Steve Bannon ordered to jail for defying Congress

Steve Bannon, the former White House aide to President Donald Trump, has been ordered to report to jail for a contempt of Congress conviction. A judge ruled on Thursday that Bannon must serve time in prison after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee.

Bannon, who was sentenced in October 2022 to serve four months in prison and pay a $6,500 fine for contempt of Congress, had his jail term postponed while he appealed the case. However, the judge has now ordered him to report to prison by July 1, despite his ongoing appeal efforts.

Bannon’s lawyers argued that he should be allowed to continue postponing his sentence because he still has the option to appeal to the D.C. Circuit court or the U.S. Supreme Court. However, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected this argument, stating that he no longer believes Bannon’s appeal raises substantial questions of law likely to reverse his conviction.

Following the decision, Bannon declared outside the courthouse, “There’s nothing that can shut me up, there’s not a prison built or a jail built that will shut me up.” He also vowed that his legal team would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Bannon, a right-wing podcaster who served as chief strategist in the Trump administration, has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s claims of election interference and fraud. He was pardoned by Trump on the last day of his presidency for fraud charges related to a fundraising campaign to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

The House Jan. 6 Committee accused Bannon of playing a “multi-faceted role” in the events leading up to the Capitol riot by supporting Trump’s voter fraud claims and meeting with other Trump allies before the riot began. Bannon was held in contempt by Congress after he refused to turn over records to the committee related to the riot, citing Trump’s invocation of executive privilege. However, lawmakers argued that this privilege did not apply to Bannon because he was a private citizen at the time of the riot, not a member of Trump’s staff.