Article Summary –
Steve Bannon, an ally of former President Donald Trump, has been ordered to report to prison on July 1, following a federal judge’s decision about his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress. The sentence was imposed after Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022 for refusing to comply with a subpoena linked to investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Despite an appeal court upholding Bannon’s conviction, his defense team continues to argue that the judge overseeing his trial does not yet have the legal authority to impose the sentence and that the case raises important constitutional issues.
Steve Bannon Ordered to Report to Prison following Contempt of Congress Conviction
Trump confidant Steve Bannon was commanded to report to prison on July 1. This follows a federal judge’s decision to pave the way for his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress. Judge Carl Nichols concluded that a ruling from an appeals court resolved most legal uncertainties. However, Bannon’s lawyers were granted time to appeal.
Prosecutors last month urged for Bannon, the ex-White House chief strategist, to be incarcerated after an appeals court denied an application to overturn his criminal conviction. Bannon is contesting the decision, asserting that the judge who presided over his criminal trial lacks the legal authority to enforce the sentence as his defense team explores other appeal options.
In 2022, a jury found Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee that probed the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The congressional investigators were primarily interested in Bannon’s actions in over a dozen key areas, including his communications with former President Donald Trump as he disputed the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Bannon’s defense subsequently appealed the conviction. However, last month, an appeals court dismissed his arguments, stating Bannon’s “‘advice of counsel’ defense is no defense at all.” The three-judge panel in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously confirmed the jury’s conviction, stating the defense was “unavailable under this statute.”
Despite this, the panel ordered its ruling not to take effect until seven days after Bannon sought a further appeal, leaving room for another court to delay the prison sentence. The Justice Department returned the case to Nichols’ court and requested the judge to lift the stay on Bannon’s four-month prison sentence. Prosecutors argued that now the conviction was upheld, there was no longer a “substantial question of law”.
Bannon’s defense team, however, countered, writing that Nichols “lacks the authority” to send Bannon to prison as the appeals court panel decided without the mandate of its ruling. They also mentioned the harm caused would be “irreparable and unjust” if the judgment, already fully executed, is then reversed on further review. They argue there is “no basis for considering the removal of the stay of the sentence pending appeal until the appeals process has fully run its course.”
Bannon was not in the White House during the final months of the Trump administration that were under investigation by the Jan. 6 committee, but he has continued to hold sway within the former president’s political base. After Trump’s conviction on New York State charges last week, Bannon advocated for retribution should Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, regain the White House.
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