WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday ordered former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to report to prison on July 1 to begin a four-month prison sentence for defying subpoenas from the Jan. 6 Committee after a higher court rejected his appeal.
Bannon was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress in July 2022 for defying the committee’s subpoenas, but his sentence had been put on hold while he appealed the case. U.S. District Judge Carl said Thursday he did not believe that the “original basis” for his stay of the imposition of Bannon’s sentence existed any longer after an appeals court upheld Bannon’s conviction. Bannon could still appeal Nichol’s ruling that he must report to prison.
Bannon was sentenced more than a year and a half ago, in October 2022, to four months behind bars, the same sentence currently being served by former Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who also refused to comply with a Jan. 6 Committee subpoena.
“The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston, who now serves on special counsel Jack Smith’s team, told jurors during closing arguments in 2022.
Bannon’s sentence was put on hold pending appeal, and his lawyers