Former Donald Trump chief White House strategist Steve Bannon must report to prison to begin his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress under a new order from a federal judge Thursday.
The longtime Trump advisor has until July 1 to surrender himself to the authorities, under a ruling by Judge Carl Nichols.
Bannon was back at a D.C. courthouse Thursday where prosecutors urged the federal judge to send him to prison immediately.
Bannon was previously sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison after being convicted of Contempt of Congress for failing to provide information or testimony to the House January 6 Committee.
His lawyers are appealing the ruling of a three-judge appeals court panel, and asked Nichols to allow him to remain free pending a process that could go before the full appeals court or even the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nichols, a Donald Trump appointee, is allowing Bannon to appeal his latest order that ends a stay on his sentence. He said he didn’t think the reason for pausing the sentence ‘exists any longer.’
The move, if sustained, would have Bannon in prison on July 11, when Trump has a sentencing hearing following his conviction on 34 counts in the Stormy Daniels case.
The judge previously agreed to postpone the sentence pending appeal. The judge is hearing arguments on the matter in open court.
Another former Trump aide, economic advisor Peter Navarro, is currently serving a four-month sentence in a Florida prison after being convicted of similar charges. Navarro helped promote a plan he dubbed the ‘Green Bay Sweep’ that became part of Trump’s election overturn effort.
Bannon has raised a defense of counsel defense saying he relied on a lawyer’s advise when failing to comply with a congressional subpoena. Trump also tried to muster such an argument, citing advice by Michael Cohen in the Stormy Daniels payoff.
Bannon helped helm meetings at a strategy ‘war room’ at the Willard Hotel in Washington that brought together key figures in the election overturn effort.
‘I’ve got great lawyers, and we’re going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,’ Bannon said outside court.
He is represented by David Schoen, who represented Trump at his impeachment, and Evan Corchoran, who is a witness in the government’s classified documents case in Florida.
‘The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,’ argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston in a filing by prosecutors, who argue there is ‘no legal basis’ for keeping Bannon out of prison pending the appeal following the ruling by the appeals court panel.
Trump ally Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz responded by calling Bannon’s prison sentence ‘torture.’
‘Steve Bannon sought judicial review of the illegal demands of a runaway congressional committee, unlike any ever comprised. It was literally a matter of first impression. And they’re sending him to prison – not just to torture him but to torture us. He didn’t even get a real trial. His defenses were stripped by a judge who hates him,’ wrote Gaetz, who attended the bipartisan congressional picnic with President Biden this week.
Bannon continues to be a prominent voice among Trump advisors, and maintains his reach to the conservative movement through his daily War Room Pandemic podcast.