Trump ally Steve Bannon to serve four-month prison sentence on contempt charges

Trump ally Steve Bannon to serve four-month prison sentence on contempt charges

Steve Bannon, one of former US president Donald Trump's chief strategists, is set to report to a federal prison  on Monday to begin serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena investigating the January 6 US Capitol Siege. Attorneys for Bannon had argued that his case raises issues that warrant examination by the Supreme Court, but the court on Friday declined to stave off his last-minute appeal to avoid prison.

Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon is scheduled to report to a federal prison in Connecticut on Monday to serve a four-month sentence on contempt charges for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack.

A judge had allowed Bannon to stay free for nearly two years while he appealed, but ordered him to report to prison Monday after an appeals court panel upheld his contempt of Congress convictions.

The Supreme Court rejected his last-minute appeal to stave off his sentence.

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Defense attorneys have argued the case raises issues that should be examined by the Supreme Court, including Bannon’s previous lawyer’s belief that the subpoena was invalid because former President Donald Trump had asserted executive privilege. Prosecutors, though, say Bannon had left the White House years before and Trump had never invoked executive privilege in front of the committee.

Bannon’s appeal will continue to play out, and Republican House leaders have put their support behind stepping in to assert the Jan. 6 committee was improperly created, effectively trying to deem the subpoena Bannon received as illegitimate.

Another Trump aide, trade adviser Peter Navarro, has also been convicted of contempt of Congress. He reported to prison in March to serve his four-month sentence after the Supreme Court refused his bid to delay the sentence.

Bannon is also facing criminal charges in New York state court alleging he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Bannon has pleaded not guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges, and that trial has been postponed until at least the end of September.

(AP)