Steve Bannon sentenced to four months in prison in connection to January 6 Capitol Hill riot
After failing to appear before the House select committee, Trump’s former chief strategist was found guilty on two charges of contempt of Congress.
Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to four months in prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena in connection to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
The sentence was handed down one year to the day since the House of Representatives voted to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress for ignoring a request to give evidence before the House select committee. In November 2021 Bannon was indicted on two criminal charges and was convicted in July this year.
The court sentenced Bannon to four months imprisonment for each of the two counts of contempt of Congress, to be served concurrently, along with a $6,500 fine. He is expected to appeal the ruling.
Federal Judge Carl Nichols said that Bannon had “not expressed remorse and has attacked the select committee at every turn.”
At the sentencing hearing, Bannon declined the opportunity to speak, saying only: “My lawyers have spoken for me, your honor.”
Bannon’s attorney attacks Trump’s legal team
Central to Bannon’s defence has been the claim that former President Trump had asserted executive privilege over documents and details relating to 6 January 2020.
Executive authority allows the President to shield some information from Congress for reasons of national importance, but the court was unconvinced that such a mechanism should apply here, or could be evoked by a former president.
This strategy, employed by Bannon’s team, was severely undermined in July when Trump lawyer Justin Clark told the Department of Justice that Trump had not sought to prevent Bannon testifying. Clark said that Bannon’s testimony was not covered by executive privilege and distanced the former President from the contempt charge.
This led to explosive scenes in court on Friday when David Schoen, a member of Bannon’s legal team, described Clark as “nothing but a thug.”
“I wouldn’t believe a thing he says, one of what one might call the Three Stooges,” Clark said. “He has lied to me personally. He has ripped me off personally.”
Bannon had previously remained a loyal supporter of Trump’s after serving the former President in a number of key roles. He was the chief executive officer of Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign; served as chief strategist and senior counsellor in the White House; and was granted a presidential pardon on Trump’s last day in office.
However the fallout from today’s sentencing suggests that one of the main architects behind Trump’s rise to the White House has split from his former employer.