Steve Bannon, a one-time adviser to former President Donald Trump, is headed to jail after his appeal of a previous contempt of Congress conviction was denied.
The former chair of Breitbart News was sentenced to spend four months in prison in October 2022 after he ignored a subpoena to testify before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol protest and incursion.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols handed down the sentence after Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress.
The sentence was delayed while Bannon appealed.
Bannon declined to speak to lawmakers because he said he had been protected by executive privilege due to his close proximity to Trump.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found Bannon’s defense could have held some merit, Politico reported, and the court decided to hear the case while staying his sentence.
But on Friday morning, Bannon’s sentence was upheld by the court in a unanimous 3-0 ruling.
Kyle Cheney with Politico reported the court is made up of one judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, one judge appointed by Trump and one judge appointed by President Joe Biden.
BREAKING: Steve BANNON’s conviction for defying the Jan. 6 committee has been upheld by a unanimous three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
His four-month jail sentence has been on hold pending this ruling.
Details TK
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 10, 2024
Should Steve Bannon be sent to jail?
According to the 20-page opinion, Bannon said he deliberately ignored the committee’s subpoena because his attorneys led him to believe he did not have to speak to lawmakers about information that they said was privileged.
The court ultimately ruled that Bannon’s refusal to speak with the Jan. 6 committee was “deliberate” and “intentional” and that his reasons for ignoring the subpoena were irrelevant and had no legal precedent.
“The judgment of conviction and sentence… is affirmed,” the court concluded.
As Politico noted, former Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro also argued his communications with Trump before Jan. 6 were privileged, before he was sentenced to four months behind bars for also defying a congressional subpoena.
Navarro reported to a prison in Miami, Florida, on March 19 to serve his four-month sentence, NBC News reported.
It is not clear when or where Bannon will report to serve out his sentence.
The Washington Post reported the 70-year-old will have until next week to ask the court to reconsider remanding him to a federal prison.
Bannon had not commented on the ruling as of early Friday afternoon but he was hosting his daily “War Room” broadcast when the court’s decision was announced.
