Trump claims he knows nothing about Steve Bannon's border wall operation but he reportedly gave it his 'blessing' last year

• President Donald Trump sought to distance himself from his former campaign CEO Steve Bannon after federal prosecutors charged Bannon with defrauding donors as part of border wall fundraising campaign on Thursday.
• "Don't know anything about the project," Trump said. "It's a very sad thing by Mr. Bannon. I don't like that project."
• But Trump struck a different tone last year, according to his longtime ally and hardline immigration hawk Kris Kobach.
• "I talked with the president, and the 'We Build the Wall Effort' came up," Kobach told The New York Times, referring to Bannon's fundraising campaign. "The president said 'the project has my blessing, and you can tell the media that.'"

Shortly after his former campaign CEO, Steve Bannon, was arrested and charged with fraud in connection to a border wall fundraising operation, President Donald Trump distanced himself from Bannon and said he knew nothing about the project.

"As everyone knows, President Trump has no involvement in this project and felt it was only being done in order to showboat, and perhaps raise funds," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told pool reporters on Thursday after charges against Bannon and three others were unsealed.

McEnany pointed to Trump's public comments on July 12, in which he said, "I disagreed with doing this very small – tiny — section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhaps it now doesn't even work."

The president also weighed in on the bombshell development, telling pool reporters on Thursday, "Don't know anything about the project at all. It's a very sad thing by Mr. Bannon. I don't like that project."

Regarding the effort to privately fund a border wall, Trump said, "It was something I very much thought was inappropriate to be doing."

But as NBC News' Geoff Bennett pointed out, the president struck a different tone last year, according to his longtime ally and hardline immigration hawk Kris Kobach.

Kobach said in January 2019 that he had discussed the border wall fundraiser with the president.

"I talked with the president, and the 'We Build the Wall Effort' came up," Kobach told The New York Times. "The president said 'the project has my blessing, and you can tell the media that.'"

A federal judge unsealed the indictment against Bannon and three co-defendants from New York federal prosecutors on Thursday. The four men were charged with defrauding donors out of $25 million in the "We Build The Wall" fundraising campaign. Specifically, they were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit monday laundering in the alleged scheme.