Steve Bannon sentenced to 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress
Former White Dwelling adviser Stephen Bannon was sentenced Friday to 4 months in prison and ordered to pay back a $6,500 wonderful on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena from the Household January 6 committee. The 1st count was for his refusal to show up for a deposition and the next was for refusal to turn more than paperwork. A jury arrived at the final decision right after fewer than three hrs of deliberation in July.
Bannon’s conviction was the 1st linked to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot for everyone in previous President Donald Trump’s interior circle, even though an additional previous Trump White Property aide, Peter Navarro, faces a demo in November for contempt of Congress. It also marks the initially conviction specifically related to the operate of the January 6 committee.
In a statement issued right after the verdict in July, US Lawyer Matthew Graves explained, “The subpoena to Stephen Bannon was not an invitation that could be rejected or dismissed. Mr. Bannon had an obligation to seem ahead of the Home Pick out Committee to give testimony and provide documents. His refusal to do so was deliberate and now a jury has located that he need to spend the repercussions.”
Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), the chair and vice chair of the January 6 committee, celebrated the verdict at the time. “The conviction of Steve Bannon is a victory for the rule of law and an important affirmation of the Choose Committee’s work,” they reported. “As the prosecutor mentioned, Steve Bannon ‘chose allegiance to Donald Trump above compliance with the legislation.’ Just as there will have to be accountability for all these responsible for the activities of January 6th, any individual who obstructs our investigation into these matters need to face outcomes. No 1 is higher than the legislation.”
Bannon initial arrived to countrywide prominence managing Breitbart Information, the hard-proper internet site that became a vital conservative news outlet in the early 2010s. He applied Breitbart as a system to press populist conservative sights, notably on immigration, and grew to become a key electricity broker on the right of the Republican Celebration.
Very long an ardent advocate for Trump, he joined the Republican nominee’s struggling marketing campaign in August 2016 and helped Trump pull off his slim upset victory over Hillary Clinton. He then spent a tempestuous seven-thirty day period period as Trump’s main strategist in the White Residence, where he was a crucial determine in the infighting and bickering that outlined the starting of the Trump administration.
After leaving the White Residence, Bannon experienced a warm-and-chilly romance with Trump. Nonetheless, by the close of Trump’s phrase, he experienced labored his way back into the president’s fantastic graces and released a well-liked professional-Trump podcast. The outgoing president returned the favor by pardoning Bannon on fraud costs that arose from allegations Bannon experienced diverted income for particular use that had been donated to a charity pledging to create a border wall concerning the United States and Mexico.
The former White Dwelling strategist played a vital role in supporting Trump’s bogus promises of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which set him in the committee’s crosshairs. He attended a January 2021 strategy conference at the Willard Hotel with other allies of the previous president who were trying to reverse the election success, and was in contact with Trump in the times in advance of the assault on the Capitol.
Update, October 21, 11:25 am: This tale was initially posted on July 22 and has been up to date to contain Bannon’s prison sentence and fine.
