Steve Bannon must report to prison before July 1 to serve his sentence for contempt of Congress

CNN
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A federal judge on Thursday ordered Steve Bannon to report to prison by July 1, giving the former adviser to Donald Trump a short deadline to obtain intervention from a higher court.

Bannon was found guilty of contempt of Congress in 2022 after failing to provide documents and testimony to the House select committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was sentenced to four months from prison.

The federal judge presiding over the case, Carl Nichols, initially stayed the sentence while Bannon appealed the conviction.

Last month, however, a Washington Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously rejected several challenges Bannon made in the case, and prosecutors immediately asked Nichols to send Bannon to prison to begin with. to serve his sentence.

Nichols said Thursday that, given the appeals court's ruling, he doesn't believe the reasons he suspended Bannon's sentence “exist anymore.”

The judge, appointed by Trump, said he concluded he had the authority to lift the suspension of Bannon's sentence, although the appeal of the conviction would continue.

Shortly after the hearing ended, Bannon vowed to fight his contempt of Congress conviction “all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to.”

Bannon also claimed, without evidence, that the Justice Department's prosecution was aimed at “stopping the MAGA movement, stopping grassroots conservatives, stopping President Trump.”

“There is nothing that can silence me and nothing that can silence me. There is no jail built and no jail that can ever lock me up,” he told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Washington.

“We are going to win at the Supreme Court,” he added.

During the hearing, Bannon's lawyer, David Schoen, argued that his client should be able to stay out of prison until the Supreme Court has a chance to rule on the case. Schoen also said his request to have the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals review the case would be filed by June 24.

Prosecutor John Crabb said Bannon had not met the legal threshold to stay out of prison while his appeal continued. Crabb pointed to the failure of efforts by Peter Navarro, another former Trump adviser prosecuted for refusing to comply with a House committee subpoena on Jan. 6, to stay his conviction — an effort that was rejected by the Washington DC Circuit and the Supreme Court.

Nichols said Navarro's case presented different problems, and the judge ultimately pointed to the fact that three appeals court judges “wholeheartedly” rejected the arguments Bannon made in his case. Nichols noted that a member of the D.C. Circuit panel reviewing Bannon's case could have noted in a concurrence or dissent that he had concerns about the key precedent that Bannon seeks to overturn in his case, but no judge on the panel did not write such a statement.

With just under a month until his surrender date, Bannon could attempt to file emergency motions with the appeals court and even the Supreme Court to extend his sentence.

After Nichols announced his order, Schoen again tried to convince Nichols to let Bannon stay out of jail, in an exchange that got heated with the judge.

Navarro is currently serving a four-month prison sentence for his 2023 conviction.

This story has been updated with additional details.