A federal judge has ordered former President Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon to report to prison on July 1st to begin serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress after his appeals were rejected.
Bannon was convicted last July on two counts of defying subpoenas from the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack. While his sentence had initially been delayed pending appeals, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled Thursday there was no longer a basis for staying Bannon’s incarceration.
“The defendant chose allegiance to Donald Trump over compliance with the law,” prosecutors had argued during Bannon’s trial, where he was found guilty of refusing to provide testimony or documents to the Jan 6 panel.
Though Bannon’s lawyers made a case to further delay the sentence as they pursued appeals to higher courts, Nichols sided with federal prosecutors who stated “no legal basis” remained after an appeals court upheld Bannon’s conviction in May.
Postponement could potentially allow Bannon to avoid the four-month term if Trump regains the presidency and pardons him, as the former president did for federal charges Bannon previously faced related to a border wall fundraising scheme.
Bannon is still set to face trial in New York later this year on state fraud charges stemming from that separate case involving allegations he misled donors. He has pleaded not guilty.
The ruling culminates a protracted legal battle over Bannon’s resistance to the congressional probe examining Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro is currently serving the same four-month sentence for similarly defying the Jan 6 committee.
While Bannon could still appeal Nichols’ decision, he would have to do so from prison.
Nichols firmly rejected attempts by Bannon’s lawyer to delay his incarceration until after the appeal, at one point admonishing: “You don’t stand up and start yelling” after rendering a ruling.