Steve Bannon will spend four months in jail and pay $6,500 in fines for contempt of Congress, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Bannon, the White House chief strategist for former President Donald Trump, disregarded demands from the House Jan. 6 committee for documents and testimony as part of its investigation of the attack on the Capitol.
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“I want to say one thing — I respect the judge. The sentence he came down with today is his decision,” Bannon said after the sentencing, according to Fox News. “I’ve been totally respectful to this entire process on the legal side.”
Committee lawmakers particularly wanted to know why he said, a day before the siege, that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
“The committee sought documents and testimony from the Defendant relevant to a matter of national importance: the circumstances that led to a violent attack on the Capitol and disruption of the peaceful transfer of power,” Justice Department prosecutors argued in a filing on Oct. 17. “In response, the Defendant flouted the Committee’s authority and ignored the subpoena’s demands.”
Bannon’s sentencing will reportedly be stayed pending an appeal, per NBC News.
BREAKING: Steve Bannon has been sentenced to four months in prison but that sentence will be STAYED pending his appeal
— Daniel Barnes (@dnlbrns) October 21, 2022
“I want to thank all you guys for coming,” Bannon said to people outside the courthouse on Friday.
“Remember this illegitimate regime. Their judgment day is on the eighth of November when the Biden administration ends,” Bannon continued. “I want to thank you all for coming.”
In July, a jury convicted Bannon on a pair of contempt of Congress charges after he refused to comply with the subpoena to sit for questioning. He did not testify or call any witnesses in his defense during his trial, and the jury found him guilty after just three hours of deliberations.
Bannon has argued he did not break the law because he was covered by Trump’s assertion of executive privilege and was listening to his lawyers when he declined to provide testimony or documents to the committee.
“Should a person who has spent a lifetime listening to experts — as a naval officer, investment banker, corporate executive, and Presidential advisor — be jailed for relying on the advice of his lawyers?” Bannon lawyers Evan Corcoran and David Schoen wrote in an earlier court filing, per NPR.
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No one has been incarcerated for contempt of Congress in several decades, according to NPR.
The former chief strategist is one of four Trump confidants to be held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. The DOJ has held former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, and former White House adviser Peter Navarro in contempt but decided not to pursue charges against Meadows or Scavino. Navarro will stand trial in November.
