A federal judge on Thursday ordered Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump with close ties to far-right movements, to report to federal prison on July 1 to start his four-month sentence for disobeying a House subpoena to testify about the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, The New York Times reports.
Bannon was originally sentenced in October 2022 on two contempt of Congress charges. But Bannon appealed Judge Carl J. Nichols' decision, resulting in last month's decision by a three-judge panel to uphold the conviction. In response, Nichols, agreeing with federal prosecutors, said Thursday that there was "no legal basis" to further delay Bannon's sentence..
The decision apparently caught Bannon and his legal team by surprise. According to the Times, David Schoen, Bannon's lawyer, approached the podium and started arguing with Nichols, who would not be moved.
“One thing I think you need to learn as a lawyer is that when a judge has decided, you do not get up and yell at them," Nichols told Schoen.
Bannon's lawyers said they would ask the full appeals court to overrule the panel's decision. Following the judge's ruling, Bannon told reporters outside that the case was nothing more than a political attack.
"All of this is about one thing: shutting down the MAGA movement; shutting down grassroots conservatives; shutting down President Trump," Bannon said. "There's not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up."
During his 2022 trial, Bannon was similarly defiant, vigorously defending himself and threatening to "go medieval" on prosecutors. This follows a pattern of Bannon, a former White House advisor under Donald Trump, suggesting violence on behalf of far-right causes.
Bannon isn't the first former Trump aide to go to prison for defying Congress; former trade advisor Peter Navarro is also serving a four-month sentence for refusing to answer a subpoena to testify before the House January 6 committee.
Bannon also has other legal troubles. Later this year, he is due to face prosecutors who accuse him of embezzling money that he ostensibly raised to fund Trump's border wall, a case that will play out in the same New York courthouse where Trump was convicted last month. Trump had previously pardoned Bannon in a separate case that raised similar charges.
