Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, must report to prison by July 1 to begin a four-month sentence, a judge said.
bannon was convicted of contempt in 2022 for refusing to appear before a committee investigating the Capitol riot and for failing to provide documents about his involvement in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
He vowed to fight the latest ruling, telling reporters outside the court: “I have excellent lawyers and, if necessary, we will go all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Bannon was an advisor to Triumph during his first election campaign and became chief strategist when he won the White House, but resigned in August 2017.
On Thursday, federal Judge Carl Nichols granted a request from the Justice Department to force Bannon to begin his sentence.
Judge Nichols, a Trump nominee, had initially allowed Bannon to remain free while he challenged the conviction.
However, he did an about-face after prosecutors urged him to revoke Bannon’s bail following an appeals court ruling last month that upheld his conviction.
At his 2022 trial, Bannon’s lawyer said the charges were politically motivated, denied he had ignored the subpoena to appear and said Bannon was still negotiating with the congressional committee when he was charged.
His lawyer in the current case, David Schoen, told the judge that it would not be right to imprison him now since he would finish his sentence before exhausting his avenues of appeal.
He said the case raised “constitutional questions” that the Supreme Court should consider.
“In this country, we don’t send anyone to prison if they think they were doing something that followed the law,” Schoen told reporters.
Another Trump aide, trade adviser Peter Navarro, began a four-month sentence for contempt in March.
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He claimed that he had been unable to cooperate with the congressional committee because Trump had invoked his executive privilege as president, making him doubt what documents and testimony he could provide.
Bannon also cited this as a reason for his lack of cooperation.
However, the courts rejected Navarro’s argument because they said he could not prove that Trump had invoked his privilege.
The final report on the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack concluded that Trump participated in a conspiracy to overturn the election and failed to prevent his supporters from storming the building.
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