--- title: Stephen Bannon Once Faced Domestic-Violence Charges: Report description: Donald Trump's recently-instated campaign chief, Stephen Bannon, was reportedly charged with domestic violence in 1996 but saw his case dismissed canonical: https://time.com/4467954/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-domestic-violence/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-26T04:14:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:20.700Z og:title: Trump's Campaign Chief Once Faced Domestic-Violence Charges: Report og:description: The charges were reportedly dropped against Stephen Bannon when his ex-wife failed to appear in court og:url: https://time.com/4467954/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-domestic-violence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8787deb414aee8ea/6988a3c08e0601343046743c/ap_16233666241411.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3598 og:image:height: 2024 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's Campaign Chief Once Faced Domestic-Violence Charges: Report twitter:description: The charges were reportedly dropped against Stephen Bannon when his ex-wife failed to appear in court twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8787deb414aee8ea/6988a3c08e0601343046743c/ap_16233666241411.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's New Campaign Manager Once Faced Domestic-Violence Charges, Report Says > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 26, 2016 4:14 AM UTC  Stephen Bannon, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chairman, attends Trump's Hispanic advisory roundtable meeting in New York, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016. Stephen Bannon, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign chairman, attends Trump's Hispanic advisory roundtable meeting in New York, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016. Gerald Herbert—AP by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 26, 2016 4:14 AM UTC Donald Trump’s recently instated campaign chief, [Stephen Bannon](http://time.com/4455686/who-is-stephen-bannon-trump/), was charged with [domestic violence](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/steve-bannon-domestic-violence-case-police-report-227432) in 1996 but saw his case dismissed, according to California police and court documents cited by _Politico._ Bannon, the Breitbart News chairman tapped [last week to head](http://time.com/4455678/another-big-donald-trump-campaign-shakeup/) Trump’s presidential bid, was accused by his wife at the time of grabbing her wrist and neck during an argument about their finances. The officer who responded to a 911 call — which abruptly ended when Bannon allegedly smashed the phone midway — said in the report that he observed red marks on the woman, according to _Politico_. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness. The case was dismissed after Bannon’s ex-wife reportedly failed to appear in court, and the couple, who have twin daughters together, divorced shortly after. Bannon’s spokeswoman Alexandra Preate told _Politico_ that he was never interviewed by police about the incident, and maintained that he has a “great relationship” with his ex-wife and daughters and “still supports them.” His ex-wife reportedly did not respond to requests for comment. [Read more at _Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/steve-bannon-domestic-violence-case-police-report-227432) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4467954/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-domestic-violence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4467954/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-domestic-violence/"},"headline":"Trump's New Campaign Manager Once Faced Domestic-Violence Charges, Report Says","datePublished":"2016-08-26T04:14:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:20.700Z","description":"The charges were reportedly dropped when his ex-wife failed to appear in court","url":"https://time.com/4467954/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-domestic-violence/","keywords":["motto","California","2016 Election","domestic violence","trump","steve bannon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8787deb414aee8ea/6988a3c08e0601343046743c/ap_16233666241411.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8787deb414aee8ea/6988a3c08e0601343046743c/ap_16233666241411.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Gerald Herbert—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4467954/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-domestic-violence/","name":"Trump's New Campaign Manager Once Faced Domestic-Violence Charges, Report Says"}}]}] ```