Steve Bannon must report to prison after longtime Donald Trump ally loses bid to stay out of jail
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Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon will have to report to prison on Monday after his latest bid to avoid being locked up was rejected.
Bannon had previously been convicted for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the US Capitol insurrection on 6 January, 2021.
He filed an emergency appeal after a judge ordered him to report to prison on 1 July for a four-month sentence.
On Friday, this was rejected by the Supreme Court without explanation, as is typical.
Defence lawyers argued the case raises issues that should be examined by the Supreme Court, including Bannon’s previous lawyer’s belief the subpoena was invalid because former president Trump had asserted executive privilege.
Prosecutors, though, said Bannon had left the White House years before and Trump had never invoked executive privilege in front of the committee.
A jury found Bannon guilty nearly two years ago of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the 6 January House Committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement in the Republican ex-president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
US District Judge Carl Nichols allowed Bannon to stay free while he appealed against the verdict, but recently ordered him to report to prison after an appeals court panel upheld his contempt of Congress convictions.
The panel later rejected Bannon’s bid to avoid reporting to prison.
Bannon is expected to appeal against his conviction to the full appeals court, and Republican House leaders have put their support behind stepping in to assert the 6 January committee was improperly created, effectively trying to deem the subpoena Bannon received as illegitimate.
Bannon is also facing criminal charges in New York state court alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
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He has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges, and that trial has been postponed until at least the end of September.
