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The Department of Justice has officially requested that the judge overseeing former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress case begin the start of his four-month prison sentence after an appeals court upheld the conviction last week.
Federal prosecutors approached District of Columbia Circuit Judge Carl Nichols on Tuesday, urging him to lift the stay on Bannon’s prison sentence, previously granted during the appeals process. This move followed a federal appeals court panel’s rejection last Friday of Bannon’s attempt to overturn his conviction, leading prosecutors to argue that the legal grounds for delaying his imprisonment no longer exist.
“Consequently, there is no longer a ‘substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial,'” the prosecutors stated in their filing. In response to the recent legal developments, Bannon expressed his shock in a statement, saying, “I’m shocked they want to silence the voice of MAGA.”
Digging Deeper:
Bannon, who played a significant role as former President Trump’s 2016 campaign adviser, faced charges in 2022 for failing to comply with a subpoena from the now-disbanded Jan. 6 House committee, which required his testimony and document submission. He was subsequently sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison along with a $6,500 fine. His legal challenges continued as his conviction was upheld by a three-judge panel in the DC Circuit, which noted that Bannon’s defenses were raised too late to be considered during the subpoena compliance period.
The ruling against Bannon is similar to that of former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who is currently serving a similar four-month term for non-compliance with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. Despite attempts to overturn the conviction, both Navarro’s and Bannon’s appeals have been unsuccessful, with the Supreme Court declining to intervene and the DC Circuit affirming the lower court’s decisions.
