Steve Bannon Is Headed To Prison After Supreme Court Denies His Appeal Request

Former White House aide Steve Bannon is set to start his prison sentence next week after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts denied his effort to stay free as he appeals his conviction.

In July 2022, Bannon was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to give documents to the House Select Committee on the U.S. Capitol attack after he was subpoenaed. 

He was sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison.

In early June, federal Judge Carl Nichols ordered him to report to the federal correctional institution in Danbury, Connecticut, which houses violent criminals, by July 1 to serve his sentence.

Roberts had rejected the White House aide’s appeal on June 28.

“The application for release pending appeal presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the court stated in his one-sentence order.

Roberts oversees appeals similar to Bannon’s Washington, D.C. The judge referred his appeal to the full court.

Bannon tried arguing at his trial that he relied on advice from his lawyer and, therefore, did not mean to “willfully” and” violate” the contempt law. 

His lawyer, Trent McCotter, stated that the trial judge and one of three judges on the appeals panel found Bannon did not knowingly violate the law raising significant legal questions.

McCotter also argued that if Bannon is imprisoned, he will have served his sentence before the Supreme Court can review his case.

A judge forestalled Bannon’s sentence but also raised important questions about it.

“Mr. Bannon relied in good faith on his attorney’s not to respond to a subpoena issued by a House Select Committee until executive privilege issues were resolved—as they had been on three prior occasions when Mr. Bannon had agreed to testify after counsel had asserted executive privilege,” his lawyers wrote.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves argued against letting Bannon remain free since he is unlikely to win a new trial.

On May 11, 2023, Bannon’s Washington, D.C., was swatted again during a broadcast of his show Steve Bannon’s War Room. 

Police and rescue workers replied to a shooting report at his house in the morning.