A federal judge has ordered a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump to report to prison before July 1st.
Steve Bannon’s sentence was briefly paused while he appealed his conviction, but after a DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel denied his appeal unanimously he was ordered to serve his sentence.
“I do not feel my original basis for Mr. Bannon’s stay exists any longer,” Judge Carl J. Nichols said.
Although he intends to appeal his case to the full bench of the DC Circuit Court and the Supreme Court, Bannon must now prepare to spend four months in jail.
His conviction is the result of him defying a subpoena from the January 6th committee, though the counts were both misdemeanors.
He was subpoenaed early on in the January 6th committee’s investigation due to his close personal relationship with Trump as his trusted aide.
In comments to reporters outside after the judge’s decision, Bannon was defiant.
“This is about shutting down the MAGA movement, shutting down grass-roots conservatives, shutting down President Trump,” he said, adding, “There’s nothing that can shut me up.”
“We’re going to go all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” Bannon said. “There’s not a prison built or jail built that will shut me up.”
Trump lambasted the decision on Truth Social, posting that it was a “Total and Complete American Tragedy” that both Bannon and former aide Peter Navarro are both being jailed for refusing to comply with the committee.
“The unAmerican Weaponization of our Law Enforcement has reached levels of Illegality never thought possible before,” Trump posted. “INDICT THE UNSELECT J6 COMMITTEE FOR ILLEGALLY DELETING AND DESTROYING ALL OF THEIR ‘FINDINGS!’”
Trump has suggested that due to his own conviction, prosecuting his political opponents would be “fair game”, though he implied he might take the high road.
“It has to stop, because, otherwise, we’re not going to have a country,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox News.
