Former President Donald Trump is surrounding himself with associates who have long rap sheets and a penchant for propagating unhinged conspiracies, according to a new report.
USA TODAY's Zac Anderson recently reported that "convicted criminals, conspiracy theorists and the most outlandish of his high-profile backers" are being seen more frequently with the 45th president of the United States as he travels the country. In particular, Trump has been welcoming former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, longtime confidant Roger Stone and disgraced retired general Michael Flynn back into his fold.
Anderson noted that "Flynn, Stone and Bannon in particular all drew the attention of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol" led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) in 2022.
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"To bring them back in a campaign given their demonstrated lack of respect for the rule of law, it's a bad sign," Thompson told USA TODAY.
Bannon, Flynn and Stone have all been convicted of crimes. Bannon will soon serve a four-month prison sentence for a contempt of Congress conviction. Flynn pleaded guilty as part of Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into foreign election interference, and Stone was convicted of seven felony counts in the Mueller probe including witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding and five counts of making false statements. Flynn and Stone were ultimately pardoned by Trump during his lame duck period before leaving office.
Larry Sabato, who is the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, told USA TODAY that Trump's embrace of controversial figures on the campaign trail suggests his White House would be filled with "radicals" provided they remain loyal.
"It will be the most frightening administration in American history times 100," Sabato said.
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Another fringe figure seen in the company of the former president is former 2016 campaign chair Paul Manafort, who was convicted of multiple charges in the Mueller investigation for his work helping the pro-Russian former leader of Ukraine. He was sentenced to 47 months in prison in 2019, but Trump pardoned him in December of 2020. Manafort went back to doing work for foreign governments, which, according to the Washington Post, included helping China set up a streaming media company similar to Netflix.
Trump has also dined with white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, who accompanied rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) at Mar-a-Lago in 2022. Fuentes is known for frequently praising Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler on his podcast, calling for a "holy war" against Jews and calling for "Catholic Taliban rule" in the U.S.
"All I want is revenge against my enemies and a total Aryan victory," Fuentes said in 2022.
Click here to read USA TODAY's report in its entirety.
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