After His Appeal Failed, Steve Bannon Must Finally Go To Prison

(PatriotWise.com) — The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday upheld Steve Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot.

Bannon was convicted in July 2022 and subsequently sentenced to four months in prison. The judge presiding over the case allowed Bannon to remain free while his conviction was on appeal.

However, in a unanimous ruling last Friday, a three-judge panel of the DC appellate court rejected the challenges Bannon raised on appeal, including his claim that the trial judge refused to include evidence in his defense that he should have been allowed to present to the jurors.

While the appeals court decision paves the way for Bannon to begin serving his sentence, the timing is unclear. Bannon could appeal his conviction to the Supreme Court, which would allow him to further delay his sentence.

The appellate panel was made up of judges appointed by President Biden, President Trump, and President Obama. In their ruling, the judges noted that the trial judge was correct in excluding Bannon’s defense that he was only following advice from counsel in refusing to comply with the subpoena under executive privilege.

The appellate court noted that the communications from Trump’s counsel that Bannon cited for his defense did not give Bannon the authority to refuse to produce documents requested by the committee or to testify.

The January 6 committee rejected Bannon’s claim of executive privilege since the former president had fired him from the White House in 2017 and, therefore, he was a private citizen at the time he was consulting with Trump in the weeks leading up to the Capital riot.

The appellate panel also rejected Bannon’s claim that the select committee was improperly formed, noting that Bannon failed to raise those objections when he defied the subpoena and “therefore forfeited them.”

Bannon is one of two former Trump aides sentenced for defying a January 6 committee subpoena.

Former trade advisor Peter Navarro reported to prison in March after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal. Navarro was also sentenced to four months.