A US federal judge on Thursday, June 6 ordered former Donald Trump adviser, Steve Bannon to report to prison by July 1.
WHY BANNON WAS CONVICTED?
Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress in 2022 after failing to provide documents and testimony to the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.
He was sentenced to four months in prison.
The federal judge presiding over the case, Carl Nichols, had initially paused the sentence while Bannon appealed the conviction.
BANNON WAS SENT TO PRISON
But last month, a DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously rejected several challenges Bannon made to the case, and prosecutors immediately asked Nichols to send Bannon to prison to begin serving his sentence.
Nichols said Thursday that, given the appeals court ruling, he did not believe the basis he had for pausing Bannon’s sentence ‘exists any longer.’
The judge, who was appointed by Trump, said that he concluded that he had the authority to lift the hold on Bannon’s sentence, even as an appeal of conviction will continue.
BANON REACTS TO THE RULING
Shortly after the hearing concluded, Bannon vowed to fight his contempt of Congress conviction ‘all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to.’
Bannon also claimed without evidence that his prosecution by the Justice Department was about ‘shutting down the MAGA movement, shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump.’
WHAT BRANON ALLEGEDLY DID WRONG
Prosecutor John Crabb said that Bannon had not satisfied the legal threshold for staying out of prison while his appeal continued.
Crabb pointed to the failed effort by Peter Navarro, another ex-Trump adviser prosecuted for refusing to comply with a House January 6 committee subpoena, to pause his sentence, an effort that was rebuffed by the DC Circuit and the Supreme Court.
