Bankman-Fried’s plan to reinvent himself as a Republican, Buckley noted, was detailed in a Google Document that the court reviewed before convicting Bankman-Fried in 2024.

Buckley said the document showed how, “in the aftermath of FTX’s collapse,” Bankman-Fried “mapped out a rehabilitation and pardon campaign.” Attached to an email from Bankman-Fried’s account, the Google Doc was marked “confidential” and started with a note that emphasized that “these are all random probably bad ideas that aren’t vetted.”

However, many of the ideas were executed as planned, Buckley wrote. For example, Bankman-Fried planned to “come out as Republican” in an interview with Tucker Carlson, which happened.

“In March 2025, the defendant gave an interview to Tucker Carlson in which he portrayed himself as a disaffected Democrat who had become sympathetic to Republicans before his arrest” and “suggested his political reorientation contributed to his prosecution,” Buckley wrote.

Bankman-Fried also, in his document, considered using X to “come out against the woke agenda” and push the narrative that he had hidden Republican donations, which also happened.

“That checklist is being executed with near-perfect fidelity,” Buckley alleged. However, the plan isn’t working, and Bankman-Fried’s X posts aren’t causing Trump officials to warm to him, he said. “Evidence, not politics, drove the Government’s prosecution of the defendant,” Buckley insisted.

“Contrary to his claim that he has been targeted for his politics, the public record establishes unambiguously that the defendant was a major, publicly identified financial supporter of Democratic causes,” Buckley wrote. Later, he emphasized, “The motion’s suggestion that he was somehow prosecuted because of his party affiliation inverts the factual reality: he was a major donor, not a political adversary.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trumps-doj-is-not-falling-for-sam-bankman-frieds-maga-makeover-on-x/