examined in detail by Mueller.

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/03/19/right-wing-media-downplay-cambridge-analytica-stealing-personal-data-help-trump-campaign/219675

nohero said:

I don't think Cambridge Analytics "stole" anything.  They mined data from Facebook that users voluntarily put there, such as "friends", "likes", and public profile information.

I believe the terms of service say you're not supposed to sell data you mine from Facebook.

Tom_Reingold said:

I believe the terms of service say you're not supposed to sell data you mine from Facebook.

Correct.  It's a contract violation vs. a crime.

Unless Facebook is the government now, which I better check ...

Only Facebook can sell that data, I guess. This policy is not to protect people, but to protect Facebook's money stream.

Tom_Reingold said:

I believe the terms of service say you're not supposed to sell data you mine from Facebook.

So are you prepared to say that violating the contract to gain personal information profiles, if Bannon then shares with Russian hackers to influence the election, would not be considered a crime? Please check that too.

https://medium.com/@ScottMStedman/kremlin-propagandist-boasted-of-his-hacking-efforts-strongly-implied-colluding-with-trump-team-in-a905104965a1

nohero said:

Tom_Reingold said:

I believe the terms of service say you're not supposed to sell data you mine from Facebook.

Correct.  It's a contract violation vs. a crime.

Unless Facebook is the government now, which I better check ...

I have to believe that Trump would pardon Bannon for anything he does in furtherance of the candidacy. 

Jasmo said:

So are you prepared to say that violating the contract to gain personal information profiles, if Bannon then shares with Russian hackers to influence the election, would not be considered a crime? Please check that too.

https://medium.com/@ScottMStedman/kremlin-propagandist-boasted-of-his-hacking-efforts-strongly-implied-colluding-with-trump-team-in-a905104965a1

nohero said:

Tom_Reingold said:

I believe the terms of service say you're not supposed to sell data you mine from Facebook.

Correct.  It's a contract violation vs. a crime.

Unless Facebook is the government now, which I better check ...

I'm not prepared to say that the working "with Russian hackers to influence the election would not be considered a crime".  I am prepared to say that targeted political advertising isn't a crime, but foreign financing of United States election activities apparently is one.

More on the Cambridge Analytica Trump Russian Connection that suggests foreign collusion and election interference that might eventually implicate Bannon as a Cambridge founder and director of Trump's campaign:

https://www.justsecurity.org/54142/cambridge-analytica-leverage-russian-disinformation-trump/

Red_Barchetta said:

I have to believe that Trump would pardon Bannon for anything he does in furtherance of the candidacy. 

No need to. Just have the Justice Department not prosecute.

If Bannon is indicted through Mueller's efforts, I don't think Trump could stop the prosecution without getting rid of Mueller first (or pardoning, which would probably trigger impeachment proceedings for obstruction of justice).

BG9 said:

Red_Barchetta said:

I have to believe that Trump would pardon Bannon for anything he does in furtherance of the candidacy. 

No need to. Just have the Justice Department not prosecute.

Congress is Republican. He could kill somebody outside of Trump Tower and he still wouldn't be impeached. If the victim was a large Republican donor, maybe.

True, no impeachment likely to be successful as long as the proceedings occur before the Democrats take over the House of Representatives after the elections.  Afterwards, Trump may be impeached, but be unlikely to be convicted in the Senate, which requires a 2/3 vote, unless the Republican base crumbles if something even more disturbing is revealed than what we know so far.  Nevertheless, the efforts would significantly impede Trump's political agenda and grind many other efforts to a halt.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

Congress is Republican. He could kill somebody outside of Trump Tower and he still wouldn't be impeached. If the victim was a large Republican donor, maybe.

Bannon denies all:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/22/steve-bannon-at-ft-conference-i-didnt-know-about-facebook-data-mining.html

Right-wing political strategist Steve Bannon said Thursday that he did not know about Cambridge Analytica's data mining from Facebook, marking the first time the former top White House strategist and Trump campaign boss spoke publicly about the scandal.

What happened there, Bannon said, is between Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and "the professor" – meaning Aleksandr Kogan, who reportedly shared data harvested from his psychological test Facebook app with Cambridge Analytica.

Bannon can deny all he wants, but it won't be easy (Stevy's heads-up starts on p.6) 

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/TODAY/z_Creative/LEVY_MEMO_DM_4636592_v1_Memo_re__Participation_in_US_Elections.pdf

Agree. I don't believe Republicans are going to do anything. The only way this is going to fixed is through elections.

Jasmo said:

True, no impeachment likely to be successful as long as the proceedings occur before the Democrats take over the House of Representatives after the elections.  Afterwards, Trump may be impeached, but be unlikely to be convicted in the Senate, which requires a 2/3 vote, unless the Republican base crumbles if something even more disturbing is revealed than what we know so far.  Nevertheless, the efforts would significantly impede Trump's political agenda and grind many other efforts to a halt.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

Congress is Republican. He could kill somebody outside of Trump Tower and he still wouldn't be impeached. If the victim was a large Republican donor, maybe.