Steve Bannon, a former Trump advisor, has until Monday to surrender to prison after the Supreme Court denied his last-ditch attempt to avoid serving a four-month sentence for ignoring House Jan. 6 committee subpoenas.
Bannon was found guilty in July 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress in Washington, and in October of the same year, he was given a four-month prison sentence. Judge Carl Nichols of the United States District Court had postponed his sentencing while he worked on an appeal of his conviction, which was denied in May. After that, Nichols gave Bannon an order to report to prison on July 1 and stated that there was no reason to keep delaying the punishment. Bannon then had to turn to the Supreme Court to get his appeal of the ruling turned down by an appeals court in order to escape going to jail.
After Bannon ignored the Jan. 6 committee’s request for testimony and documents related to its investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempts to rescind the results of the 2020 election and maintain his power prior to the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, the committee found him in contempt of Congress. Bannon’s attorney informed the Supreme Court that he was waiting for matters pertaining to executive privilege to be resolved and that he was depending on the counsel’s recommendation. Federal prosecutors, however, pointed out in their sentencing brief for 2022 that Bannon had joined the Trump administration years prior, not during the period under investigation by the Jan. 6 committee, therefore there was no practical claim of executive privilege.
After reporting to prison in March, former Trump advisor Peter Navarro—who was found guilty of the same offenses and given a four-month sentence—is nearing the end of his term.
The federal Bureau of Prisons has already given 70-year-old Bannon an inmate number: 05635-509.