'Welcome Accountability': Steve Bannon Ordered to Prison
"No one is above the law: not the rich, not the powerful, and not Steve Bannon," said one congressman.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon on Thursday was ordered to report to federal prison by July 1 as he continues to challenge his conviction for defying a subpoena from the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
A federal jury found Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress in July 2022 and that October he was sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay a $6,500 fine. However, he has remained free during the appeals process, thanks to a pause imposed by Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Trump.
Nichols has now lifted that stay, after a three-member panel from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. upheld the conviction last month. The judge said that "I do not believe that the original basis for my stay of Mr. Bannon's sentence exists anymore."
At the courthouse in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, "Bannon was flanked by his lawyers David Schoen—who once represented Trump in his impeachment proceedings after January 6—and Evan Corcoran, who is a key witness in the criminal case against Trump in Florida, where Trump is accused of hoarding classified documents after he left the White House," according to Politico.
Glenn Kirschner, an NBC News legal analyst, called Nichols' decision to lift the stay "welcome accountability."
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said that "in America, no one is above the law: not the rich, not the powerful, and not Steve Bannon."
Bannon is expected to continue appealing his conviction to the full bench of the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a right-wing supermajority that includes three justices appointed by Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
If he heads to prison next month, Bannon will become the second top Trump ally behind bars. In March, Peter Navarro, who advised the ex-president on trade, reported to a federal prison in Florida after also being convicted of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the panel that probed the insurrection.
A New York jury last month found Trump guilty of 34 felony charges that stem from falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election. The GOP presidential candidate also faces three more cases—two related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss and one regarding his handling of classified materials.
