A federal judge ordered Steven Bannon, a top ally of former President Trump who previously served as the chief strategist for the White House, to report to prison on July 1 to serve a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.
According to Fox News, Thursday’s decision by Judge Carl Nichols revokes Bannon’s bail. The outlet reported that Bannon lost an appeal in May to overturn his conviction for contempt of Congress. The Trump ally was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to respond to a Congressional subpoena to testify about the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
While Bannon claimed that he did not intend to break the law by failing to respond to a Congressional subpoena and that he was acting on his legal team’s advice, Judge Bradley Garcia countered that acting on “advice of counsel” is “no defense at all,” according to Fox News.
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Fox News reported that Bannon was initially sentenced in October of 2022. In addition to the prison sentence, Bannon was ordered to pay a $6,500 fine.
Following his initial sentencing, Bannon said, “I want to say one thing — I respect the judge, the sentence he came down with today is his decision. I’ve been totally respectful to this entire process on the legal side.”
According to CBS News, Nichols issued his ruling on Thursday, explaining that he could “no longer conclude that [Bannon’s] appeal raises substantial question of law,” after the recent decision by the appeals court panel to uphold Bannon’s conviction.
Following Thursday’s order for Bannon to report to prison on July 1, the Trump ally said, “This is about shutting down the MAGA movement, shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump.”
“There is not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up,” Bannon added. CBS News reported that Bannon also announced that his legal team is planning to take his case to the Supreme Court.
This was a breaking news story. The details were periodically updated as more information became available.
