Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, has been ordered to report to prison by July 1 to serve a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection. This decision was made by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, who granted the Justice Department’s request following a federal appeals court panel’s decision last month to uphold Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction.
Bannon, who has vowed to fight the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, told reporters outside the courthouse, “There’s not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up.” Trump, in a social media post, accused prosecutors of being “desperate” to jail Bannon and reiterated his claim that Republicans are being persecuted by a politically motivated justice system.
Judge Nichols, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2018, initially allowed Bannon to remain free while he fought his conviction, citing substantial legal questions. However, during a recent hearing, Nichols stated that the original basis for his stay no longer exists after the appeals court panel found all of Bannon’s challenges to be without merit.
Bannon was convicted nearly two years ago on two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and the other for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden. Prosecutor John Crabb argued that it was “very unlikely” Bannon would succeed in getting his conviction overturned.
Bannon’s defense argued that he did not ignore the subpoena but was engaged in good-faith negotiations with the congressional committee. They claimed Bannon was acting on the advice of his attorney, who told him the subpoena was invalid because the committee would not allow a Trump lawyer in the room and that Bannon could not determine what documents or testimony he could provide due to Trump’s assertion of executive privilege.
Defense lawyer David Schoen argued that it would be unfair to send Bannon to prison now because he would complete his entire sentence before exhausting his appeals. Schoen emphasized that the case raises “serious constitutional issues” that need to be examined by the Supreme Court.
A second Trump aide, trade adviser Peter Navarro, was also convicted of contempt of Congress and reported to prison in March to serve his four-month sentence. Navarro had maintained that he couldn’t cooperate with the committee because Trump had invoked executive privilege, but courts rejected that argument, finding Navarro couldn’t prove Trump had actually invoked it.
The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol. This report was the culmination of an extraordinary 18-month investigation into the former president and the violent insurrection.
Bannon is also facing criminal charges in New York state court, alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the U.S. southern border. He has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud, and other charges, with that trial postponed until at least the end of September.
Bannon, the right-wing podcaster and former Trump White House aide, is set to report to a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. He must serve time after refusing to comply with a congressional investigation into the siege on the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected an appeal by Bannon to remain free while his case goes through the appeals process.
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Bannon two years ago on two criminal contempt charges for defying subpoenas for documents and testimony from the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Bannon successfully delayed his four-month prison sentence for years as appeals wound through the courts, but his luck ran out in May when a federal appeals court unanimously rejected his claims.
Bannon is the second Trump-era official ordered to serve prison time for flouting demands from Congress. Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro reported to a prison in Florida in March after Chief Justice John Roberts refused to intervene in the case. Both men cast their disputes with Congress as challenges to the Constitution’s separation of powers, but judges found no evidence that Trump had formally asserted executive privilege to block their cooperation with lawmakers.
Bannon had tried to argue at his trial that he relied on advice from his lawyer and therefore lacked the intent to “willfully” violate the contempt law. A judge foreclosed that defense based on court precedent, but raised significant questions about it—questions that Bannon cited in a June 21 petition to the Supreme Court.
Bannon, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s bid to regain the White House, may now be incarcerated on those misdemeanor charges through the election in November. He is separately fighting fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges in New York state court over an alleged scheme to defraud donors to a charity that aimed to build a wall along the southern border. That case is scheduled for trial later this year. Trump granted Bannon a full pardon from federal charges related to We Build the Wall in January 2021, shortly before he left the White House. Presidents lack the power to issue pardons for state crimes.
Bannon’s public persona has been one of indifference—unbothered and unafraid of his time at the federal facility. He has insisted that his “War Room” media platform will thrive even in his absence, stating, “We’re a populist movement. This is all about the audience. Whether I never come back ever to the ‘War Room’ won’t make a difference.”
For now, Bannon is poised to go through an intake process familiar to inmates at Danbury. He will pass through a metal detector, undergo a strip search, and take part in a mental health evaluation. He will then be taken to his housing unit, provided with a bedroll, assigned to a bed, and left to acclimate to life behind bars.
Source: AP, CNN, Reuters
