Stephen Bannon. Photo / The Washington Post
In the three years before he became Donald Trump's chief strategist, Stephen Bannon lived as a virtual nomad in a quest to build a populist political insurgency.
No presidential adviser in recent memory has followed such a mysterious, peripatetic path to the White House. It was as though he was a man with no fixed address.
He owned a house and condo in Southern California, where he had entertainment and consulting businesses, a driver's license and a checking account. He claimed Florida as his residence, registering to vote in Miami and telling authorities he lived at the same address as his third ex-wife.
At the same time, he routinely stayed in Washington and New York as he engineered the expansion of Breitbart News and hosted a live Breitbart radio programme. By 2015, Bannon stayed so often at Breitbart's townhouse headquarters on Capitol Hill that he kept a picture of a daughter on a mantle piece, beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln.
At one leased house in Florida, padlocks were placed on interior doors - or the doors had been removed altogether. A hot tub was destroyed. "[E]ntire Jacuzzi bathtub seems to have been covered in acid," the landlord wrote in a February 2015 email to Bannon.
Bannon told a friend that year he was living in multiple cities, including Washington, New York, London and Miami, according to an email obtained by the Washington Post.
The issue of Bannon's legal residency has been simmering since mid last year, shortly after he became chief executive of Trump's campaign. The Guardian reported in an August 26 story that he was registered to vote at a then-vacant house and speculated that that Bannon may have signed an oath that he was a Florida resident to take advantage of the state's lack of state income taxes.
In California, where Bannon had lived and owned property for more than two decades, income tax can exceed 12 per cent.
Bannon has not responded to repeated requests by the Washington Post to the discuss the matter. Two Post reporters sought to independently verify his residency claims, using a wide array of publicly available information.
They obtained utility bills, court records, real estate transactions, state driver reports and the checks he wrote to pay municipal taxes in California. They interviewed neighbours, spoke to landlords and tracked his Breitbart-related activity.
Bannon did not get a Florida driver's license or register a car in the state. He never voted in Florida, and neighbours near two homes he leased in Miami said they never saw him. His rent and utility bills were sent to his business manager in California.
Bannon's former wife occupied the premises, according to a landlord and neighbours.
At the same time Bannon said he was living with his ex-wife, she was under investigation for involvement in a plot to smuggle drugs and a cellphone into a Miami jail, a law enforcement document obtained by the Post shows.
The Post learned that state prosecutors in Miami have an active investigation into Bannon's assertions that he was a Florida resident and qualified to vote in the state from 2014 to 2016.
Because state laws do not clearly define residency, making a false registration case can be difficult.
A former investment banker and Hollywood producer, Bannon lived in California when he took a turn toward politics nearly a decade ago.
He had a condo in Los Angeles and a house just to the south in Laguna Beach, in Orange County. In 2010, he told Orange County election officials that he wanted to become a "permanent absentee voter" and have all ballots mailed to his Laguna Beach home.
In 2011, Bannon produced and directed a political documentary about Sarah Palin for the Victory Film Project, a company in Sarasota, Florida. He is listed as a manager of the company in Florida corporate records.
In March 2012, with the death of founder Andrew Breitbart, Bannon became executive chairman of the Los Angeles-based Breitbart News, which was expanding its operations to Washington.
Bannon was still a resident of California, records show. In the November 2012 elections, he voted in Orange County by absentee ballot. That same month, he renewed his California driver's license for five years.
But in his subsequent travels across the country, his living situation became more complicated.
Trump and top advisers have grown obsessed with leaks and fear of Obama appointees damaging them. https://t.co/49tPaXdnka
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 11, 2017
in February 2013, Bannon and Diane Clohesy, his former third wife, signed a lease application for a three-bedroom house on Opechee Drive in a lush Miami neighbourhood with palm trees and Spanish-style homes.
Bannon signed as "applicant," and Clohesy signed as "applicant's spouse."
The two were married in 2006, when Bannon was 53 and Clohesy was 36. They divorced in California in 2009. She had moved to Florida in 2008, "starting a new life in Miami," Bannon said in court papers during the divorce. But the two remained in touch, and she worked on three political documentaries he directed in 2011 and 2012.
He stated on the application that he earned US$750,000 a year as chairman of Breitbart News Network, a figure that has not been previously reported. He also earned US$270,000 as executive chairman of Arc Entertainment, a film distribution company based in Santa Monica, California.
In addition, Bannon received about US$100,000 in salary that year as part-time chairman of the Government Accountability Institute, a new nonprofit charity in Tallahassee, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service.
Four neighbours told the Post they do not recall seeing Bannon at the house.
"I never saw him," said Steven Chastain, who lived a few doors away on a nearby street.
"He wasn't living there," said Barbara Pope, a longtime resident who often walked her dog on Opechee Drive. "I would have recognised him."
At the time Bannon was sharing the lease with Clohesy in Opechee, she was apparently involved with another man. Neighbours said they repeatedly saw a man they could not identify at the house.
She filed for a restraining order against Jose Cabana in 2012. He filed one against her in May 2013, court records show. She was granted a two-year injunction against him and his complaint was dropped after he failed to appear in court. Cabana was charged with cocaine distribution in November 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In October 2013, Clohesy became ensnared in an undercover investigation of a jail guard suspected of smuggling drugs and other contraband to another man, a friend of hers in the Miami-Dade County Pre-trial Detention Centre, according to an arrest warrant for the jail guard first reported by the the Miami New Times.
Investigators eavesdropping on a phone call between Clohesy and the inmate heard them arrange for her to deliver a "pop tart" - code for a cellphone - along with several ounces of marijuana to a prison guard, the warrant said. Clohesy, who was under surveillance, later met with the guard in a parking lot and handed over the marijuana, the phone and US$700 in cash, the warrant said.
Clohesy was confronted by authorities and agreed to cooperate. She told investigators she had known the inmate for more than a year and "maintained a relationship with him through jail visits, correspondence and telephone conversations".
Efforts to reach Clohesy were unsuccessful. Her brother, Declan, provided the Post with a statement Friday that Bannon had provided "emotional or financial support" to help her recover from drug addiction and depression.
GOP has won 27 of 29 Gov & Sen races in these 3 states since 2002, so I doubt Sanders will be to blame for 2018. https://t.co/1k8Otgwe5S pic.twitter.com/Tesj8qKPFy
— Taniel (@Taniel) March 11, 2017
"Steve is a caring and compassionate man and Diane is blessed to still have him in her life," the statement said. "We appreciate the media respecting my sister's privacy at this early stage of her recovery."
Neighbours of the Opechee Drive home said they remember Clohesy vividly, in part because she had a steady stream of visitors, some of them disruptive. Four neighbours told the Post that they had a community meeting with police to complain about noise at the house and cars speeding from the premises at late hours.
On April 2, 2014, more than a year after Bannon signed the lease on the residence in Coconut Grove, he registered to vote in Florida and listed the Opechee Drive address as his legal home. Bannon did not have to show an ID to register. He provided the last four digits of his Social Security number to verify his identity.
One of the allures of Florida is its zero income tax rate for in-state residents. The Post was unable to determine what state Bannon claimed as his primary residence for the purpose of income tax.
Accountants advise people who work in multiple states to carefully document the number of nights they spend in Florida and maintain records of travel, housing, even of meals. Registering to vote is considered one indication of residency, as is a driver's license. Under state law, new residents must apply for a license within 30 days if they intend to operate a vehicle.
As 2015 approached, Bannon continued his roving life. He rented out his Laguna Beach home and, in January 2015, bought a townhouse as a second home in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The deed lists Bannon's mailing address at his money manager's office in Beverly Hills.
Donald Trump's children say they're profiting handsomely during his presidency, @GrahamDavidA reports https://t.co/7iw8UlOskG pic.twitter.com/sQzx2wnDkA
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) March 11, 2017
In February, 2015, Bannon ended the water and sewer service at Opechee Drive and switched the service to nearby Onaway Drive in Coconut Grove, records show. Five days later, Bannon changed his voter registration to Onaway Drive.
The Opechee house was left in disrepair, according to an email between the landlord and Bannon and interviews with the landlord.
Padlocks had been placed on interior doors - or the doors had been removed altogether. A hot tub was destroyed.
"[E]ntire Jacuzzi bathtub seems to have been covered in acid," the landlord wrote in the February 2015 email to Bannon.
"I'm out of town," Bannon replied. "is there any way u can talk with Diane and sort things out ???"
The damage was estimated at more than US$14,000, according to an accounting by the landlords, who kept the US$9800 security deposit from Bannon and Clohesy.
Around this time, Bannon was becoming a fixture at the Breitbart News townhouse location in Washington, nicknamed "the Breitbart Embassy," hosting parties, meeting with journalists and staying overnight.
Trump Adviser Had Twitter Contact With Figure Tied to Russians https://t.co/J2rUf6mVxz
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) March 11, 2017
In a Bloomberg Businessweek profile in October 2015, a reporter described interviewing Bannon multiple times in January and February at the Breitbart townhouse in Washington.
The article, headlined "This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America," described the building as a "14-room townhouse that [Bannon] occupies."
"Ordinarily Bannon's townhouse is crypt-quiet and feels like a museum, as it's faithfully decorated down to its embroidered silk curtains and painted murals in authentic Lincoln-era details," the article said.
In early 2016, Bannon shut off sewer and water service at the Onaway address in Miami. The house remained uninhabited for months.
Three neighbours interviewed by the Post said they were confident Bannon had not lived at the home.
"I often saw Diane," said Joseph "J.L." Plummer, a prominent Miami resident who lived next door and was a city commissioner for nearly 30 years. "I never saw him."
Plans for #Trump estate development in #Bali met with resistance from locals, some who refuse to sell their land https://t.co/dtySuSgVms
— ABC News (@abcnews) March 11, 2017
In mid-August, Bannon became chief executive of the Trump campaign. As he was assuming control, Bannon changed the address on his Florida voter registration records. On August 20, he signed an oath that he now lived at the home of a longtime business associate in Nokomis, Florida, in Sarasota County.
The questions about Bannon's residency emerged August 27, when the Guardian wrote that Bannon had been registered to vote at a vacant house - the Onaway address in Miami.
The local NBC station in Miami reported that the state attorney's office had requested Bannon's voter records from county election officials.
At least two people filed complaints about Bannon with the Florida Department of State, claiming he had committed voter fraud by asserting he was a resident, documents show. In October, the department said the complaints did not merit an investigation.
That month, Bannon registered to vote in New York from a Manhattan condo overlooking Bryant Park and later cast an absentee ballot in the presidential election. Because he was registered in two places, he was later removed from Florida's voter rolls.
Under Florida law, it is a third-degree felony to provide false information on a voter registration application. It is punishable by up to five years in prison. First-time offenders are rarely given more than probation, something that could also lead to the loss of a security clearance.
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